Police have made an arrest in connection with the city’s second homicide of 2023 last week.
On Tuesday morning, Peterborough Police Service Chief Stuart Betts held another media conference in the downtown to update the investigation into the death of city resident Jacob Jansen on Aug. 8.
Betts said the 27-year-old man was found with a stab wound outside the Maple Moose Pub on George Street North around 11:30 p.m. that night. Jansen later died in hospital.
The police chief said an assault on Jansen “occurred on the sidewalk” in the area of George and Simcoe streets. Nearby Fleming Park was closed a day later as part of the investigation.
On Monday, Aug. 14, officers located and arrested William Weir, 32, of Peterborough, who was charged with first-degree murder.
Betts reiterated that the alleged assault was captured on video from the recently installed closed-circuit television cameras in the downtown core. The 12 cameras were operational on July 31.
“It proved to be a vital piece of evidence in this investigation,” Betts said.
The police chief says investigators are still trying to determine the relationship between the accused and the victim.
Betts said he couldn’t comment on the events that led up to the alleged assault.
When asked if the Jansen was experiencing homelessness at the time, Betts responded “this particular individual was known to be on the streets; however, I can’t speak to the specifics of his circumstances, just that he was well-known in and around the community on the streets.”
Betts said Weir has had prior criminal convictions for violent offences but was not currently not on bail or probation.
According to court documents, Weir over a decade ago served a sentence for uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and served probation for assault with a weapon and failure to comply with probation.
Weir is scheduled to appear in court in Peterborough on Tuesday, Betts said.
“The Peterborough Police Service would like to recognize the hard work and many hours our detectives have put in to identifying the individual, gathering, and validating the evidence that culminated in the arrest,” said Betts “This arrest was greatly helped by the presence of the CCTV cameras in our downtown core.”
Jansen’s death was the second homicide in Peterborough in 2023, following the shooting death of 36-year-old Sarah King at a Wolfe Street tent encampment on June 2. Police said the mother of two was not a resident of the encampment.
A week later, police arrested a man for first-degree murder.
— more to come
— with files from Robert Lothian/Global News Peterborough