SASKATOON – A 65-year-old man from British Columbia has been charged with first-degree murder 30 years after a homicide in Saskatchewan. On Dec. 14, 1985, two masked men entered Frances Wendland’s home in Rosthern.
The suspects locked Wendland’s two daughters, aged seven and eight, along with a 10-year-old friend who had been sleeping over, in a basement bathroom.
Upon escaping, the youth found Wendland deceased in a bedroom. Court records show Wendland was then tied up with packing tape – her neck, chin and mouth tightly bound.
The RCMP “F” Division Historical Case Unit North re-opened the homicide investigation in 2011. A team of investigators from across western Canada worked on the case.
Dennis Henry Hahn was arrested by RCMP in Surrey B.C. last week.
Hahn is charged with first-degree murder and unlawful confinement. He appeared via video link Monday in Saskatoon provincial court.
His next court appearance is scheduled for July 27.
In 1990, police arrested Donald Marlow and a jury convicted him of first-degree murder for being an accessory to the killing. Court heard Wendland’s estranged husband, Larry, used Marlow to hire two men to kill her.
Court also heard at Marlow’s trial that the Wendlands were swingers and that Larry was worried Frances would use videotapes of their sex life in divorce and custody proceedings.
Larry Wendland, who married the couple’s babysitter a year after the killing, committed suicide in 1989.
With files from The Canadian Press
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