Murder In Oshawa -- A Cold Case Freezes Over

The Oshawa cold case has come to an abrupt halt. As usual there is more to the story than at first appears.

The Crown has withdrawn the second degree murder charge laid just four months ago against the former next-door neighbour of Beverly Lynn Smith.

The 22-year-old woman was killed in her north Oshawa home in December 1974 while her 10-month-old daughter slept in the next room.

The Crown attorney told the justice of the peace in an Oshawa courtroom, Thursday, that there is no reasonable prospect of conviction and with that the charge against 56-year-old Alan Smith -- no relation to the victim -- was dropped.

A team of detectives and uniformed officers has reinterviewed dozens of the original witnesses from the 1970's. One of them was Linda Smith, the ex-wife of Alan Smith. They lived together at the time of the murder and she was with him when he found Beverly Smith's body.

And here is where the story gets complex.

Durham police have since charged her with obstruction of justice and while they are not saying why, there are two options.

One, she lied (maybe) to the police and that led to the murder charge.

Or the police messed up and want someone to blame.

Either option is bad -- and if the basis of the charge was a lie that unravelled, why didn't the police unravel the lie before charging?

I suppose that may be holding the police to an overly high standard but this case was hardly breaking news -- caution was appropriate.