Crown closes case in father’s murder trial
Published On Thu Sep 16 2010
Betsy Powell
Police found Megan with a pink housecoat belt looped around her neck after Wilde drove to 33 Division and confessed to killing his youngest daughter. His wife at the time, Karen, testified Wednesday that Wilde had seemed fine earlier in the day when she and the girls went to pick him up at work.
When she arrived home early, around 9 p.m., from her part-time job at the Don Valley Bible Chapel, she saw
police. Her busband had been diagnosed with bipolar mood disorder and was taking anti-depressant medication and mood-stabilizing pills though he had stopped taking both about five days earlier.
Eight-year-old Megan Wilde died of ligature strangulation but was an otherwise healthy child, an Ontario Superior Court jury heard Wednesday before the Crown closed its case against her father.
Rick Wilde, 39, is on trial for second-degree murder in the Oct. 18, 2007 death of his daughter Megan. He argues he is not criminally responsible because of mental illness.
Wilde standing in their daughter Mariah’s bedroom. “He parted the blinds and waved at me,” she told jurors. It was odd because he would normally be downstairs working on his computer, she said.
When she went inside, Rick told her he wasn’t feeling well. But everything else appeared normal, she said. Karen went upstairs and noticed the lights were out in Megan’s bedroom. “She’s sleeping, I’m not going to disturb her,” she recalled on the stand.
Wilde continued to complain of his recurring acid reflux. He was also fidgety and said he would shower and go for a walk, she said.
“He kissed me goodbye,” Karen recalled. Within a few minutes she heard the wail of sirens but figured they were heading to the seniors’ residence next door.
Then she heard pounding on the door. It was the police.
“My first thought, obviously, was Rick,” she testified.
Also Wednesday, the jury watched a police interview with Wilde about nine hours after he showed up at the station. During it, he told
The trial resumes Friday.