Murder at McDonald's

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Murder at McDonald's

The Killers Next Door

Phonse Jessome

MYSTERIOUSPRESS.COM

This book is dedicated to the memory of Donna Warren, Neil Burroughs, and Jimmy Fagan. You are missed and loved by many. It is also a tribute to the bravery of Arlene MacNeil, who continues to struggle to regain control of her life. You are an inspiration.

FOREWORD

While I was working in an embattled Detroit newsroom, I found myself becoming hardened to the horrific stories of violence unfolding around me. Six people shot dead in a crack house; a twelve-year-old girl killed in a drive-by shooting on her way to school; a drug dealer gunned down in a suburban street battle—the stories were frighteningly common. Another human being dead, with no apparent motive and no suspects. There were people trying to stem the tide—trying to take back their neighbourhoods—but there were always the murders.

When I moved to the Maritimes, I found it ironic to see that my former station was being carried on the region's cable system. Its news seemed so out of place, so foreign to the East Coast reality. Surely there couldn't be incidents happening here that were as brutal and senseless as those I remembered from Detroit. Indeed, the commonly held belief was that things like that don't happen here in the Maritimes. The sense of community outrage when it did happen was overwhelming.

ATV's Phonse Jessome was on the scene at the Sydney River McDonald's in the early hours of May 7, 1992, minutes after a holdup in which three young men from Cape Breton systematically killed three young restaurant employees and left a fourth for dead. This is the story of what happened that night—the police search for the killers, the interrogations, the ordeals of the victims' families, and the volatile trials, punctuated with gripping testimony and outbursts of powerful emotion.

As the story Unfolded and the ATV Evening News coverage continued, Phonse Jessome became obsessed with learning every detail of what had happened, and his knowledge expanded with every story he prepared and every person he interviewed. He talked to everyone involved with the tragedy, spending hours discussing the case with the lawyers who prosecuted and defended the three young people charged, and he was able to obtain confidential police information on the investigation of the crime.

This is the true story of the killers next door—and the madness they unleashed.

—Bill Patrick

Network News Director, ATV/ASN

PREFACE

A reporter's job is to tell a story. Early on the morning of May 7, 1992, I was awakened by a phone call that led to one of the most difficult stories I have ever had to tell. Four young employees at the Sydney River McDonald's restaurant had just been gunned down during a robbery. Three of the victims died; the fourth remains disabled. Three young men from the Sydney area were arrested and eventually convicted.

I covered this story for a year and a half, from the police investigation that began that morning, through to the trials, held in Sydney and Halifax. I was helped in my work by the investigators, prosecutors, and defence attorneys involved, and by the many people affected by the shootings. I watched as those caught up in this tragedy rode an emotional roller coaster; although shaken to the core by this brutal crime, they had the courage to explain, in public—on the evening news—what they were going through.

Many of the relatives of the victims shared a concern: they wanted to know if anyone would ever have the time to tell the whole story. This book is my attempt to address that concern, and it is my way of thanking the people who let me shed public light on their private pain.

By way of explanation to those who were closest to this story, the names of five people have been changed in the writing of this book: The cousin of Derek Wood, one of the three convicted in the McDonald's murders, is called Mike Campbell; the three men at the centre of the first, ill-fated arrests in the case have been named Gary McIssac, Bill O'Handley, and Glen Delaney; and the sister of one of these suspects is called Cynthia Long. The names have been changed because the suspects were never involved in the crime.

I should also explain that my description, early in the book, of the commission of the crime is presented from the perspective of the victims, by using information in the confessions by the three men convicted in the case. The three confessions have common elements, but they differ in some ways; the disparities become apparent later in the story.

Although this book singles out only a few of the investigators involved in this case, this is in no way an indication that the others were less important a part of the investigating team. Those who are named would be the first to insist that everyone involved in the investigation and subsequent trials deserves equal billing. I would like to thank all the officers involved, for this is also your story. To Kevin Cleary, Pat Murphy, John Trickett, and Dave Roper, thanks for the time you took away from your tasks to talk with me.

Ken Haley, Brian Williston, and Marc Chisholm lived with this tragedy for many months. As the prosecutors responsible for handling the three trials, they showed great dedication and professionalism. Thank you for finding time to answer my questions.

I would also like to thank Dr. Jim Manos of Dalhousie University, who gave me a crash course in adolescent behaviour and the group dynamic.

There are a few people who were not involved in the story, but who were key to seeing it written. Dorothy Blythe, the managing editor at Nimbus, is the one who felt the McDonald's tragedy should be told in book form, and who called to ask me to write it. And although I have been writing professionally for more than thirteen years, it is a Nimbus editor, Liane Heller, who gently guided me in an entirely new craft. Writing news for broadcast is based on conveying information orally, while writing a book is a much more formal process, engaging the eye and the inner ear of a reader's imagination. If this book does not read like an incredibly lengthy newscast, it is because of Liane's professionalism and dedication. I would also like to mention Greg Boone, a colleague and friend for many years. In the months spent preparing this book, he offered support and encouragement bordering on harassment; it helped. Lawrence Bourque is another close friend whose unwavering confidence in my ability to write this book left me believing I could.

There are a number of photographs included here, and for their use I must thank my employer, the Atlantic Television System; most of the photos are prints from ATV video tape. In particular, thanks to Bill Patrick for allowing me to use the tape, and thanks to the camera operators who recorded the shots: Bruce Hennessey, Gary Mansfield, George Reeves, Stuart MacDougall, Sandra Kipis, Cyril Worth, Jim Kvammen, Chris Murphy, Steve Rafuse, and Tom Tynes. I would also like to acknowledge Mike Aitkens, the editor who helped prepare the video tape for recording in still form; and Steve Townsend, who took the photograph of me.

Finally, on a more personal note, I would like to thank my wife, Barbara, for her help and patience as I attempted to juggle two jobs in the preparation of this book. I must also thank our daughter, Barbara Michelle, for sacrificing her “quality time” with Dad; and our son, Paul, for the perspective on the nature of today's adolescents.

One

Shortly after midnight on Thursday, May 7, 1992, Jimmy Fagan headed out for the last walk of his life. Jimmy did not know that was what he was doing, as he locked the front door of his parents' home and walked down the steps to the sidewalk. His parents didn't know it either, when they went to bed without saying goodnight. Jimmy had been down in the basement watching TV when they retired for the night, after looking in on him to make sure he was still awake to go to work. Not saying goodbye that night was one of the many little things that would haunt them in the difficult months ahead.

Of course Jimmy had every right to expect a normal night at work, and his parents had every right to expect to see their son in the morning. They would see him in about two hours, but he would not be the Jimmy they knew. They would never again see the happy-go-lucky boy they loved so much.

Al and Theresa Fagan had worked hard all their lives to raise and support Jimmy, his five brothers, and his two sisters. Al, who was retired, now had the time to look back on his life—all the years at the Sydney steel plant, and all the weekends when they took off for the cottage in a station wagon loaded with kids. Theresa still worked at a local senior citizens home, but she too enjoyed recalling the memories of a house full of kids, and the couple spent many a happy evening talking over old times. Both were proud of their children and looked forward to years of family gatherings, as the ranks of the Fagan family swelled with sons, and daughters-in-law—and, of course, grandchildren. The old house seemed to come alive when it reverberated with the sounds of children yelling and running, and that was just fine with Al and Theresa. The more, the merrier.