Treatment team recommends more freedom for man who killed 5 at house party

Matthew de Grood appears in a Calgary court on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, in this courtroom sketch. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Janice Fletcher)

A Calgary man deemed not criminally responsible for stabbing five people to death at a house party is seeking more freedoms.

His treating psychiatrist, Dr. Sergio Santana, said Matthew de Grood remains a low level to reoffend and is ready for relaxed rules to make it easier for de Grood to visit his sister in British Columbia.

The argument was made at an annual hearing before Alberta’s Criminal Code Review Board on de Grood’s progress and whether additional freedoms would be warranted.

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“We can only recommend,” Santana told the board Wednesday.

“It is up to the board to agree whether they agree or not, but certainly last year we thought he was ready for more privileges.”

Santana said de Grood continues to suffer from PTSD and the effect his actions had on his own family and those of his victims.

“It’s not just the guilt but it’s also the shame that comes with it. We know that bodes well,” Santana said. People who feel guilt and shame and remorse … they want to change. That always bodes well for their recovery."

De Grood’s team has been pressing for more freedoms.

In September, Alberta’s Court of Appeal rejected their bid for a conditional discharge for de Grood or, at the very least, a relaxation of rules surrounding his supervision in group homes.

He was charged with murder in the 2014 deaths but found not criminally responsible as he was mentally ill at the time.

Court heard that in the early hours of April 15, 2014, during a party described as laid back and relaxed, de Grood went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, then quickly and without provocation stabbed Zackariah Rathwell, Jordan Segura, Kaiti Perras, Josh Hunter and Lawrence Hong before fleeing. He was 22 years old at that time.

The trial heard de Grood, suffering from schizophrenia at the time, believed he was attacking Medusas and werewolves for the son of God.

“The expert evidence was unanimous that the appellant had suffered a psychotic episode, had lost touch with reality and did not appreciate that his behaviour was morally wrong,” said the Appeal Court decision in September.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2025.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press