Police testify on early stages of Sweeney murder investigation, first suspect

Testifying on Tuesday morning, two former officers with the then Sudbury Regional Police described their involvement with the Renee Sweeney investigation as the murder trial continues.

The first witness, Jason Katz, said he was a uniform officer with about two years of experience on the force when Sweeney was murdered on Jan. 27, 1998.

Sudbury police cordoned off the parking lot of the Paris Street strip mall where Renee Sweeney was murdered inside the adult video store that she worked at. (Supplied)

Katz said the first call he heard on the police radio was that someone was "shot in the head" at the Adults Only Video store located in a strip mall on Paris Street.

During his testimony, he told Crown prosecutor Robert Parsons that he arrived at the strip mall around 11:40 a.m. that day.

"I was coming in hot, emergency equipment activated," Katz said.

When he arrived, he said there were firefighters already on the scene "pointing me to the plaza."

Because it was a weapons call, he said firefighters hadn’t entered the scene. When he arrived at the video store, he took out his firearm.

"It was a big call," Katz said.

"We don’t pull out our guns very often, but the nature of the call justified it."

With his adrenaline surging, he said he entered the video store and noticed all the windows were covered by advertisements, so he couldn’t see anything inside until he was physically inside.

"I opened the door, it was kind of weird," Katz said.

"I look in the door and yell 'police.' I could tell right away something had happened."

He said he could tell something had happened when he saw the videos and magazines on the floor along with bloodstains.

"It looked like some sort of altercation or struggle," Katz said.

"It was more than a finger cut."

He said he heard a woman’s voice, which later emerged to be Dr. Krista Jonas, an off-duty ER surgeon who had been next door and had come to the scene to see if she could help.

"And our victim was there," Katz said.

He said he then did what’s known as a "quick clear," looking around to see if anyone else was there, including in the washroom.

"Dr. Jonas made the determination that the victim was deceased," Katz said, making the call of death officially at 11:44 a.m.

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He said two paramedics came "right in behind me."

Sweeney’s body was taken out of the store around 3:30-3:45 p.m. and Katz said he worked to secure the scene for the investigation until 4:36 p.m. that day.

LEAD INVESTIGATOR TESTIFIES

The next to testify on Tuesday morning was Robert Keetch, now retired, who was a sergeant and the lead investigator in the case.

Keetch testified he was told about the murder around noon that day.

"I immediately drove to that location," he said.

"The scene had been cordoned off. The parking lot was cordoned off."

After surveying the crime scene, Keetch said he interviewed the young couple who were first to discover the crime scene and witnessed someone running out of the video store and fleeing up Paris Street.

He said he did more interviews, canvassed the area, and studied the scene more closely, as well as Sweeney’s body, looking for anything that stood out.

A canine track was being conducted "looking for the individual who had fled the scene," Keetch testified.

An OPP sketch artist was called in, arriving after midnight, he said and based on the descriptions from the young couple, the first composite sketch was completed around 2:45 a.m. Jan. 28, 1998.

The next morning, Keetch learned that a pair of gloves and a blood-stained blue jacket had been recovered as a result of the canine track.

Both the sketch and photos of the jacket were released to the public.

"The release of the composite generated a tremendous response," Keetch said.

A lot of people looked like the composite drawing, he said, and suddenly they were receiving a lot of "tips."

"Very quickly, the investigation became bogged down," he said.

On Feb. 1, 1998, they had an employee conduct an inventory at the store to see if anything was missing and discovered two sex toys had been taken.

FIRST SUSPECT

The court heard there was another suspect in the murder who was charged, John Fetterly, but those charges were later dropped.

Crown Parsons asked Keetch how Fetterly came to be a suspect.

Keetch said an investigator had linked Fetterly to the case through a right thumbprint that was found on the cashbox.

Fetterly had been already been arrested on Elgin Street "on an unrelated matter."

He was set for a bail hearing on the other matter when Keetch and another officer had that charge dropped and went there to "arrest him for the murder of Renee Sweeney."

Keetch said they agreed to drop the breach charge against him and take him into custody.

At the time, Fetterly was staying with his mom at a place on Riverside Drive. Police got a search warrant and seized several knives as well as a green work shirt.

In his cross-examination, Lacy asked the retired sergeant about the first composite drawing. Specifically, he asked Keetch whether at the time he said it was of "a witness or a suspect?"

"That’s correct," Keetch said.

The trial continues Tuesday afternoon CTV News digital content producer Darren MacDonald and videojournalist Ian Campbell are in the courtroom all day and will have an update Tuesday evening on CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca.