Man charged with second-degree murder in 62-year-old London woman’s death

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A 44-year-old man is charged with second-degree murder in London’s third homicide of 2024 – one of two to occur this weekend.

London police have said it was about midnight on Friday when officers were called to an apartment building near the Wharncliffe-Western roads intersection following reports of a medical emergency. Police say officers found a woman with life-threatening injuries.

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The woman was taken to hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, police said.

On Sunday evening, police said 44-year-old George Kenneth Curtis of London is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Cheryl Lynn Sheldon, 62, of London. They were known to each other, police said, adding Curtis is in custody and next slated to appear in court on Tuesday.

Throughout the weekend, police officers have been stationed outside apartment 504 at 345 Wharncliffe Rd. N., a public housing building located just north of the Wharncliffe Road-Oxford Street intersection.

In announcing the second-degree murder charge, police also issued a statement “with respect to intimate partner violence and femicide.” It read, in part: “Intimate partner violence persists as a threat to the safety and wellbeing of our community. Ninety-five municipalities across Ontario, including the City of London, have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic.”

The woman’s death occurred roughly two hours after London police were called at 10 p.m. Friday to another public housing complex, at 1057 Southdale Rd. E., where officers found a man with life-threatening injuries who later died in hospital. The victim was identified to The Free Press by his father as 18-year-old Abdul Hashim, known to friends as “Zeko.”

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