Convicted Killer In OPP’s Oldest Cold Case Dies Suddenly In His Cell

It was an amazing bit of detective work from a series of different sleuths who refused to give up. But now the man who admitted he killed a 12-year-old girl nearly 40 years ago will never face the complete justice her family had always prayed for.

Last January, we told you how the OPP had finally solved the oldest cold case in their files, the murder of Katherine May Wilson.

She left her house in the town of Harvey, Ontario back on October 20, 1970 to pick up the mail and buy a few groceries in nearby Kirkland Lake.

She never came home.

Days turned into months and then into years with no word and the case went cold. And then, four decades later, police made a stunning announcement – they’d arrested a 61-year-old man for murder in connection with the case.

Barry Manion, a relative of the late victim’s father, was charged with abduction and first degree murder. He pleaded guilty to the horrific crime in a courtroom this week, and was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.

But that “life in prison” was to be a short punishment for the killer. On Friday, just two days after hearing he’d never be free again, Manion was discovered dead in his prison cell.

He was found at the Monteith Correctional Complex in the morning, although the circumstances of his demise aren’t yet clear. He was alone in his cell at the time and initial reports suggest there’s no underlying medical cause for his death.

A post mortem scheduled for Monday may bring more answers about what happened. 

The court heard that Manion had sex with the child several times in the years prior to the murder. On the final day of her life, he picked her up in his truck, took her to a wooded area and demanded sex.

When she refused and ran off, he chased her into the woods and strangled her, burying her body and leaving her undiscovered until Manion took cops to the scene.

Her remains aren’t expected to be recovered until the spring thaw.