With grandson acquitted, police no longer investigating the fatal stabbing of Marlene Wilson.
By J.P. Antonacci Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The police thought they had their man. The prosecutor believed he had proven his
case.
But the jury disagreed, finding 36-year-old Jordaine Wilson not guilty of fatally
stabbing his grandmother inside their Waterford home more than two years ago.
CRIME
That verdict, delivered inside the Simcoe courthouse on Aug. 5, left the homicide of
90-year-old Marlene Wilson officially unsolved. But police are no longer
investigating the crime.
“Led by a major case manager with the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch, the
OPP conducted a thorough and professional investigation, working diligently to
seek and fully investigate all information as part of this case,” Norfolk County
OPP Const. Andrew Gamble said in an email.
The police force is “aware” of the verdict and “respects the integrity of the court
process,” Gamble added.
Pending any new leads, Wilson’s murder will stay a cold case.
“If new information were to come to light, the OPP would review that information
to determine whether further investigation is warranted,” Gamble said.
The Spectator submitted questions to Wilson through his lawyer and in a letter
hand-delivered to his home, looking for comment on the case and his reaction to
police indicating they are not looking for another suspect in his grandmother’s
death now that he has been found not guilty. Wilson did not respond.
But testifying in his own defence during the trial, Wilson denied killing his
grandmother, saying the two had never been closer than in the weeks before her
death.
In an email, Wendy Wilson — Jordaine’s mother and Marlene’s daughter —
declined to be interviewed for this story.
Jordaine Wilson’s lawyer, Robb MacDonald, told The Spectator he has not heard
from his client since driving him to Waterford after the verdict, dropping him off at
the same house where the crime took place.
“I got to be there to see his parents rejoicing on the front lawn of that Mechanic
Street address,” MacDonald said.
“It was a moment of happiness for the family, and that’s a testament to what the
family thinks. They’re welcoming Jordy with open arms, not as a suspect.”
A ‘bizarre murder’
Marlene Wilson was stabbed three times in the chest on the morning of Feb. 12,
2023, while in bed on the upper floor of the home she shared with her daughter,
two grandsons and a live-in caregiver.
She was found naked in the bathtub, her lifeless body submerged in soapy water.
The suspected weapon used in the homicide, a bloody kitchen knife, was found
under Jordaine Wilson’s bed, with his DNA on the handle. He was arrested five days
later.
At the trial in July, prosecutors did not offer a motive for the crime. Wilson
inherited no money from his grandmother, with whom he had a good relationship,
jurors heard.
MacDonald made much of the seemingly contradictory physical evidence at the
crime scene while drawing jurors’ attention to other potential suspects.
Jurors heard while Wilson took nothing from the house after police locked down
the scene, the caregiver was allowed to pack a bag in her room, unsupervised,
before leaving in the victim’s car, which was also not searched.
The blood-soaked fitted sheet from Wilson’s bed has never been found, with Crown
prosecutor Brian McGuire suggesting during his closing argument that Wilson may
have thrown the sheet into a pond behind the property.
“That’s where I think the Crown really lost them,” MacDonald told The Spectator.
As MacDonald saw it, McGuire’s theory left jurors confused as to why, if Wilson
was savvy enough to dispose of the fitted sheet, he would not also have thrown
away the weapon.
“That made the jury think, wait a minute, that theory doesn’t make sense,”
MacDonald said.
The “strange verdict” left McGuire “shocked,” the veteran prosecutor told reporters
outside the courtroom, calling Wilson “one lucky guy” to be walking free.
During his closing statement, McGuire scoffed at MacDonald’s contention that
anybody could have committed the murder — what the prosecutor derisively called
the “Waterford Ripper” theory.
But MacDonald told The Spectator there was no obvious motive among the family
members and no “ideal suspect.”
“This is a house that was never locked,” he said.
“But of the people that were there at the time, only a handful had regular and easy
access to the house, and none of them made for a good candidate for this bizarre
murder.”
McGuire did not respond to requests for comment for the story. After the verdict
was read, he told reporters there was “no basis for appeal.”
Assistant Crown attorney Rachel Beedham and the Ministry of the Attorney
General confirmed the Crown did not appeal the acquittal.
Community left without answers
The violent death of a senior caused a stir in the rural county, where murders are
few and far between — a fact the police spokesperson acknowledged.
“We recognize the concern this case may raise within the community and want to
reassure residents that public safety remains a top priority,” Gamble said.
MacDonald said with the investigation at a standstill, rattled residents may never
know the truth of what happened to Marlene Wilson.
“It’s got to be unsettling,” he said.
“The community’s left with questions that will not be answered. That’s the sad
reality.”
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