Edmonton man gets 8-1/2 years for strangling roommate amid feud over apartment cleanliness

An Edmonton man has been sentenced to 8-1/2 years in prison for strangling his roommate after a simmering dispute over the cleanliness of their shared apartment.

Joshua Fairley, 33, pleaded guilty Tuesday to manslaughter on the opening day of his second-degree murder trial for the 2024 killing of Austin Anderson.

Fairley and Anderson, 29, shared a basement suite in north Edmonton. According to an agreed statement of facts, there was a “longstanding and ongoing disagreement” regarding Anderson’s cleanliness, which erupted in a fight during which Fairley strangled the victim until he died.

Fairley then called 911 and told the operator he had killed his roommate.

Among those Court of King’s Bench Justice Eric Macklin heard from Tuesday was Anderson’s daughter, who described sobbing in her mother’s arms after learning of her father’s death. She was 10 years old.

“His murder has permanently changed my life,” the daughter said in a victim impact statement read by her mother. “I had to grow up with a loss I was too young to carry.” 

“I have to live with unanswered questions and the knowledge his death was caused by someone he considered a friend,” she added. “I don’t understand, and I never will, why Joshua Fairley did what he did to my dad.”

Fairley and Anderson began living together in August 2023. Fairley, an aspiring video game designer who endured a tumultuous childhood, met Anderson while living in a Red Deer homeless shelter, defence lawyer Graham Rapson told court. They eventually decided to move to Edmonton, where they rented a basement suite at 8419-136 Ave.

The roommates soon began to fall out over Anderson’s “upkeep of the residence and his cleanliness,” the agreed facts state. On March 17, 2024, Anderson came home in the early morning and interfered with some of Fairley’s computer equipment. A fight ensued, which ended when Fairley strangled Anderson to death.

After calling 911 and surrendering to police, Fairley was taken to the Edmonton Remand Centre. The following month, he called a great aunt, and told her he “went at” Anderson after he began “messing with” his computers, though he said he didn’t intend to kill him.

Manslaughter carries the largest range of sentences in Canadian criminal law, from suspended sentences to life in prison. Rapson and prosecutor Fraser Genuis agreed to a joint submission of 8-1/2 years, which they said was in line with past sentences for similar manslaughter cases.

Genuis said a significant prison sentence is needed to denounce Fairley’s crime and deter others from similar violence.

He noted strangulation is not a speedy way of killing someone, meaning Fairley had plenty of opportunity to change his mind.

Fairley should nonetheless be given credit for reporting himself to 911, instead of trying to cover up the killing, Genuis said. He also applauded the accused for pleading guilty instead of taking the case to trial.

Macklin, the judge, agreed and accepted the joint submission.

“From this court’s perspective, it’s not often the perpetrator of a crime like this considers the situation and makes the correct decision to call 911,” he said.  

Fairley has been in jail since his arrest. With the standard credit of 1-1/2 days for every actual day in pretrial custody, he has around 4-1/2 years remaining on his sentence.

Fairley has a neatly trimmed beard, glasses and dark hair, and wore a dark sweater for Tuesday’s court appearance. He declined an opportunity to address the court. Court heard he was born in the small community of Boiestown, N.B., and bounced back and forth between the East Coast and Alberta due to family instability.

At the time of the crime, he was pursuing post-secondary education for programming and video game design but had previously been forced to withdraw due to money trouble. Rapson said the computers at the centre of his dispute with Anderson, in his client’s mind, “represented his future.” It is unlikely he will get them back after he serves his sentence, Rapson said.

Anderson’s daughter, for her part, described a life in which her dad’s absence is never far from her mind.

“Joshua Fairley took the man who was supposed to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day,” the now-13-year-old said.

“My dad wasn’t just the victim, but a person with so much more life to live.”

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