WARNING: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing. Reader’s discretion is advised.
Family members have asked the court for a harsh punishment in the murder of a Tilbury man.
Henry Neudorf, 55, was killed on Jan. 11, 2024, by his roommate, David Trealout, now 36 years old.
Trealout pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in September 2025 by admitting to repeatedly striking Neudorf in the head with a cast iron frying pan.
He has also admitted to participating in the plan to kill Neudorf and he was part of the coverup afterwards.
Neudorf was also strangled with a scarf and suffocated by a plastic bag over his head.
His body, court learned, was dumped in a water-filled ditch in rural Chatham-Kent.
The autopsy found the blunt force trauma was the likely cause of death, but a pathologist also said strangulation and drowning could have also contributed to Neudorf’s death.
At a sentencing hearing Tuesday, two of Neudorf’s sisters, his daughter, and best friend, presented victim impact statements to Justice Brian Dube.
They all described a man who was committed to his large family of 16 siblings and three children.
Neudorf, the family members say, worked hard as a truck driver, loved boating, and was a skilled carpenter.
“He was a good man with a big heart who would be there and help anyone who needed it,” Neudorf’s daughter said.
“He just got caught up with the wrong people while trying to be able to afford his rent.”
She said her father’s murder has changed how she sees the world.
“Because of what has happened, I now know that real and deliberate evil exists in this world,” she said.
Two of Neudorf’s sisters spoke directly to Trealout.
“David, your hands took part in taking my brother’s life and I let those hands touch me. I let you hug me on that Jan. 12, 2024, cold day,” one sister tearfully said.
“Since finding out you were one of them involved in my brother’s murder, you have no idea what that’s done to me. It has stressed me out.”
Another sister described his actions as “senseless and cowardly.”
“Henry was not your enemy,” she said.
“Henry was kind to you, and you were violent to him.”
Neudorf’s best friend said “the ordinary moments” are what he misses the most, telling the court Henry was in his life since childhood.
“Henry’s death will always be a dividing line in my life, the years when my friend was here and the years when he was not.”
Trealout speaks to family
To conclude Tuesday’s hearing, Trealout read a letter in court, written to the Neudorf family.
“The pain I have caused can never be put into words,” Trealout said.
“I will forever regret what I did. I know that is too little to console the broken hearted but please know when I say I’m sorry, I mean it with all my heart. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, and I believe my actions deserve a far greater punishment than what I am to receive here today.”
Trealout’s guilty plea carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison; all the judge must decide is his period of parole ineligibility.
The prosecution has asked it to be set at 18 years, while the defence believes that is too high but declined to specify how long they want his parole ineligibility to be.
His lawyer did tell the court Trealout dropped out of school in Grade 7, has the intellect of a 15-year-old, and suffers from numerous mental health conditions, including bi-polar disorder.
She also said he was easily influenced by others, including the other people involved in the murder.
Tuesday afternoon, Justice Brian Dube sentenced Trealout to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years.
“The circumstances [of the murder] reveal elements of planning and deliberation where the offender killed an unarmed, defenceless victim in a brutal and senseless act of violence,” the judge said Tuesday.
He said it was also aggravating the steps Trealout and three others took to dispose of Neudorf’s body by “staging the scene” to look like he had driven himself into the ditch.
The judge gave Trealout credit for:
- Taking responsibility after his arrest
- Cooperating with the police investigation
- Guilty plea (which spared the family at least one trial)
- Show of remorse in court and in pre-sentence report
- Serious mental and developmental challenges
Were it not for those factors, Justice Dube said he would have increased Trealout’s sentence beyond 15 years parole ineligibility.
According to his own lawyer, Trealout could be a witness at the trial of a third co-accused who is currently slated to stand trial this fall.