Kingston cops crack three cold-case killings
Kingston man, 65, also faces charges involving explosion and bank robbery
A 65-year-old man allegedly responsible for three murders and a string of other crimes that took place years ago in Eastern Ontario was arrested this week, solving a set of cases that had long gone cold, police said Friday.
The charges laid against Michael Wentworth relate to the fatal beating of an elderly woman, the subsequent slayings of two men, a brazen bank robbery and the detonation of an explosive device, authorities said.
About 120 officers converged on the man in a co-ordinated takedown in Kingston on Thursday that was part of a joint investigation between local and provincial forces. Upwards of 60 investigators were involved as police built their case, officials said.
“Our joint investigations have produced a result that offers an opportunity for these grieving families to try to move forward having lived with their respective tragic losses for so long,” Kingston police Chief Antje McNeely said.
Wentworth faces three counts of first-degree murder, armed robbery, armed hostage-taking and various explosive-related charges.
Investigators focused their attention on the man — who also goes by Michael Verney — about a year ago, OPP Det. Insp. Jim Gorry said.
The first crime Wentworth is accused in involved an alleged break-in at the home of 92-year-old Henrietta Knight on June 2, 1995.
“Her death was very violent for a lady of her age,” Gorry told reporters. “She was severely beaten.”
She died months later from her injuries, police said.
On July 4, 1995, two men armed with firearms walked into a Toronto-Dominion Bank in Kingston and made off with a “sizable amount of money,” Gorry alleged.
Then, in November 1996, a 30-year-old man named Richard Kimball vanished, police said.
“Our investigation led to the discovery that he had been murdered,” Gorry said, adding that police were still searching various properties, but Kimball’s body had not been found.
Police said the crimes continued on July 19, 2000, when an explosive device was detonated in Toronto.
“It caused extensive damage, but thankfully no injuries,” OPP Det. Insp. Brad Collins said.
On Oct. 21, 2001, police found Stephen St-Denis, 47, dead in a suspicious house fire.