Archive - 1970
Manitoba Homicide #1970-xx
Date - 1970-04-23
Victim - NOYD, Lawrence (Larry) Charles (20);
Victim -
SASKE, Gregory (Greg) Joel (19)
Suspect/Accused - LANDERS, Glen Thomas (31)
Charge - NEVER CHARGED, RCMP CLOSED FILE on death of suspect in 1978
The murders of Lawrence Charles NOYD (20) and Gregory Joel SASKE (18) remained unsolved for eight years. No motive was ever reported and no charges were ever laid. While early media reports suspected more than one person may have been involved in the shooting, the RCMP closed the file in 1978 after their prime suspect, Glen Thomas LANDERS (31), was shot and killed during a prison escape, where he was serving time for an unrelated crime.
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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, April 24, 1970
SHOT AND STRANGLED
2 St. Boniface Youths Slain
Motorist Finds Bodies Near Floodway; Seeking Man Seen With Gun Fleeing Accident
By Jim Worobec and David Lee
The bodies of two St.Boniface teenagers were found Thursday in the ditches beside a well-travelled municipal road in the Rural Municipality of Ritchot on the south side fo the Red River Floodway. One youth had been shot to death, the other strangled. Police said the second youth probably was shot, too, but only an autopsy would confirm this.
An RCMP spokesman identifed the dead youth as:
Lawrence Charles Noyd, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Noyd, 34 Echo Bay.
Gregory Joel Saske, 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Saske, 25 Echo Bay.
No arrests have been made but a search was under way to find a person seen running from the scene of the an accident in which the car of one of the youths had been involved Wednesday night.
The spokesman said it appeared the victims had been running just before they were slain. They were thought to have died Wednesday night or early Thursday.
Mr. Noyd was last reported seen at about 7 p.m., Wednesday, driving his 1966 dark blue Ford sedan with licence GF 625, the RCMP said.
The car was subsequently involved in a traffic accident at Arlington Street and Portage Avenue at about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The RCMP official said witnesses to the accident reported observing a lone occupant of the car fleeing from the scene with what was described as a handgun. (Police found a pistol holster and cartidges at the scene of the accident).
He said the occupant of the car was "possibly the assailant" involved in the slayings.
The road where the bodies were found by a motorist - at about 10:30 a.m., Thursday - is a connecting thoroughfare between Highway 59 and the village of Grande Pointe.
Coming in from the highway, the road leads straight west, then up on the bank of the floodway on the north, then dips down to the flats again to the south.
The body of Mr. Saske was found at the bottom of the hill in the ditch to the right-hand side of the road. He was facedown in shallow water and had been shot in the back and side of the head with a shotgun. The body was fully clothed.
The body of Mr. Noyd was found 500 yards farther to the west on the left-hand side of the road in the ditch near the CN Rail tracks. The body was facedown in shallow water.
An unofficial source said Mr. Noyds' body bore several pellet wounds from a shotgun blast. The source said Mr. Noyd had three main wounds - one in the head, another in the neck and one in the chest, and that both youths had been shot at close range.
There were footprints of a wide enough gait to that Mr. Saske had run from the spot where Mr. Noyd's body was found.
The source said indications are that more than one assailant was involved.
Robbery was ruled out as a motive for the slayings. A wallet containing $124 and identification was found on the body of the Noyd youth.
The RCMP said no wallet belonging to the Saske youth was found but that his parents said he may not have been carrying one.
The Saske youth was identified from photographs and personal effects found on his body.
The bodies were found by an unidentified motorist who notified the St. Vital police department. The RCMP was then called in.
RCMP patrol cars moved into the area minutes later. Road blocks were set up and investigators began combing the area for clues.
RCMP used a helicopter at one point.
The RCMP said it appeard the Noyd youth died from gunshot wounds in the head. He said the second youth apparently died from strangulation and possibly gunshot wounds. An autopsy would determine whether or not the youth had actually been shot.
The spokesman said Dr. Athol R. Gordon, the deputy provincial coroner, was to open an inquest in Winnipeg General Hospital Friday. An autopsy was also to be performed Friday.
