Man who strangled 27-year-old Edmonton woman gets 10 ½-year sentence

Madeline Smith · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 18, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

WARNING: This communicative contains descriptions of violence.

Rows of Lauren Jarvis's friends and household members sat successful an Edmonton courtroom this week and watched images of her look connected a screen.

In a procession of photos and videos, the 27-year-old makes faces adjacent to her friends, and sings successful the car with the windows down, laughing.

Ryan Farrell, the man who admitted to sidesplitting her, kept his eyes down arsenic helium sat successful the prisoner's box.

Farrell, 34, was briefly Jarvis's neighbour. He came to Edmonton from Halifax successful aboriginal 2023 to look for work, moving in with his father, who lived upstairs from Jarvis successful a abstracted suite successful the aforesaid Westmount fourplex.

Farrell pleaded blameworthy to manslaughter this week, admitting that on April 2, 2023, helium attacked Jarvis, beating her with a walking cane and past strangling her with a rope. Her assemblage was discovered successful her chamber aboriginal that day, wrapped successful a carpet that was taped shut, her hands and feet bound and a container implicit her head.

Court heard that too surviving nearby, with suites that shared a communal entranceway area, the 2 didn't cognize each other.

Farrell said helium has little to nary representation of what helium did oregon why.

Defence lawyer Danielle Boisvert said astatine the time, Farrell was successful a play of accent and isolation that fuelled a "week-long bender" wherever helium was drinking heavily, abusing his medicine Adderall and taking steroids he'd been utilizing to get into bodybuilding.

Farrell was initially charged with second-degree murder, but pleaded blameworthy to the lesser offence. On Thursday, Court of King's Bench Justice George Fraser accepted a associated submission from the Crown and defence for a 10 ½-year situation sentence.

Boisvert said her client is genuinely remorseful for his actions, and his blameworthy plea is portion of expressing that.

Crown prosecutor Sandra Christenson-Moore said the plea dialog came aft a preliminary proceeding past twelvemonth revealed imaginable Charter issues and a "strong ground to situation immoderate of the grounds that was collected."

Jarvis's brother, Spencer Jarvis, said it's not the decision the household wanted.

"It's wide that determination on the mode determination were capable mistakes to pb to a manslaughter charge. We are not blessed with this outcome, though we are thankful that Ryan Farrell is astatine slightest serving time," helium said.

"This was a disgusting and random enactment of unit from a implicit alien to Lauren."

Court hears unfortunate interaction statements

In much than a twelve unfortunate interaction statements this week, radical who were adjacent to Jarvis described the conflict to marque consciousness of what happened to her.

Her parent Diana Medve spoke astir her "spirited mediate child" who loved children and animals, and had dreams of becoming an interior designer.

"There's nary answer, nary reason, that could warrant what you've done," she told Farrell.

The time Jarvis was killed, she and 1 of her champion friends, Casandra Wildermuth, were readying to instrumentality a locomotion successful the stream vale and devour astatine Denny's.

They texted backmost and distant passim the morning, and implicit a 30-minute video call, kept chatting portion Jarvis did her makeup.

Jarvis sent her person 1 past connection conscionable earlier 11 a.m. When Wildermuth called her little than 30 minutes aboriginal to fto her cognize she was connected her way, Jarvis didn't prime up.

Wildermuth was disquieted erstwhile her person didn't amusement up to conscionable her, and didn't respond to immoderate of her messages, but she thought she mightiness person fallen asleep. By the evening, erstwhile she inactive hadn't heard from Jarvis, and neither had anyone other successful their person group, she went to her location to cheque connected her.

She was disquieted capable that she called her mother, Tracy Wildermuth, who came to cheque the suite with Jarvis's landlord. They discovered her assemblage astir 8:30 p.m.

"This shattered my heart, arsenic I'm sure you know, arsenic my screams were heard arsenic I collapsed to my knees extracurricular the house," Casandra Wildermuth told Farrell successful her unfortunate interaction statement.

"You watched her instrumentality her past enactment and accidental her past words. What you did to her does not, nor volition ever, specify who she was arsenic a woman."

According to an agreed connection of facts, constabulary arrived and began canvassing the area. When Farrell answered his door, they noticed scratch marks connected his look and forearm.

The officers ended up having a "lengthy discussion" with him wrong his suite, wherever helium told them that he'd heard noise in the gathering earlier. He said he'd been drinking and taking cannabis edibles, but constabulary reported that helium didn't look impaired.

Farrell was arrested, and tribunal heard that aft searching his suite successful the days that followed, constabulary recovered garbage bags with Jarvis's driver's licence and wellness card, her laptop and stained enactment and tissues.

They besides recovered bottles of cleaning products and grounds of attempts to cleanable humor from the shared stairway country betwixt the suites.

An autopsy determined Jarvis died from a operation of caput trauma and strangulation. Farrell's DNA was recovered nether her fingernails.

'You beryllium nine a large debt'

Another of Jarvis's champion friends, Jaydan Kallis, told the tribunal that what happened has left her with a consciousness of changeless fear.

"As a pistillate you are taught to beryllium particularly vigilant astir men, and Lauren was nary exception. If this happened to Lauren, who's to accidental it couldn't hap to me?"

Handing down the sentence, Justice Fraser addressed Farrell directly.

"You beryllium nine a large indebtedness aft your actions … What did hap was brutal. You person a batch of making up to bash for the remainder of your life, sir. You're inactive reasonably young and you person a batch of time."

Fraser repeated parts of the unfortunate interaction connection work by Jarvis's father, who expressed hope that Farrell volition admit the gravity of the harm he's inflicted and "confront his demons," portion he's successful custody.

With enhanced recognition for much than 2 years Farrell has already spent successful the Edmonton Remand Centre, helium has astir 7 years near successful his sentence.

When helium was fixed the accidental to code the court, Farrell said helium would "remain silent."