Chatham-Kent police have charged a man with first degree murder of his wife in 1987.
Police say Donna Jarvis, 22, was shot and killed on Nov. 12, 1987 on Indian Creek Road in Harwich Township.
George Jarvis, the husband of the deceased was arrested and charged with first degree murder on Thursday.
The incident was investigated at that time and insufficient evidence existed to warrant the laying of any criminal charges, say police.
In 2013, the case was re-opened and further investigations took place. These investigations were led by Det. Const. Rob Rose and Det. Const. Aaron Medenblik of the Chatham police major crime section.
The behavioral sciences and analysis section of the OPP also assisted with the investigation.
“It's a long hard journey to go back and open some of these older cases, so yeah it took a lot of leg work," says Insp. Ed Reed of the Chatham-Kent police. "We had to back track on a few things and it also took a lot of work on behavioral science people and dealing with other people that were involved with the case to bring it to a conclusion."
Reed says it is always nice to close these cases.
“These old cases – you’ve got to remember - there's still victims that we have to look after and there's still loved ones that want to make sure this stuff gets looked after. And for us it's always nice to clear a major case such as a murder case and get it off the books and we're very happy with the outcome of this one."
Jarvis made his first court appearance Friday and remains in custody for a bail hearing.
