Decades-old murder case of woman found in Ont. river delayed over concerns accused not fit for trial

CTV National News: Charges in 1975 cold case Adrian Ghobrial reports on an 81-year-old man charged with murder in a 1975 Ontario cold case of a strangled woman.

After weeks of delays, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has yet to determine whether the man accused of killing an American woman and dumping her body in a river in Ontario nearly 50 years ago is fit to stand trial.

Last year, Rodney Nichols was extradited from the U.S. to Canada after being charged with the 1975 murder of 48-year-old Jewell Parchman Langford.

Lawyers for Nichols, now in his 80s, have said he suffers from dementia and requires an assessment of whether he is fit to be tried for Langford's murder.

Court documents reviewed by CTV News Toronto show that assessment has been twice extended due to a lack of available forensic neuropsychologists at the Whitby, Ont. mental health facility where Nichols is currently detained.

The filings show that Nichols was first ordered to undergo an assessment at the beginning of the year and, on Jan. 18, was transferred to Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences in Whitby.

The report from the initial assessment, dated Feb. 9, was inconclusive, according to the documents. Nichols was then ordered to undergo further assessment for a period of either 30 or 60 days. However, under the Criminal Code, the total time of an original assessment order and extension must not exceed 60 days.

The case came back to the courts on Feb. 13, when Holowka granted another extension to March 17. But before it could return, a second report, received by the court on Feb. 29, cited a lack of available forensic neuropsychologists for the delays and requested yet another extension – to mid-April.

In his latest decision, Justice Brian Holowka wrote that, while a second assessment order would constitute an “imperfect process,” he ultimately found it a “responsive” approach to the needs of the accused and granted another extension.

'The Nation River Lady'

For more than 40 years, Langford's fate remained a mystery.

Langford, born Jewell Parchman, was a prominent member of the business community in Jackson, Tenn. at the time of her death, according to investigators.

In April 1975, Langford travelled from the U.S. to Montreal. Soon after, her family said they lost contact with her and that, when she did not return as expected, they reported her as missing.

Her disappearance coincided with the discovery of a woman’s body floating in the Nation River near the Highway 417 bridge, south of Casselman, Ont., about 50 kilometres east of Ottawa.

In the following 47 years, a number of efforts made by police to identify the woman and any potential suspects were unsuccessful. They included forensic artist's renderings, a 3D facial reconstruction, a dedicated tip line and descriptions of evidence accompanied by several public appeals for information by police.

Forty-seven years later, after a sample of the remains was shared with the U.S.-based DNA Doe Project, Langford was identified. Until then, the unidentified remains had been referred to as “Nation River Lady.”

Langford’s remains were repatriated to the U.S. in March 2022, followed by a memorial service and burial.

With files from CTVNews.ca.