Judge finds Wainwright man guilty of murdering estranged wife at retrial

A man from Wainwright, Alta., has been found guilty of second-degree murder at a retrial concerning the 2017 stabbing death of his estranged wife.

Robert Dean Clifford was found guilty at a judge-alone trial in Edmonton on Friday morning.

“The killing itself was brutal, angry and personal,” Judge Nicholas Devlin said after finding Clifford guilty.

The retrial was scheduled after a judge declared a mistrial in the case in 2021.

READ MORE: Retrial begins for Wainwright man accused of murdering estranged wife

Nichole McKeith’s body was found in her home in Wainwright on the morning of Feb. 24. She was alone in the house. RCMP had been called to the home to perform a welfare check. She was 31 at the time.

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Clifford was arrested by police eight months after McKeith’s death.

Previous testimony at the trial explained that there were complaints regarding previous alleged incidents of domestic violence in the relationship. At one time, McKeith had called police, reporting to them that Clifford had broken in and she found him hiding under her bed.

Over the course of the retrial, it was revealed that Clifford’s DNA had been found on one of McKeith’s fingernail clippings and also on a bloodied belt discovered next to her body.

Devlin said he did not find the version of events provided by Clifford and his defence team to be plausible given the DNA evidence. The defence had argued someone else must have killed McKeith.

1:25 Retrial beings for Wainwright man accused of murdering estranged wife

“(That) his DNA somehow ended up on her hand with defensive wounds while the killer’s did not, is not a reasonable or plausible proposition,” the justice said.

Clifford’s bail was revoked after he was found guilty on Friday. He has been remanded into custody and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 2.

McKeith’s mother told Global News she was happy and relieved that the trial is over even though she believes he should have been convicted of first-degree murder.

“But you know what? I’ll take it. I’ll take second-degree (murder),” Delilah McKeith said. “The pain is there and the pain is hard. It doesn’t matter the amount of time — it’s there.

“Nothing will ever be closed. She’s gone. She was a major part of our lives. But it closes a horrible chapter, that’s what it does. It closes a chapter and now I can go forward and try to heal.”

–With files from Sarah Ryan, Global News