CANADA Florence, 63 & Harold 64,Fagan, Toronto, 6 March 1978
- Thread starter dotr
- Start date
Also posted on the Barry and Honey Sherman thread.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/high-profile-cases-1.4470585
By Lauren Pelley, CBC News Posted: Jan 03, 2018
[h=2]Celia, Isaac & Avrom Airst, Toronto, 30 September 1979[/h]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/high-profile-cases-1.4470585
By Lauren Pelley, CBC News Posted: Jan 03, 2018
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?365395-Celia-Isaac-amp-Avrom-Airst-Toronto-30-September-1979&highlight=Celia+Airst
[h=2]Celia, Isaac & Avrom Airst, Toronto, 30 September 1979[/h]
March 2 2021
HUNTER: March mayhem unmasked in Toronto cold cases | Toronto Sun
''The double-murder of hard-working Harold and Florence Fagan has baffled cops for decades.
Harold Fagan owned Half-Beat Harold’s Record Bar on Granby St. off Yonge. He was well-known and well-liked and also owned concession stands at the CNE.
On the morning of Monday, March 6, 1978, the couple’s chauffeur discovered Harold, 63, and Florence, 62, shot to death in their home on Dewbourne Ave., near Bathurst St. and Eglinton Ave. W.
Cops believed the pair had been murdered sometime late Sunday night. Their daughter was the last known person to speak with them, around 8 p.m.
Generations of detectives have stuck with the theory that the motive was a robbery that came off the rails.
It was well-known that the Fagans kept $500 around the house. Did they have a bigger stash, the killer may have asked himself.''
lost toronto - blogger
HUNTER: March mayhem unmasked in Toronto cold cases | Toronto Sun
''The double-murder of hard-working Harold and Florence Fagan has baffled cops for decades.
Harold Fagan owned Half-Beat Harold’s Record Bar on Granby St. off Yonge. He was well-known and well-liked and also owned concession stands at the CNE.
On the morning of Monday, March 6, 1978, the couple’s chauffeur discovered Harold, 63, and Florence, 62, shot to death in their home on Dewbourne Ave., near Bathurst St. and Eglinton Ave. W.
Cops believed the pair had been murdered sometime late Sunday night. Their daughter was the last known person to speak with them, around 8 p.m.
Generations of detectives have stuck with the theory that the motive was a robbery that came off the rails.
It was well-known that the Fagans kept $500 around the house. Did they have a bigger stash, the killer may have asked himself.''
lost toronto - blogger
Dec. 5, 2021
Two midtown Toronto families killed at home, a year apart. What, if anything, connects their ‘overkill’ murders?
''Chauffeur Gerry Antoniuk sensed something wasn’t right almost immediately after he arrived at his customer’s home.
No one greeted him at 8:30 a.m. the morning of Tuesday, March 7, 1978.
He hit the horn and there was still no response.
“I knew something was wrong because I honked the car, no one came to the window to wave to me,” Antoniuk later told The Star’s Bob Graham.
Antoniuk’s client was Harry Fagan, 63, an old CNE-style carny known as “Happy Harry” and “Mr. Showman of the Ex.”
Fagan lived with his long-time wife Florence, 62, in a detached home in the Bathurst and Eglinton area of midtown Toronto.
Fagan didn’t get rich selling novelties and balloons, but he wasn’t doing badly either.
One of the perks he enjoyed after more than four decades of hustling was that he could afford a chauffeur to drive him to work.
Harry Fagan was known for working seven days a week. In the beginning, before he established himself as “Happy Harry,” he ran a fish and chip stand in Riverdale Park and Half Beat Harry’s Record Store downtown.
In time, he rose to become president of International Concessions, and he sold novelties and souvenirs to concessionaires at the CNE and other Ontario fairs.
He also still ran his own CNE booth, selling souvenir hats, sassy badges and balloons.
