British Columbia

Former B.C. Lion Josh Boden charged with 2nd-degree murder in death of ex-girlfriend

Kimberly Lynn Hallgarth, Boden's ex-girlfriend, was found dead in her Burnaby home on March 15, 2009.

Kimberly Lynn Hallgarth was found dead in her Burnaby home on March 15, 2009

Josh Boden wears wraparound sunglasses, a navy blue suit and a purple shirt outside a Vancouver court.
Former Canadian Football League wide receiver Josh Boden in a 2012 photo. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Former B.C. Lion Josh Boden has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend Kimberly Lynn Hallgarth.

Hallgarth, 33, was found dead in her Burnaby home on March 15, 2009.

A year earlier, in 2008, Boden was charged with assaulting Hallgarth. He was later acquitted.

Police on scene at Kimberly Hallgarth's home in Burnaby on March 16, 2009. (CBC)

Boden, 31, was once a promising local high school prodigy. He was named the Canadian Junior Football League's Rookie of the Year in 2005 for his season with the South Surrey Rams (now called the Langley Rams). 

He went on to be a wide receiver for the B.C. Lions in the 2006-07 CFL season. He was cut from the team in 2008 following his charges of domestic assault.

After his acquittal, he played one game with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2009 before being cut a short time later. 

Josh Boden carries a football and wears a white B.C. Lions jersey as he trips over a green-clad Saskatchewan Roughriders player.
Josh Boden (1) played for the B.C. Lions in 2007. He played one game with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2008 after being released by B.C. (Richard Lam/The Canadian Press)

Boden had several run-ins with the law after the end of his CFL career, including multiple charges of sexual assault, assault, and traffic violations.  

In August 2009, Boden was charged after Vancouver police officers reported seeing him grope two women in separate incidents at the Burrard and Commercial Drive SkyTrain stations on Aug. 25, 2009.

After being arrested, Boden was also charged with sexually assaulting a woman on Aug. 13, 2009, in her office building.

At the time, Vancouver Police issued a rare warning to the public after Boden was released on bail, saying that he posed "a significant risk to the community."​

Josh Boden, right, goes through security screening at B.C. Provincial Court for sentencing on two sexual assault convictions on July 26, 2012. Boden has now been charged with the 2009 second-degree murder of his former girlfriend. Kimberly Hallgarth. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

In 2011, he was found guilty for both sexual assaults, as well as assaulting a police officer and obstructing a police officer. 

In 2018, he faced another two counts of assault, failure to comply with conditions and two driving charges. 

Boden makes his next court appearance in Vancouver Monday. 

With files from Jason Proctor