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Winnipeg Free Press, April 25, 1970 (Partial Article)
By Ritchie Gage
To Walter Saske his son Gregory was an out-going, joking boy of 18 with his whole life ahead of him, a "strong boy who never misused his strength, a good kid who would always help people."
Larry Noyd lived right across the street from Greg and the two were buddies. Larry called for Greg Wednesday night about 6:30 p.m. and the two were off to look for an old car so they could make a simple modified car called a dune buggy.
The boys were to be back at 8:30 as Greg was going to visit his girlfriend Leona Loewen. The two had been dating each other for about six months. Thursday she was in shock and under sedation.
When Greg did not show up there was immediate speculation that something had happened because Greg rarely was late for appointments.
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Winnipeg Free Press, February 4, 1971 (Partial Article)By David Lee
No motive has ever been established in the deaths, and a man taken into custody a week after the two bodies were found was later released by the RCMP.
According to police reports at the time, the Noyd boy had been running when he was felled by pellets from a shotgun. Police believe, however, that he may have been strangled as well.
The other teenager was killed after being hit in the back and side with a blast from a shotgun.
The main avenue in the investigation of the double slaying was the search for a person believed to have been driving Mr.Noyd's car the night before the deaths. The car had been involved in an accident, and a man was seen running away with what appeared to be a handgun.
While it appeared the car may have been stolen, robbery was ruled out as a motive for the crime as $124 in one of the youth's wallets was untouched by the slayers.
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Winnipeg Free Press, April 22, 1971
By Brian McA'Nulty
Charges could be laid at any time against a man suspected of slaying two young St. Boniface men one year ago today, the Free Press has learned.
An RCMP spokesman has confirmed a prime suspect in the shooting deaths of Lawrence (Larry) Noyd, 19, of 34 Echo Bay and Gregory (Greg) Joel Saske, 18, of 25 Echo Bay, is serving a lengthy term in a penitientiary for another offence.
The two young men were seen leaving the Saske home in a vehicle driven by Mr. Noyd about 6 p.m., April 22, 1970, when they were making plans for constructing a dune buggy, a car used for driving over rough terrain.
A woman, the last person known to have seen the two young men alive, said she saw them meeting another man about 7:55 that night at an entrance to a Southdale Shopping Plaza department store.
A motorist spotted the bodies of the two young men the following morning while driving along a municipal road, off Highway 59, in the rural municipality of Ritchot, south of the Red River Flooday.
After the pair were seen in the shopping plaza, the Noyd vehicle was involved in a rear end collision at 9:45 p.m. at Portage Avenue and Arlington Street.
A man brandishing a hand gun was seen leaving the driver's seat of the Noyd car and crossing in front of stopped vehicles as he fled south on Arlington Street.
Winnipeg police investigating the accident discovered a revolver holster and a quantity of .38-calibre ammunition in the abandonded Noyd car.
The next morning bodies of the two young men were found alongside the municipal road.
The body of Mr. Noyd, with a bullet wound through the head, was found in a ditch along the road.
The body of Mr. Saske, was also found face down in a swampy area, about 500 feet away, and across the road from where Mr. Noyd's body was discovered.
Young Mr. Saske, apparently fleeing from his attacker, had become mired in the mud of of the swamp which touched a wooden area.
An autopsy revealed Mr. Saske had been beaten about the head, or "pistol-whipped" in addition to having been shot and strangled.
Robbery was quickly ruled out as a motive for the slayings after $120 was found in a wallet, carried by Mr. Noyd.
It was later learned Mr. Saske had not been carrying a wallet or any considerable amount of money.
Investigating officers from the RCMP, said the two young St. Boniface men apparently died between 8 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. when the Noyd vehicle was involved in the accident in west Winnipeg.
One major problem facing the investigating officers has been the reluctance of witnesses to come forward, said one officier.
"The two men were so well known they couldn't go anywhere in the Windsor Park area without being seen by someone who knew them", said one police officer.
They were seen after 6:45 p.m. that evening with a third person, seated between the two young men in the Noyd vehicle.