A scroll in his office read: “Forty years — started by selling balloons but I loved every minute of this crazy business.”
Antoniuk was trusted enough he had a key to the Fagan family home. That Tuesday morning when no one answered the door, Antoniuk phoned Fagan’s adult daughter and was given permission to enter the home.
“I opened the door and yelled, ‘Hullo!’” Antoniuk said. “On the living room floor there was the contents of the cupboards. The place was ransacked.”
Antoniuk knew that Fagan was in the habit of keeping $500 to $1,000 cash in the house. It was easy to wonder how many others knew that too.
“I looked in the kitchen, and where Mr. Fagan kept his money, in a tool box, was emptied — I know there was about $500 in there on Sunday night because we’d been working at the Dufferin flea market, and I drove him home around 5 p.m.”
“I looked in the bedroom, and everything was thrown all over the bed. I went to the exercise room which Mr. Fagan always used, nothing. Nothing in the bathroom.”
Next, he checked Florence Fagan’s sewing room.
“I pushed open the door slowly, and saw a hand. Mrs. Fagan was on the floor and Mr. Fagan was on the bed, they were both dead.”
Harry and Florence Fagan had both been shot point-blank. Harry was shot in the chest and head while Florence was shot in the head.
It seemed like massive overkill, since they were no match for an intruder with a handgun.
Their double murder wasn’t solved by October 1979, when police were called to another nearby homicide scene, this one a triple slaying.
Again, a couple who weren’t physically imposing were slain in their home, this time with their adult son also a victim.
Again, there was massive overkill, and a highly personal feel to the crimes.''
Ws thread for the other couple..
CANADA - Celia, Isaac & Avrom Airst, Toronto, 30 September 1979
Two midtown Toronto families killed at home, a year apart. What, if anything, connects their ‘overkill’ murders?
''Chauffeur Gerry Antoniuk sensed something wasn’t right almost immediately after he arrived at his customer’s home.
No one greeted him at 8:30 a.m. the morning of Tuesday, March 7, 1978.
He hit the horn and there was still no response.
“I knew something was wrong because I honked the car, no one came to the window to wave to me,” Antoniuk later told The Star’s Bob Graham.
Antoniuk’s client was Harry Fagan, 63, an old CNE-style carny known as “Happy Harry” and “Mr. Showman of the Ex.”
Fagan lived with his long-time wife Florence, 62, in a detached home in the Bathurst and Eglinton area of midtown Toronto.
Fagan didn’t get rich selling novelties and balloons, but he wasn’t doing badly either.
One of the perks he enjoyed after more than four decades of hustling was that he could afford a chauffeur to drive him to work.
Harry Fagan was known for working seven days a week. In the beginning, before he established himself as “Happy Harry,” he ran a fish and chip stand in Riverdale Park and Half Beat Harry’s Record Store downtown.
In time, he rose to become president of International Concessions, and he sold novelties and souvenirs to concessionaires at the CNE and other Ontario fairs.
He also still ran his own CNE booth, selling souvenir hats, sassy badges and balloons.
A scroll in his office read: “Forty years — started by selling balloons but I loved every minute of this crazy business.”
Antoniuk was trusted enough he had a key to the Fagan family home. That Tuesday morning when no one answered the door, Antoniuk phoned Fagan’s adult daughter and was given permission to enter the home.
“I opened the door and yelled, ‘Hullo!’” Antoniuk said. “On the living room floor there was the contents of the cupboards. The place was ransacked.”
Antoniuk knew that Fagan was in the habit of keeping $500 to $1,000 cash in the house. It was easy to wonder how many others knew that too.
“I looked in the kitchen, and where Mr. Fagan kept his money, in a tool box, was emptied — I know there was about $500 in there on Sunday night because we’d been working at the Dufferin flea market, and I drove him home around 5 p.m.”
“I looked in the bedroom, and everything was thrown all over the bed. I went to the exercise room which Mr. Fagan always used, nothing. Nothing in the bathroom.”
