Man pleads guilty in connection to death of former girlfriend in Nanaimo

Statement of Facts
Crown prosecutor Basil McCormick led the Court through the agreed-upon statement of facts in the case, saying Watts died in the late evening of May 7, 2021, almost a month before her body was discovered.

During a previous trial, witness testimony said Ordway was angry at Watts at the time for supposedly stealing money and drugs from him. On May 6, Watts and Ordway were seen arguing outside of the Port Place Shopping Centre.

Police attended the scene, where Watts was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant and later released.

Watts then had a phone conversation with her father the following day, which was the last time she was heard from. She reportedly told her father she had just been released from the hospital, had nowhere to go, and was in need of medication.

She was reported missing by her mother on May 27, 2021, which launched a police investigation.

Ordway first became a person of interest in her disappearance when a man reached out to the Nanaimo RCMP on June 1, 2021, saying his girlfriend had information on Watts’ disappearance.

McCormick said the girlfriend, Jennifer Dietrich, a friend of Ordway who helped distribute drugs for him, spoke to police on June 3, saying Ordway had stopped by her place in the early morning hours the night of Watts’ death.

“Around 2:30 a.m. on May 8, 2021, telling her – quote – ‘she’s dead, she’s dead.’ When she (Dietrich) asked who, Ordway responded – quote- ‘Amy’. He told Dietrich Watts fell off the cliff earlier that evening after they had been fighting all day, and that Watts was dead. He told her that he heard glass break when she fell, and she screamed.”

Dietrich said Ordway was emotionally upset and crying at the time, and his clothing was wet and he wasn’t wearing shoes.

In the days following, further witnesses came forward linking Ordway with Watts’ death.

Another witness, who also assisted Ordway with his drug deliveries, met him in May of 2021 to give him a ride. She described Ordway as being upset when they met.

“He told her that Amy was dead and they had been fighting and that he pushed her off, but didn’t realize there was no railing where she fell,” said McCormick.

McCormick said the majority of the civilian witnesses can be characterized as “marginalized persons with substance abuse addictions”, with their connection to Ordway through the drug subculture in Nanaimo.

A number of potential witnesses interviewed by police prior to the preliminary hearing held in Dec. 2023, have since died of drug overdoses.

Autopsy and Victim Impact Statement
An autopsy found Watts’ suffered “extensive head injuries as a result of blunt force trauma, which could be consistent with a fall from a significant height.

An exact cause of death could not be determined due to the length of time which had passed between her death and her body being discovered, approximately 34 days.

Watts’ mother Janice Coady read an emotional victim impact statement in court, detailing her “emotionally crippling journey” since the death of her only child.

“I’ll never be able to hold her again, hear her voice, see her sweet smile, listen to her jokes, have movie nights, and share moments in time with her. There’s not a moment my heart doesn’t hurt from the loss of my Amy. Knowing Amy was taken from this life so brutally, and so inhumanely, with no chance to tell her truth and her story, what was truly done to her, is devastating to me.”

The body of Watts, 27, was found in the area of Albert St. and Victoria Cres. near City Hall in a steep wooded ravine on June 3, 2021.

Watts’ death came just a few months after Ordway and Watts joined forces to assault a female drug addict at a Wakesiah Ave. townhouse unit in Feb. 2021.

He was found guilty by a jury, while the jury couldn’t find a consensus on two other charges against Ordway, which were eventually abandoned by the Crown.

The trial, which resulted in an 18-month jail sentence against Ordway for assault causing bodily harm, heard Ordway brought Watts directly from a Lower Mainland drug treatment facility to the troubled home where attacks against the victim quickly ensued.

Ordway was charged with manslaughter a year and a half after Watts’ body was discovered.

He’s been in custody since June 2022 when he was arrested and charged in connection to the violence that ensued at the Wakesiah Ave. townhouse.

Ordway has an extensive criminal record primarily involving property crimes which are heavily linked to drug addiction.

Kyle Gordon Ordway pleaded guilty to manslaughter in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo on Wednesday, Aug. 21. in relation to the death of his former girlfriend. (Nanaimo RCMP)

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by NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

Man pleads guilty in connection to death of former girlfriend in Nanaimo

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