RCMP lay charges in 30-year-old cold case

Mounties have laid murder charges 30 years after a woman was found dead in her home in Rosthern.

Making his first court appearance at Saskatoon Provincial Court on Monday via video, 66-year-old Dennis Henry Hahn has been remanded into custody and faces charges of first-degree murder and unlawful confinement.

RCMP located Hahn on July 10 in Surrey B.C. and he was arrested without incident outside of a business.

On Dec. 14, 1985, police found 43-year-old Frances Wendland dead, bound and gagged in her home. She died from asphyxiation and there was no evidence of sexual assault. At the time police believed two men entered Wendland’s home sometime after midnight. There, three girls were locked in a bathroom and after a while they escaped and found Wendland’s body.

According to the RCMP, in 1990, an adult male appeared in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench for his involvement in Wendland’s death where he was charged as an accessory to the murder of Wendland.

The “F” Division Historical Case Unit North re-opened the homicide investigation in 2011 and further investigation led to the arrest of Hahn.

His next court appearance is on July 27 at 9:30 a.m. at Saskatoon Provincial Court.
 
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