Next, he checked Florence Fagan’s sewing room.
“I pushed open the door slowly, and saw a hand. Mrs. Fagan was on the floor and Mr. Fagan was on the bed, they were both dead.”
Harry and Florence Fagan had both been shot point-blank. Harry was shot in the chest and head while Florence was shot in the head.
It seemed like massive overkill, since they were no match for an intruder with a handgun.
Their double murder wasn’t solved by October 1979, when police were called to another nearby homicide scene, this one a triple slaying.
Again, a couple who weren’t physically imposing were slain in their home, this time with their adult son also a victim.
Again, there was massive overkill, and a highly personal feel to the crimes.''
Ws thread for the other couple..
CANADA - Celia, Isaac & Avrom Airst, Toronto, 30 September 1979
This case has previously been referenced by me on this thread..
CANADA - Canada - Barry, 75, & Honey Sherman, 70, found dead, Toronto, 15 Dec 2017 #18 | Page 24 (websleuths.com)
March 8 2022 rbbm.
HUNTER: Cops hunt killers who murdered 'legit, good kid' | Toronto Sun
''In many ways, the double murder of Harold and Florence Fagan were the Sherman murders before the Sherman murders.
On March 5, 1978, Harry, 64 — a successful entrepreneur and carnival magnate — and his wife, Florence, 63, were dropped off by their chauffeur at their Dewbourne Ave. mansion in posh Forest Hill. It was the last time anyone saw them alive and other than a brief phone call with their daughter, they were never heard from again.''
The next morning around 8:30 a.m., cops responded to a 911 call. Inside the home, the couple were found shot to death in a rear room.''
The house had been ransacked, but there didn’t appear to be a forced entry. Cops initially believed the slayings were a murder gone awry, but they soon changed their tune.
One of the Fagan’s business ventures was carnivals, and he was well-known for running concession stands at the CNE. Cops now believe these business dealings were connected to the murders.
“We think there was some disagreement with some carnival people in Montreal,” Smith said, adding that Quebec wasn’t part of Fagan’s territory and his rivals took umbrage.
Now, 44 years later, the murders are consigned to the dustbin unless someone coughs up crucial information that could close it.
If you have any information regarding any of these cases, please contact the Toronto Police homicide squad at 416-808-7400, or at homicide@torontopolice.on.ca, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477).''
CANADA - Canada - Barry, 75, & Honey Sherman, 70, found dead, Toronto, 15 Dec 2017 #18 | Page 24 (websleuths.com)
March 8 2022 rbbm.
HUNTER: Cops hunt killers who murdered 'legit, good kid' | Toronto Sun
''In many ways, the double murder of Harold and Florence Fagan were the Sherman murders before the Sherman murders.
On March 5, 1978, Harry, 64 — a successful entrepreneur and carnival magnate — and his wife, Florence, 63, were dropped off by their chauffeur at their Dewbourne Ave. mansion in posh Forest Hill. It was the last time anyone saw them alive and other than a brief phone call with their daughter, they were never heard from again.''
The next morning around 8:30 a.m., cops responded to a 911 call. Inside the home, the couple were found shot to death in a rear room.''
The house had been ransacked, but there didn’t appear to be a forced entry. Cops initially believed the slayings were a murder gone awry, but they soon changed their tune.
One of the Fagan’s business ventures was carnivals, and he was well-known for running concession stands at the CNE. Cops now believe these business dealings were connected to the murders.
“We think there was some disagreement with some carnival people in Montreal,” Smith said, adding that Quebec wasn’t part of Fagan’s territory and his rivals took umbrage.
Now, 44 years later, the murders are consigned to the dustbin unless someone coughs up crucial information that could close it.
If you have any information regarding any of these cases, please contact the Toronto Police homicide squad at 416-808-7400, or at homicide@torontopolice.on.ca, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477).''
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