WINCHESTER – A man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 2009 disappearance of a Chesterville man.
Raymond Collison, 59, was reported missing in September 2009. He remains were found in a ditch near Morewood in April 2014.
Collison was last seen outside the McClockey Hotel in Chesterville. In 2014, O.P.P. declared his death a homicide.
Today (May 31), members of the SD&G O.P.P., the O.P.P. Crime Unit and the Criminal Investigation Branch arrested James Henry “Jimmy” Wise.
The 75-year-old is facing a single count of first-degree murder.
He has been living at Dundas Manor.
It’s a complete 180 for Wise, who was long suspected in a string of unsolved murders in the Morewood area. He had been facing 10 criminal counts as part of the cold case investigation – none of the charges were murder or manslaughter – before all those criminal charges were withdrawn by the Crown with no explanation in October 2017.
Last fall, Wise was in failing health and was confined to a wheelchair after suffering a stroke, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
Wise has always denied any connection to the cold case murders and has never been charged with any of them – until today.
Wise is being held in custody for a court appearance in Cornwall on Friday (June 1).