Tragic Endings: Roy McGregor and George Smith

© 2021, Christian Cassidy

Roy Ewan McGregor and George Robert Smith were thirteen-year-old boys from Winnipeg who likely never set eyes on each other. Their names are forever linked by a pair of senseless murders that took place seventy-five years ago.

The McEwan family of 149 Clark Street was originally from Morris, Manitoba and moved to Winnipeg in 1942. Allister McGregor was an engine man for the CNR.

Their son, Roy, was grade seven student at Earl Grey School. He was also a paper boy, air cadet, school patrol, hockey player and often swam at the YMCA. His mother said, "He was into everything .... He enjoyed every minute of living."

On the night of Friday, January 4, 1946, Roy and a friend went to see a movie at a downtown cinema. After the movie, they stopped at for a milkshake at 103 Osborne Street then left the shop on foot and soon parted ways to go to their respective homes.

Mrs. McGregor looks at photo of Roy.
January 8, 1946, Winnipeg Tribune.

When Roy didn't arrive home by 11:00 p.m. his mother called the friend's house. He told her that he did not know where Roy would have gone other than straight home. At 11:45 p.m. the McGregors called the police.

Patrol cars searched the neighbourhood and officers knocked on the doors of nearby homes. One lady on Stradbrook Avenue said she heard a couple of bangs around 11:45 p.m. but couldn't see anything when she looked out the window. That was the only unusual event reported to police that night.

At around 7:00 a.m. the following morning, 66-year-old Roman Kilback showed up for work at Moore's Fuel Yard located across the street from the McGregor home at 158 Clark Street. He turned on the overhead lights to illuminate the bins of coal and wood for sale and discovered the body of a small boy huddled near one of them.

January 7, 1946, Winnipeg Tribune

Police confirmed that the body was that of Roy McGregor and that he had been shot in the stomach and through the head. A pool of blood was found at the end of the yard nearest Stradbrook Avenue where a spur rail line and empty boxcar were located. There were signs that the body was dragged deeper into the yard to hide it amongst the bins. 

Police used a war surplus mine detector to look under the snow and found the spent casing of a 9 mm bullet that they later confirmed was fired from a Canadian-made John Inglis Browning automatic pistol. That was the only substantial piece of evidence discovered at the scene.

The city's entire police force was called in to work the weekend to find the shooter but there was very little to go on. Chief George Smith said it was a "very unusual and ghastly crime" in that it appeared to be a random attack by a single gunman.

Despite the general opinion that earlier decades were more innocent times, violent murders - even those of children - were not unheard of. Some high profile child killings in the previous couple of decades included Rose Eiler in 1939, Julia Johnson in 1928, and Lola Cowan in 1927.

January 8, 1946, Winnipeg Tribune

On the Tuesday after the murder, police went to five Fort Rouge schools where the boys were assembled in the auditorium and told to be wary of a strange man.

It was thought that there may be a link between the murder and instances of a man who had been approaching boys in the Fort Rouge area. He asked them for a certain address, then insisted that they accompany him to that location. Police said he may be a "pervert" or "sex maniac" but didn't elaborate as to why, (or the media chose not to report the details). 

The warning about the murder and the "pervert" was also sent to communities throughout Manitoba and Northwest Ontario as it was thought the man could have fled town to escape the manhunt.

The city grieved along with the McGregor family at Roy's funeral on Thursday, January 10th. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

Despite a $1,000 reward for information, ($500 from the Winnipeg Police Commission and $500 from the Winnipeg Free Press as he was a paperboy for them), no tips of note came in and the story faded from the headlines.

An increased police presence was noticed by some at outdoor skating rinks and other places that boys liked to hang out in the weeks following the murder. The Winnipeg Tribune's James Anderson wrote in his column that: "...parents had the jitters in Winnipeg and youngsters were genuinely nervous."

September 19, 1946, Winnipeg Tribune

The McGregor murder was again thrust into the headlines in September 1946 when 13-year-old George Smith of 585 Home Street was murdered.

George looked young for his age - his mother said people often mistook him for being ten. He played piano and the accordion and was a caring boy who once found a pigeon with an injured wing and brought it home to nurse back to health.

On the night of September 18, 1946, George attended his first boy scout meeting with the 23rd troop just a block away at what was then Home Street United Church, (now Home Street Mennonite Church). At the last minute he decided not to take his bike and set off on foot.

