Arthur Seelinger, 18, was dispatched from Pembroke to Camp Petawawa, about ten miles away, to pick up a fare on the night of January 23, 1945. Two sergeants testified that they rode from the camp to Petawawa Village in Mr. Seelinger's taxi. A third man in uniform, whom they did not know, was in the cab when they entered it and continued on after they got out. When Mr. Seelinger did not return from his trip the police were notified. A search was begun but Mr. Seelinger was not found until the next day on the outskirts of Pembroke. His head was battered and gashed and his hands and feet were badly frozen. He was rushed to hospital but died of skull fractures the next day without regaining consciousness.

The taxi had been rammed into a snowbank. The interior showed signs of a violent struggle -- the front seat, windshield and the front doors were spattered with blood and there was blood on the snow outside. An iron pipe, one end wrapped in bloodstained newspaper, was found nearby. Mr. Seelinger's wallet was gone. A coroner's inquest in March returned a verdict of "death at the hands of an unknown person, possibly a soldier."