Perhaps the most anticipated murder trial in the city’s history begins today.
Jury selection in the case against Robert Steven Wright for the 1998 murder of Laurentian University student Renée Sweeney is expected to begin this morning.
The trial is expected to last five weeks. A publication ban and legal restrictions limit what we can say about the case.
On Jan. 27, 1998, Sweeney was brutally attacked at her workplace, an adult video store on Paris Street where she sustained multiple stab wounds and succumbed to her injuries.
"This horrific event rocked the community to its core then, and is still very much part of our life today," said GSPS Chief Paul Pedersen said at the December 2018 press conference where Wright’s arrest was announced. "I wasn't living in Sudbury at the time when this incident occurred, but from the moment that I became chief of police in this community, this organization made it very clear to me that this case took priority."
Wright was an 18-year-old high school student in 1998 who lived at home with his parents in Val Caron, but attended a high school a short walk from the plaza at 1500 Paris Street.**
He is now 43 years old and has been in custody since his arrest more than four years ago. He has been denied bail three times.
Wright is charged with second-degree murder in the case. Upon his arrest, Wright was charged with first-degree murder, however, that has since been downgraded to second degree.
The trial has been postponed several times. Wright is being represented by high-profile criminal lawyer Michael Lacy.
Greater Sudbury Police Services received more than 2,000 tips and eliminated more than 1,500 people as suspects over the course of the investigation. Police made numerous public appeals, released evidentiary photos, and employed innovative investigation techniques as information and technology advanced.
Police were looking for a suspect who they believed was a white man in his early 20s.
A variety of evidence, including DNA, was collected at the scene.
Shortly after the murder, Greater Sudbury Police arrested John Fetterly, 31, and charged him with first degree murder in the case, but later admitted they'd wrongly accused him, and issued an apology.
Police followed up on various tips over the years and Greater Sudbury Police has always said that, for them, the case never went cold.
Then in 2017, the DNA collected at the scene of Sweeney's murder was used to produce a new composite sketch of what the suspect may look like.
In March 2018, a new law came into effect that GSPS said gave them new tools to solve the case.
Known as “Lindsay's Law,” it was named after 14-year-old Lindsay Nicholls, who went missing on Vancouver Island in 1993. The legislation expanded the national DNA databank to include DNA from missing persons, collected from personal effects such as toothbrushes. It will also include DNA profiles from relatives of missing persons who have voluntarily made contributions, as well as from unidentified human remains.
On Dec. 11, 2018, Greater Sudbury Police made the major announcement that Robert Steven Wright, then 39, of North Bay, had been arrested and charged with Sweeney’s murder, citing forensic evidence.
The evidence that led to that arrest, however, has not been made public.
**Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Robert Steven Wright lived with his parents within walking distance of the murder scene.
