Less than 72 hours after the bloodied and broken body of Orillia's Derek Simmerson was discovered laying on Coldwater Road, police have arrested a suspect in the brutal murder.
On Sunday, Orillia OPP arrested Justice Snache, a 19-year-old Severn Township man. It is expected he will be charged with first-degree murder.
Simmerson's body was found by a citizen on Coldwater Road, near Emily Street, Thursday night. He was suffering from "severe trauma" and succumbed to his injuries after being transported by ambulance to Orillia's Soldiers' Memorial Hospital.
Det.-Insp. Matt Watson, who is heading up the investigation into the slaying of the 34-year-old Orillia man, said the two men were not known to one another.
Snache was arrested Sunday at the Husky Gas Station on Highway 11 in Severn Township.
On Friday, Watson said the homicide investigation is being conducted by the Orillia OPP Crime Unit, with the assistance of OPP Forensic Identification Services, under the direction of the Criminal Investigation Branch. He said seven investigators from the Orillia Crime Unit were involved in the investigation.
A post-mortem on Simmerson was conducted Saturday in Toronto, but no further details about the cause of death or motive are being released.
