Francis (Fritz) Grosso and Bruce Spiers
Huntsville, ON / June 17, 1959
On June 17, 1959, a Huntsville, Ontario taxi driver received an out-of-town call. Apparently anticipating trouble he picked up another driver to accompany him. Neither was seen alive again.
The two drivers were Francis (Fritz) Grosso, 29 and Bruce Spiers, 22. Eleven days after their disappearance they were found dead in a gravel pit on a remote road. Both had been shot with a .22 calibre rifle and their pockets were turned inside out. Grosso had died instantly but Spiers had his skull crushed with a rock.
After the taxi was seen in the same area the following day, police set up roadblocks. While investigating a report of a stolen boat police captured a 19-year-old man and his girlfriend hiding in the bush. A 16-year-old youth was later captured in Huntsville.
The two males confessed to luring Grosso and Spiers onto a deserted road and then shooting them. Some time later the killers returned to rob the bodies. The 19-year-old found Spiers still alive and used the rock to finish him off.
The 19-year-old was convicted of murder and hanged at Parry Sound on February 9, 1960. He was buried in the jail yard at his request. The mayor of Parry Sound afterward wrote a letter to the Minister of Justice protesting the burial.
The 16-year-old was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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