Sarnia Jail inmate charged with first-degree murder

A Sarnia Jail inmate has been charged with first-degree murder after another inmate died Wednesday, Sarnia police say.

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Douglas Cutbush, 51, of Sarnia, was found unresponsive in his cell about 3:45 am, police said.

“Investigators have since determined the death to be a homicide and have arrested another inmate who shared the same cell with the deceased,” police said.

Devin Fentie, 33, of Sarnia, is charged with first-degree murder.

An autopsy has been scheduled for Thursday through the Ontario Coroner’s Office, police said.

“The ministry can confirm an inmate passed away at the Sarnia Jail early this morning. Given there are multiple ongoing investigations related to this matter, no further information can be provided,” Brent Ross, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General, said via email.

Fentie, wearing standard-issue orange jail clothes, with brown hair and a mustache, appeared briefly in Sarnia bail court on Wednesday about 3 pm He was held pending a court appearance next week.

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Fentie previously was charged in 2023 in London with uttering a death threat by letter to mass murderer Nathaniel Veltman, 23, the white nationalist convicted of killing four members of a London Pakistani Muslim family and severely injuring a boy on June 6, 2021. A psychological assessment was ordered for Fentie in that case about a year ago and the charges were dropped in April.

But he was scheduled to appear in London court Wednesday on other charges. He also has another outstanding case in Sarnia, which is slated to go to trial starting Monday.

Fentie previously was sentenced in Sarnia to probation for assault causing bodily harm, property damage and assaulting a police officer during a Canada Day party in 2012. He was naked when he tried to punch and head-butt an officer.

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Cutbush’s charges, which were laid about a month ago, were dropped Wednesday at the request of the Crown due to his death. It’s unclear how long he had been in custody prior to Wednesday.

This is the city’s first homicide of the year, but comes just a month after a Lambton College international student was stabbed to death in a house rented by multiple people on Queen Street.

Crossley Hunter, 36, who also lived in the house has been charged with second-degree murder.

The last known death of a Sarnia Jail inmate was September 2022, when Cody David Cook, 33, from Sarnia was found in medical distress by jail staff. He later died in hospital.

An inquest was held last year into the 2020 death of Travis Havers, 31, who died by suicide, due in part to not receiving opioid-replacement medication. A jury recommended making nine changes at the jail.

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