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It was a shocking murder case from the Ottawa Valley: a son accused of hiring a hitman to brutally kill his wealthy father.
Now, nearly 20 years after Kenneth Dick was left to die in a Renfrew County field, the final chapter in the story may have been written.
This week, convicted killer Leroy Baumhour died from natural causes in a Kingston prison, age 66.
Nonetheless, the crime and the questions that haunted the victim’s family for years remain, mostly because the man accused of plotting his father’s death never had his day in court.
In fact, Lois Dick, sister-in-law of the slain Kenneth Dick, said Friday she believes Baumhour has taken a secret to his grave, one she says “tore the family apart.”
Baumhour confessed to killing Kenneth Dick, the well-liked and well-to-do 81-year-old cattle rancher.
He testified in 2000 that he had been promised $8,000 in cash for doing the deed on Aug. 24, 1999.
A career criminal who often boasted he had spent nearly his entire adult life in jail, Baumhour claimed he was drawn into the scheme when an associate in Picton introduced him to Peter Dick — the only child of the Renfrew cattle rancher.
Peter Dick offered the man cash to kill his father and “make it look like an accident,” Baumhour would later testify.
However, Peter Dick died in July 2001 while out on bail awaiting trial. He left behind five daughters, and at the time his widow, Eileen, vehemently denied his involvement in his father’s death.
Murder victim Kenneth Dick.
“It was a very difficult time for the family, and the sad part of it was that Ken’s son was accused (of contracting the man to kill his father) and charged, but he died before he ever got to court,” Lois Dick said Friday.
Lois, Peter’s “favourite aunt,” said she, for one, believes to this day her nephew was framed.
Peter Dick suffered from diabetes, and shortly before the murder he learned he had only two years to live, Lois Dick said.
“I have my doubts. Peter may well have said something like, ‘I’ll have lots of money when the old man’s gone.’ And that might’ve planted the seed in someone else’s head,” she said.
Baumhour pleaded guilty to killing Kenneth Dick and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years. He stuck by his story in a jailhouse interview following his sentence, where he claimed Peter Dick met with him a week after the killing and handed him a bundle of folded bills, “his hand to mine. And that was it.”
The night of the alleged exchange, police in Picton stormed into both men’s homes and arrested Baumhour and Dick at gunpoint. An accomplice, Roger Reavie, was picked up two weeks later in Saskatchewan on a Canada-wide arrest warrant.
“(Peter Dick) said his dad had screwed him around,” Baumhour claimed in the 2001 jailhouse interview with this newspaper. “He wanted to pay and I wanted the money. … Within 10 days, his father was dead.”
He said he felt pity for the Dick family, but said, “They’re never going to get any closure until they accept the fact of (Peter’s) involvement.”
Peter Dick is seen leaving his father’s funeral with his wife, Eileen.
Baumhour and Reavie were spotted around town on the day of the killing. A witness testified the two “seemed out of place” at the Cobden Sale Barn — the famed cattle market owned by Harry and Lois Dick, where Harry’s brother, Kenneth Dick, was known to take his regular seat, front-row centre.
Baumhour later admitted he stalked the elder Dick for a week before he and Reavie lured him from his retirement home into their car, telling him they were businessmen scouting for a source of fresh spring water to bottle and sell.
They drove down a gravel road and pulled over near the property where the Dick family has roots dating back to the 1850s. As Dick bent down to fill his Thermos with fresh water, Baumhour plunged a knife into the man’s heart, slit his throat and left him in the roadside stream, his pockets out-turned to make it look like a robbery.
The farmer who found the body was a lifelong friend of Dick’s, and would later testify to seeing the “strange green car” driving down the road with three people inside, only to pass by again driving the other direction, only now with two people inside. He took note of the licence plate.
Baumhour claimed he met Peter Dick a week later in Picton, where he said the slain man’s son forked over $4,300 in cash, on top of the $1,000 he had paid in advance.
The associate in Picton who had introduced the two men, a man identified in court as Gerry Lawton, entered the witness protection program, a fact confirmed at the time by Crown prosecutor Peter Barnes.
Another man, Norman Lawe, testified the same associate, Lawton, had approached him offering $10,000 for the contract killing in the summer of 1999. Lawe didn’t want the job, but passed the contact along to his friend, Leroy Baumhour.
Born in Ottawa, Baumhour never knew his father. His mother died in a car accident shortly after his birth, and he was adopted by a family in Picton, according to a friend. He dropped out of school at age 15 and soon spiralled into a life of crime.
He was weeping as he cradled his newborn daughter, named Adara, as he was led away to spend the rest of his life in prison. At the time of his arrest, at age 48, he was engaged to 18-year-old Christy Woodward.
A relative of the woman declined comment Friday.
Lois Dick, all these years later, still believes Peter Dick was innocent.
“He never got a chance to clear his name,” Lois Dick said. “I considered taking it further, but the family, most of them would just like to forget it and get past it.”
ahelmer@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/helmera
查看原文...
