Toronto police are questioning a convicted murderer in jail in Windsor, Ont., about the killings of three Toronto women, police confirmed Thursday. All three women were prostitutes and strangled to death in the 1990s, according to Windsor Staff Sgt. Norm Burkoski.

Officers interviewed Peter Dale MacDonald, 51, a native of Summerside, P.E.I., after he was brought from Kingston Penitentiary on Wednesday to answer to a second-degree murder charge in Windsor. MacDonald is currently serving a life sentence for the April 2000 murder of James Campbell, 63, in Toronto.

Michelle Charette, 40, was found strangled in Windsor, Ont., on Aug. 16, 2000. (CBC)

Charged 2nd time for same homicide

MacDonald was arraigned in a Windsor court Thursday on a second-degree murder charge, accused of strangling Michelle Charette, 40, in August 2000. Charette's decomposed and brutalized body was found in weeds near the Ford plant in Windsor, three weeks after she disappeared. Police initially arrested and charged MacDonald with the killing, but days before his trial was to begin in 2003, the Crown dropped the charges, citing a lack of evidence.

The investigation remained active but the case went cold, until a police visit to MacDonald in prison last summer led to new evidence allegedly implicating him in the Charette killing, police said.

Since late December, Windsor detectives have been contacted by officers from the Toronto and Charlottetown, P.E.I., forces.

'We recognize the importance of these cases.'—Windsor police Supt. Vince Power

"It's in relation to other homicides," Burkoski told CBC News.

Toronto is looking into the killings of three women while Charlottetown is investigating the death of one man, said Burkoski. All the homicides are cold cases dating back as far as the late 1980s, and MacDonald is a person of interest in each of them, police said.

"Generally speaking there are some similarities in relation to the out-of-town cases in comparison to the Windsor case," said Burkoski.

MacDonald is originally from P.E.I., and lived for a time in both Toronto and Windsor, police said.

Silent in court

"I was told that there's police officers from Toronto jurisdiction looking to speak with him," MacDonald's lawyer, Robert Dipietro, told reporters outside the court Thursday, but he said he did not know why they might want to speak with his client.

MacDonald entered the court Thursday wearing an orange jumpsuit, and appeared pale, said CBC reporter Kimberly Juras, who was inside the courtroom.

"He looked around, but didn't utter a word," said Juras.

Dipietro requested and was granted a continuance until Jan. 28 to allow both the Crown and defence to examine evidence.

"This is one of those cold cases that goes back for some time, that hopefully we'll be able to deal with as soon as possible," said Dipietro.

"We recognize the importance of these cases, not only to the community but to the victims' families," Windsor police Supt. Vince Power told CBC News.

"Certainly this is one of those cases, and when new information comes forward or there's information that we can work on, we will, and we do."

MacDonald was being held in the Windsor jail Thursday, where his lawyer said he will stay until the Charette case has been dealt with.