A man and woman charged in a homicide after a body was found at an east London park were previously charged in a violent armed robbery last year, according to court records.
London police launched a suspicious death investigation after officers were called Friday at 6 p.m. to do a welfare check at Mildred Barons Park on Kathleen Avenue, east of Third and Dundas streets. They found a body in the park, police said.
Investigators ruled the death a homicide – the city’s sixth of the year – and arrested a man and woman, both London residents, on Saturday. Broady Salmon, 29, is charged with second-degree murder, while Ashley Taylor, 30, is charged with manslaughter in the death of Matthew Harp, 39, of London.
Salmon and Taylor were charged last spring after a man who refused to give money to two strangers in a Dundas Street parking lot was assaulted, stabbed and robbed on May 26, 2023, police said at the time.
Salmon was charged with aggravated assault and armed robbery. Taylor was charged with assault and failing to comply with a release order.
Salmon is scheduled to go to trial in January, while Taylor pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a release order – the assault charge was withdrawn – and given a suspended sentence that includes 12 months’ probation, court records show.
Both were scheduled to appear in court Monday.
Salmon has several other outstanding charges and spent nearly a month in custody last fall before being released on bail, court records show.
His charges include two counts of theft under $5,000 for a pair of alleged thefts from Home Depot, an assault charge involving a relative, an alleged theft of a U-Haul and breaching his release conditions, the documents say.
Salmon was held in custody following his arrest on Sept. 17, 2023, and released on bail on Nov. 7, 2023. Under his bail conditions, he was ordered not to contact or go near six people – including both Taylor and the complainant in the stabbing case – not to attend Home Depot or Home Hardware and not possess any weapons, the documents say.
London police remained stationed at Mildred Barons Park on Monday. Investigators had cordoned off the northeastern section of the park, an area of bush at the edge of the grass, and were seen flying a drone to survey the area over the weekend.
Nearby residents said homeless people often camped in the wooded area along the northern edge of the park near the train tracks.
“City hall has come in to clear out the encampment before,” said Mike Kyte, whose grandparents have lived on the street since the 1970s.
The number of unhoused people sleeping rough in the park has increased significantly in recent years, Kyte added.
With files from Free Press reporter Jennifer Bieman