They were seen again between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the Southdale Shopping Centre and in a quick serive restaurant in one of the centre's larger stores.
Police are still mystified at the failure of some people to advance information that could lead to a charge being laid.
Information has been give by some, but investigating officers believe key information is being withheld.
RCMP investigation into the murders has resulted in a number of theories some far fetched, being checked out.
"We know who our man is and where he is", said one investigating officer referring to a suspect now in penitentiary.
"Knowing that much, we just want to keep him there," he added.
Father of one of the victims, Harold Noyd, who has been kept aware of the developments in the RCMP's investigation, praised the efforts of the police officers.
His son had left home around 6 p.m. shortly after dinner on April 22, recalled Mr. Noyd.
Winnipeg police arrived at Echo Bay residence later that evening, advising Mr. Noyd of an accident in which a car he was selling to his son, had been involved.
"They told us about some man running off with a gun in his hands," said Mr. Noyd.
"Larry had been involved in a minor accident before and he wouldn't have panicked. The description of the man didn't fit either of the two boys."
Mr. Noyd said he didn't think hisson would be with Mr. Saske that evening and telephone call's were place to his son's friends.
There hadn't been any sleep for Mr. and Mrs. Noyd that night and police officers arrived at 6:30 a.m. on April 23 to see if their son had arrived home.
Mr. Noyd said on the afternoon of April 23, his wife called him at his office, after she had heard reports of two bodies being found.
"I called the Winnipeg police and they couldn't give me any information," he recalled.
Later a member of the RCMP arrived at the Noyd home on Echo Bay and told the shocked family what had occurred.
A number of his son's friends had called at the home at first, to express their regrets, said Mr. Noyd.
"They told us neither of the boys had any enemies and they couldn't see the reason for it," said Mr. Noyd.
Observing the anniversary of the son's death would be difficult for the entire family, and particularly the mother, said Mr. Noyd.
Raking up the past isn't pleasant, but the investigation into the murders must continue with whatever it may bring, he said.
At the Saske household, Randy Saske, now 15, was choked with emotion as he said "it will be pretty rough," on the anniversary of his brother's death.
The stretch of roadway where the two young men were found last spring, is much the same this year.
The ground was soft from rain...and tears of two terrified young men.
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Winnipeg Free Press, May 25, 1978
Police Close File on 1970 killing
A suspect's death has ended an eight-year investigation into the killing of two St. Boniface men.
Charles Newcombe of the Manitoba criminal prosecutions branch said it was decided to close the case earlier this month. He said investigating RCMP officers had received information from people aware of the case which influenced the decision.
Glen Thomas Landers, 31, of Pembroke, Ont. was shot in October while trying to escape from Milhaven Penitentiary at Kingston, Ont.
He was the prime suspect in the April 21 shooting deaths of Lawrence Noyd, 19, and Gregory Joel Saske, 18. The men were found alongside a road in the rural municipality of Richot, near the Red River Floodway.
Landers was arrested, questioned and released in connection with the investigation into the deaths. He then went to Thunder Bay, where he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to five years in jail.
Regarded as a trouble maker, he went to several prisons before being released in 1974. Later that year he was charged in Ottawa with robbery, abduction and conspiracy and sentenced to jail. He escaped, but was captured and sentenced to 10 years in Millhaven.
There, after three months of planning, Landers and three other men tried to escape on Oct. 27, 1977.
He managed to scale two walls before being felled by a .308-caliber bullet as he climbed the third and last fence. He died in minutes.
Taped to his chest was his last will and testament.
It read "I Glen Landers being of sound body, and of disputed sound mind, do herby state that upon my death, I wish my body to be placed in a coffin (open) and standing upright.
"And I wish that all my enemies be invited through the media, and upon arriving at my funeral, be given a loaded shotgun, and allowed five shots each at my body until such time as my body is completely disintegrated.
"Though this may seem unorthodox, please understand that there is a chance of life after death or reincarnation. If so I wish that my body be in so many pieces that I'll never be put together again. And there is no way that I would want to come back to this kind of life that I've lived. 'Cause believe me it is the worst thing that could happen to anyone to have to live in these nut houses all one's life."
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