Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty, with family roots of more than 100 years in Huntsville
The late Anthony ‘Tony’ Asturi, of Anthony’s Hair Salon, presents a cheque to OPP Constable Ray Harrington for the Blackmore/Verdecchia fund. (Photo: March 1981).
Chester Blackmore, a gas attendant in Burk’s Falls, and Huntsville OPP Constable Richard Verdecchia were murdered in January 1981 when two Windsor men, Gary Fitzgerald, 20, and Joseph Schoenberger, 19, went on a northbound robbery and shooting spree.
According to news reports, Schoenberger and Fitzgerald left Windsor on Jan. 2, 1981, to go on a spree of stealing weapons they planned to sell in Toronto. After breaking into and stealing a rifle from a hunt camp in Matawa and guns, ammunition, and knives from a home, they stopped at a gas station in Burk’s Falls. Fitzgerald shot Blackmore, the station attendant. Blackmore’s lifeless body was found by the station’s pumps. The men proceeded south, where they were stopped near Huntsville by Huntsville OPP Constable Richard Verdecchia. Fitzgerald shot Verdecchia in the head, and his patrol car was hidden.
Orillia OPP officer Neil Hurtubise also stopped the men. He was shot and sustained injuries. The men were arrested a few hours later.
Schoenberger was convicted of being an accessory to the murder of Huntsville Ontario Provincial Police Officer Richard Verdecchia, the attempted murder of Const. Neil Hurtubise, the robbery of a rifle from a hunting camp in Mattawa, Ont., and the robbery of guns, ammunition and knives from the home of George Richards.
Fitzgerald was convicted on two counts of murder and one of attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole for 25 years.
Community members raised funds for the two murdered men’s families.
Do you have interesting photos to share of days gone by? We’d love to see them! Email: [email protected]
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