PA PA- Harrisburg, Serial robber and killer of shopkeepers, 1963-64, *New Information and initiative*

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Harrisburg’s shopkeeper serial killer cold case from the 1960s may be solved: PennLive special report

He took the money… And their lives.

www.pennlive.com

June 21 2022 rbbm.
''It was the biggest manhunt in Harrisburg history. In the early 1960s, someone was executing store owners and stealing their cash – but he was never caught.
Or was he?
A 5-part PennLive investigation beginning Tuesday plunges readers nearly 60 years into Harrisburg’s past in hopes of finally solving what was then called the “Retail Rampage” of “Merchant Murders” that terrified the city.''

A grocery store owner is shot in the mouth behind his meat counter. A restauranteur takes a .22 behind the left ear, right after the lunch rush. A shoe store owner and uncle of the sitting Dauphin County DA is found face-down in a pool of blood, next to a pair of loafers. Finally, a convenience store owner takes five bullets to the torso, all so the killer can steal just 12 bucks.

The sensational case is full of twists and turns. Red herrings abound. And despite a massive police investigation that covered the better part of two years, all four high-profile homicides remain unsolved to this day.

But there’s still hope of unmasking the Harrisburg shopkeeper serial killer, once and for all.

An unexpected phone call placed nearly 60 years after the fact has current Dauphin County DA Fran Chardo reviewing the case all over again. Chardo has mined the county file archives and reached out to retired detectives -- all in search of the final clue to break the case.''

Chapter 1: Dauphin County DA’s uncle is the latest victim in Harrisburg’s ‘Merchant Murders’

Chapter 2: The killer’s sloppy first strike inside a Harrisburg grocery store nearly gets him caught

Chapter 3: The killer’s 2nd strike at lunch counter puts businesses on edge & manhunt in overdrive

Chapter 4: 2 Black teen girls served up as ready-made suspects in 4th merchant murder

Chapter 5: DA Fran Chardo’s quest to unmask the shopkeeper killer 60 years later''

 

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June 21 2022 rbbm lengthy article.

Someone was gunning down Harrisburg store owners in 1963. Was it a serial killer?

In banner headlines, the serial killings were being called “the Merchant Murders.”

www.pennlive.com

''Herschel Lock, the son of former DA Martin Lock, recalls how the mood darkened inside the his family home after his father's uncle was gunned down.'' Sean Simmers | [email protected]
By John Luciew | [email protected]
It was already the biggest manhunt in Harrisburg history.
Then, the sitting Dauphin County District Attorney’s uncle was gunned down inside his shoe store.
The emergency call late Friday afternoon, May 24, 1963, brought out every cop in the city, on-duty and off. For 18 weeks, Pennsylvania’s capital had been gripped by what the media dubbed a “retail rampage.”
Someone was killing store owners inside their mom-and-pop businesses, then taking their cash.''

''Two persons of interest, including an AWOL Army soldier who was inside the store, would be held by police and questioned for more than a day. But the real key to finally solving the “Merchant Murders” and unmasking the cold-blooded killer could be right upstairs from the shoe store.

That’s where a young mother of two had just finished watching her favorite afternoon TV show. She was awaiting her husband’s return from work when she heard a commotion from the store below

Could she finger the killer?''

''Morris Lock’s body lay in the rear of the store. The small alcove was hidden from the street. He was face-down, his feet pointing to where he did shoe repairs in back. The only signs of the struggle that Joan Snyder heard from upstairs was a spilled box of black leather loafers next to the body.

It was as if someone had asked Lock to try on a pair of shoes. And when the store owner turned his back, the killer struck.

Once again, the murder, itself, was coldly efficient. In police parlance, it was “execution style.”

The killer pressed his .22 revolver behind Lock’s left ear and fired. The slug, extracted at autopsy, was badly smashed. It likely ricocheted inside Lock’s skull, doing maximum damage.''


''All three store owners had been shot dead with a small-caliber handgun, almost certainly the same German-made .22.''

 

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rbbm.

Someone was gunning down Harrisburg store owners in 1963. Was it a serial killer?

In banner headlines, the serial killings were being called “the Merchant Murders.”

www.pennlive.com

''How did he know?​

In hearing the shot right after switching off her favorite program, Joan Snyder fixed the time of the murder at just before 5 p.m

This is crucially important.

In the prior two merchant murders, police could only pin down the time of the killings to half-hour-long windows. But in each case, the killer was able to strike while no one else was inside the stores.''
This was the strongest evidence yet of a calculating killer who carefully selected his targets to minimize the risk of getting caught.

Moreover, his cold-blooded executions of the store owners weren’t out of malice or some psychopathic urge. They were done to ensure there’d be no witnesses.

The mom-and-pop stores weren’t the richest targets. Just the least risky. The few hundred bucks in cash taken from the shops’ tills and usually, the store owners’ wallets, wasn’t big money. But it was a nice return on a few minutes’ work.''

 

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• Updated: Feb. 05, 2023 By John Luciew
• Someone was gunning down Harrisburg store owners in 1963. Was it a serial killer?
• ''Someone was killing store owners inside their mom-and-pop businesses, then taking their cash. Sometimes, this amounted to just a few hundred bucks. Such was the price of a life.
  
  With the discovery of Morris Lock face-down in a pool of blood on the floor of his North Third Street shoe store, it was now three shopkeeper killings and counting. In banner headlines, the serial killings were being called “the Merchant Murders.”

''This time, the body lying next to a pair of loafers spilled from a shoe box wasn’t just any businessman. This time, it was personal.

Morris Lock was the uncle of District Attorney Martin Lock. Together, they were members of one of the most prominent Jewish families in Harrisburg.''

JAN. 21, 1963: 54-year-old Robert Yablon was shot during a daylight hold up at grocery store at 1501 Regina St. He died the next day.

APRIL 29, 1963: 67-year-old Domenick Agostino, co-owner of Spagnolo’s Restaurant at 1024 Paxton St. was killed in his luncheonette, also in daylight.

MAY 24, 1963: 58-year-old Morris Lock was killed in his shoe store at 1313 N. 3rd Street. He was the uncle of the sitting district attorney.

APRIL 6, 1964: 55-year-old Stewart M. Chandler was gunned down about 9:30 p.m. in his cut rate store at 1300 State St. A customer coming in the store around 9:35 found the body.

“That is one of the good things about these look-back pieces,” Chardo said. “They trigger someone’s memory. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone knows something.”