Sam Delibasich, 47, was last seen alive at about 6:30 p.m. on December 9, 1949. In the late afternoon of December 10 his cab was seen parked in front of an apartment building on Bloor Street in Toronto. When the cab remained there for a few days one of the residents notified the police. On December 17 a hunter found Mr. Delibasich's frozen body in the middle of a ploughed field off Hurricane Road East, four or five miles from Welland. Mr. Delibasich was bludgeoned to death, but in addition to his fatal skull fracture he had also been stabbed six times with an ice pick. Three of the stab wounds were inflicted after his death. Police quickly arrested three local youths, but they were released without charge. The case remained unsolved until January, 1952, when a childhood friend of one of the killers reported his confession to the police. The killer's girlfriend reluctantly confirmed that he had told her the same story, and when confronted by the police, he voluntarily confessed to the murder in a written statement. According to the statement, the man and his brother, while drinking in a Welland bar, conceived the idea of hiring Mr. Delibasich (whom they knew) to drive them out of town where they would "knock him out" and take his cab to Toronto to sell it. In carrying out this plan they hit Mr. Delibasich over the head with a hammer and then used an ice pick to "finish him". After throwing the murder weapons into Lake Ontario along with the operator's badge and various papers belonging to the victim, the killers vainly tried to sell the cab to several used car dealers in Toronto. Eventually they abandoned it on Bloor Street. The second brother was arrested in Brockville where he lived under another name. He had moved from Welland with his wife and three children soon after the murder.

Sam Delibasich. (Source: Toronto Globe & Mail, December 19, 1949, p. 9) The brother who had originally confessed to killing Mr. Delibasich was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. His appeal was denied. The second brother was acquitted.