Warning graphic: Chatham-Kent man pleads guilty to murdering his roommate

A Chatham man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Warning: Contains graphic content

A Chatham-Kent man has pled guilty to murdering his roommate.

David Trealout, 35, pleaded guilty Friday to attacking Henry Neudorf, 55, with a frying pan.

Court learned the murder on Jan. 11, 2024, was preceded by a serious argument and fight the day before.

“Trealout repeatedly struck the victim about the head, smashed a bottle and placed the bottle to the victim’s throat, threatening to slash his throat,” the Crown attorney said Friday.

Police responded and separated the men, but no criminal charges were laid.

“This early disagreement festered,” the Crown explained, with Trealout and a co-accused allegedly discussing murdering Neudorf.

Trealout met Neudorf at the door of their home, armed with a frying pan, court learned.

“Trealout attacked the victim from behind. Trealout repeatedly bludgeoned the victim in the head. And by his own account, 15 times with the frying pan,” the crown says.

Trealout and a co-accused, court heard, dragged Neudorf’s lifeless body into the garage and placed him into the trunk of his own car.

Darin Noland – a third co-accused – has already admitted in court he drove Neudorf’s car to Townline Road in Chatham-Kent.

Trealout and his co-accused pulled Neudorf from the trunk, and “dragged” him into a water-filled ditch.

“They then staged the scene to look as though Neudorf had crashed into the other ditch and left the scene on foot,” according to the crown.

The group drove to Leamington in a separate vehicle to dispose of the evidence – including the frying pan – into a ditch.

Neudorf was reported missing by his daughter on Jan. 12 and motorists reported the car in the ditch to police the same day.

Police questioned Neudorf’s roommates who “feigned upset” at the news of his death.

An autopsy of Neudorf revealed he suffered blunt force trauma injuries to his head, including a broken cheekbone.

Trealout, court learned, was assessed by psychiatrists on two occasions since his arrest in 2024.

Doctors say Trealout has a depressive disorder and intellectual development disorder.

He has a criminal record and a pre-sentence report has been ordered in advance of a sentencing hearing in 2026.

A date has not been set.

Darin Noland pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder and was sentenced in November 2024 to time already served in pre-trial custody and placed on two years probation.

At that time, the crown told the court he is expected to be a witness at an upcoming trial of co-accused Kimberly Price.

Price’s lawyer, Ari Goldkind, tells CTV News her trial is currently scheduled for three weeks starting Nov. 9, 2026.