C.B. man faces murder charge
UPDATED 11:30 a.m. Tuesday
SYDNEY — A Sydney man faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of Troy Francis Johnston, 35, of North Sydney on Friday.
Charles Jack Wheeliker, 45, is to appear in Sydney provincial court today.
Police say an autopsy has confirmed a 35-year-old man whose body was found in a Townsend Street apartment Friday was the victim of a homicide.
However, Cape Breton Regional Police aren’t saying how Johnston died.
Police were called to the second-floor apartment at 476 Townsend St. just before midnight after paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive a 35-year-old man.
Officers arrested Wheeliker at the apartment Saturday and kept him in custody while the forensic team searched the apartment, Staff Sgt. Mike Kennedy said Sunday.
Police said they had concerns about the circumstances of the death shortly after they arrived at the scene. The major crime and forensic identification units were called in.
The two men knew each other and were the only people in the apartment, Kennedy said.
The victim is from North Sydney and was known to police, said the major crime officer. Kennedy was unsure whether the accused had a criminal record.
The victim lived in the apartment. Kennedy couldn’t say whether the victim lived there alone or whether the accused was visiting.
The police spokesman also wouldn’t say how the victim died or whether the two men got into a fight.
Kennedy did say the death does not appear to be related to the drug trade.
Police spent Saturday canvassing the neighbourhood and interviewing the building’s other tenants. It is unclear whether any of them were home when the man died.
Patricia Applin, who owns the building with her husband, said she didn’t know the victim and couldn’t add anything to the details police released.
Applin said the couple bought the building in the 1990s and they have never had any trouble there before.
“None whatsoever.”