It’s been more than 15 years since Devon Allaire-Bell, 19, was brutally stabbed and kicked to death on a field behind Frank Hurt secondary school in Newton, apparently over something as trivial as a soccer ball. The April 24, 2011 homicide remains unsolved.
“I can confirm that it is still an open investigation for which charges have not been laid,” Sgt. Freda Fong, a spokeswoman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, told the Now-Leader on Monday. “Investigators are open to any new information anyone has about this case and are committed to exhausting any investigative leads viable.”
Police have been looking for six suspects, but the school’s camera only captured five of them on tape, calmly walking away from the scene of the crime.
The suspects were described at the time as Indo-Canadian men. Allaire-Bell and a pal were drinking a couple beers and playing soccer in a field behind the school at 13940 77 Ave. during the evening of April 24, Easter Sunday, when three Indo-Canadian men approached them and the five got into an argument.
Investigators said three more Indo-Canadian men joined in, a fight broke out and Allaire-Bell and his friend were stabbed multiple times. His friend survived the attack and stumbled across the parking lot to call for help.
Shortly after, the crime investigators released video surveillance footage of the five suspects that showed them cut through an Esso gas station on their way to the school, passing through a McDonald’s restaurant on 72nd just west of King George Boulevard. Police noted at the time that one suspect had a unique marine-style haircut, with the sides and back shaved and a small amount of hair on top. That, of course, that was 15 years ago.
The victim’s parents, Cynthia Allaire-Bell and Wayne Bell, attended that 2011 police press conference, sitting beside a cedar urn containing their boy’s remains.
“The people who did this, you reduced this very caring, loving young man to ashes,” the grieving mom cried, pointing at the urn. “That’s him, in there. If you believe that you were a man when you did this, be a man and stand up and take responsibility for what you did, for only slimy evil can do such a thing and feel no remorse.
“To the mothers of these so-called people,” she pleaded, “think hard and look hard because this might one day be your child, and not necessarily the child that did this but one of your other children. So please, we know that there are people out there that know who did this evil, cruel act. Mothers look into your hearts, and think of your own children, because you don’t want to go here.
“The murder of our young must stop,” she cried.
Police ask anyone who might have information about this killing to call the IHIT Information Line at 1-877-551-4448, monitored 24/7.