Now, nearly 20 years after Kenneth Dick was left to die in a Renfrew County field, the final chapter in the story may have been written.
This week, convicted killer Leroy Baumhour died from natural causes in a Kingston prison, age 66.
Nonetheless, the crime and the questions that haunted the victim’s family for years remain, mostly because the man accused of plotting his father’s death never had his day in court.
In fact, Lois Dick, sister-in-law of the slain Kenneth Dick, said Friday she believes Baumhour has taken a secret to his grave, one she says “tore the family apart.”
•
Baumhour confessed to killing Kenneth Dick, the well-liked and well-to-do 81-year-old cattle rancher.
He testified in 2000 that he had been promised $8,000 in cash for doing the deed on Aug. 24, 1999.
A career criminal who often boasted he had spent nearly his entire adult life in jail, Baumhour claimed he was drawn into the scheme when an associate in Picton introduced him to Peter Dick — the only child of the Renfrew cattle rancher.
Peter Dick offered the man cash to kill his father and “make it look like an accident,” Baumhour would later testify.
However, Peter Dick died in July 2001 while out on bail awaiting trial. He left behind five daughters, and at the time his widow, Eileen, vehemently denied his involvement in his father’s death.
Murder victim Kenneth Dick.
“It was a very difficult time for the family, and the sad part of it was that Ken’s son was accused (of contracting the man to kill his father) and charged, but he died before he ever got to court,” Lois Dick said Friday.
Lois, Peter’s “favourite aunt,” said she, for one, believes to this day her nephew was framed.
Peter Dick suffered from diabetes, and shortly before the murder he learned he had only two years to live, Lois Dick said.
“I have my doubts. Peter may well have said something like, ‘I’ll have lots of money when the old man’s gone.’ And that might’ve planted the seed in someone else’s head,” she said.
Baumhour pleaded guilty to killing Kenneth Dick and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years. He stuck by his story in a jailhouse interview following his sentence, where he claimed Peter Dick met with him a week after the killing and handed him a bundle of folded bills, “his hand to mine. And that was it.”
The night of the alleged exchange, police in Picton stormed into both men’s homes and arrested Baumhour and Dick at gunpoint. An accomplice, Roger Reavie, was picked up two weeks later in Saskatchewan on a Canada-wide arrest warrant.
“(Peter Dick) said his dad had screwed him around,” Baumhour claimed in the 2001 jailhouse interview with this newspaper. “He wanted to pay and I wanted the money. … Within 10 days, his father was dead.”
He said he felt pity for the Dick family, but said, “They’re never going to get any closure until they accept the fact of (Peter’s) involvement.”
Peter Dick is seen leaving his father’s funeral with his wife, Eileen.
Baumhour and Reavie were spotted around town on the day of the killing. A witness testified the two “seemed out of place” at the Cobden Sale Barn — the famed cattle market owned by Harry and Lois Dick, where Harry’s brother, Kenneth Dick, was known to take his regular seat, front-row centre.
Baumhour later admitted he stalked the elder Dick for a week before he and Reavie lured him from his retirement home into their car, telling him they were businessmen scouting for a source of fresh spring water to bottle and sell.
They drove down a gravel road and pulled over near the property where the Dick family has roots dating back to the 1850s. As Dick bent down to fill his Thermos with fresh water, Baumhour plunged a knife into the man’s heart, slit his throat and left him in the roadside stream, his pockets out-turned to make it look like a robbery.
The farmer who found the body was a lifelong friend of Dick’s, and would later testify to seeing the “strange green car” driving down the road with three people inside, only to pass by again driving the other direction, only now with two people inside. He took note of the licence plate.
Baumhour claimed he met Peter Dick a week later in Picton, where he said the slain man’s son forked over $4,300 in cash, on top of the $1,000 he had paid in advance.
The associate in Picton who had introduced the two men, a man identified in court as Gerry Lawton, entered the witness protection program, a fact confirmed at the time by Crown prosecutor Peter Barnes.
Another man, Norman Lawe, testified the same associate, Lawton, had approached him offering $10,000 for the contract killing in the summer of 1999. Lawe didn’t want the job, but passed the contact along to his friend, Leroy Baumhour.
•
Born in Ottawa, Baumhour never knew his father. His mother died in a car accident shortly after his birth, and he was adopted by a family in Picton, according to a friend. He dropped out of school at age 15 and soon spiralled into a life of crime.
He was weeping as he cradled his newborn daughter, named Adara, as he was led away to spend the rest of his life in prison. At the time of his arrest, at age 48, he was engaged to 18-year-old Christy Woodward.
A relative of the woman declined comment Friday.
Lois Dick, all these years later, still believes Peter Dick was innocent.
“He never got a chance to clear his name,” Lois Dick said. “I considered taking it further, but the family, most of them would just like to forget it and get past it.”
ahelmer@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/helmera
查看原文...
