A 56-year-old man accused in the first homicide in the City of Woodstock since 2016 made a brief court appearance Wednesday.
A 56-year-old man accused in the first homicide in the city of Woodstock since 2016 lived down the hall from the victim, a neighbor says.
Paul Gerard Fitzgerald is charged with second-degree murder in the death of John Russell Foster, 59, court records show.
woodstock font launched an investigation into a “suspicious death” after officers responded to a dispute at an apartment building at 161 Fyfe Ave., between Cedar Street and Parkinson Road, in the Oxford County city east of London shortly after 2 am Tuesday, police said.
A 59-year-old male victim with “multiple stab wounds” was taken to hospital where he died, police said.
Police arrested a 56-year-old man just before noon that day.
No charges, nor the name of the victim or accused, have been announced by police in the case. A spokesperson for Woodstock police did not have an update as of midday Wednesday.
Fitzgerald is in custody at Woodstock police headquarters, from where he appeared in court by video link Wednesday. He stated his name and remained quiet as the Crown read the names of more than 20 people with whom he is ordered not to communicate. A publication ban was placed on any evidence at the hearing.
Fitzgerald lived on the second floor of the two-storey apartment, down the hallway from Foster, said Barron Charron, who lives on the same floor and has been a tenant in the building for 15 years.
“I still can’t believe that this has happened,” he said, the shock in his voice noticeable. “There’s no way I’ll ever understand it.”
Charron had few interactions with Fitzgerald, noting he didn’t know him or the victim well. Foster often played music loudly and left his door open, he said.
Charron recalled that Fitzgerald told him he was an orphan who had lost his parents.
“He was causing problems in the building” and came off as “threatening,” said Charron, citing one interaction in which he observed Fitzgerald pull out a switchblade without provocation.
Signs of Tuesday’s killing were visible hours later at the apartment, where an extensive trail of blood led from the top of the stairs and into the common area near the building’s front entrance.
Second-floor residents are prohibited from accessing their units due to the investigation, said Charron, speaking by phone Wednesday from a nearby hotel where he and other tenants are staying for the next few days.
A representative from Oxford County, which owns and operates the affordable housing complex, previously said the municipality is working with other agencies to support displaced residents.
Fitzgerald, who has yet to obtain a lawyer, is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 5.
Second-degree murder is generally categorized as a deliberate killing that did not include planning or forethought. Those convicted of the crime in Canada are sentenced to life with no chance at parole for between 10 and 25 years.
Tuesday’s homicide is Woodstock’s first since 2016 when Woodstock resident Flavius Miron was charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of 48-year-old Jerry (Jed) Klassen on July 13, 2016.
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