George was last seen by friends walking home from the church around 10:00 p.m. after they parted ways at St. Mattthews Avenue and Home Street. When he did not arrive home by 11:00 p.m. the Smiths called police who sent patrol cars to the area to keep an eye out for him. The family called again at 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. but the boy had not been located.

September 19, 1946, Winnipeg Tribune

At around 7:00 that morning, a neighbour of the Smiths was driving down the back lane of Home Street to go to work and found a boy's body near a garage.

Police confirmed that it was George Smith and discovered that he was killed by a single bullet to the back. He had been stripped of his shirt, which was found a short distance away, and it appeared as if someone tried to bind his ankles with the belt from a raincoat. There was evidence that after being shot the boy dragged himself for a few meters down the lane before collapsing.

Police chief George Smith, (no relation to the victim), told the press: "Everything points to this case being the work of the same man who shot Roy McGregor". Later that day the provincial coroner said: "It looks very much like one of those sexual cases like the McGregor case."

The police force dropped everything to catch the now two-time murderer. Taxi cabs were booked for the day so that every available officer and detective could fan out around the West End to knock on doors and set up roadblocks. Newspapers called it the city's largest manhunt since the Gorilla Strangler back in 1927.

A distraught Mrs. Smith told the Tribune, "Why did it have to happen? He was so well liked ... a good student ... and loved by all in the neighbourhood. His stamps and chemistry set would keep him in the house most of the time. Why did it have to happen?"

George Smith's funeral was September 23rd. He was buried at Brookside Cemetery.

September 24, 1946, Winnipeg Tribune

As with the McGregor murder, few clues were found at the crime scene and the door knocking campaign and roadblocks yielded nothing.

Winnipeg police sent information about the murders far and wide. More than 2,000 posters were put up around the Winnipeg area offering a reward of up to $7,000, ($5,000 from the city, $1,000 from the Police Commission and $1,000 from the Tribune), for information that led to an arrest. Police forces across the country were notified and the particulars were published in the February 1947 edition of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Chief Smith also spoke about the murders at an International Police Chiefs conference in Mexico later that year.

A couple of suspects, sex offenders from Hamilton, Ontario and London, Ontario, were questioned but both had alibis. Then a tip came in from Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay, Ontario.

August 9, 1947, Winnipeg Free Press

Two men held up Palm Dairies in Port Arthur on June 30, 1947, and were arrested at the train station as they waited to return to Winnipeg. One of them, 22-year-old Michael Angelo Vescio, was found to be in possession of a Browning automatic gun and a list of what appeared to be names and addresses of Winnipeg boys.

Port Arthur police chief George Taylor contacted Winnipeg police to see if Vescio might be wanted for anything in the city. At the request of the Winnipeg force, the Port Arthur police fired the gun and sent the casing to the RCMP crime lab in Regina. The spent casing from the Winnipeg murder scene was also forwarded to the lab for comparison. They were a match.

Vescio was returned to Winnipeg where, according to police, he confessed to the murders while being held at the Rupert Street jail. On Saturday, August 19, 1947, he was charged with two counts of murder. (Despite the headline, there were no sex crime charges laid.)

Those who knew Vescio were shocked at the news of his arrest.

Vescio was a motor transport driver with the Royal Canadian Army Services Corps from 1944 until his discharge in April 1947. Former colleagues described him as friendly with a colourful imagination. He would never stay out late drinking with fellow soldiers and told them off for wolf-whistling women.

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Wright owned the Rose Street rooming house where Vescio lived while he was in the army. Mr. Wright described him as a, "... shy and reserved, a man who seldom drank and never swore. Everyone liked him."

The Wrights said Vescio never went out late, with he exception of catching a movie downtown, and that he preferred to stay home and read when the other soldiers living at the house went for a night on the town. He often ate supper with the elderly couple. They treated him like a son, and he called them Mum and Dad.

October 8, 1947, Winnipeg Free Press

In October 1947, the preliminary hearing into both murders got underway in a packed courtroom at the central police station on Rupert Avenue. By this time, Vescio was already serving a three-year sentence for the dairy robbery.

One item that came to light was the sexual nature of the crimes. It was confirmed that the state of McGregor's clothing indicated that he had been "criminally assaulted" prior to his murder and there was an attempt to criminally assault Smith before he was killed.

Three boys testified at the hearing about being accosted by a man in the Hugo Street and McMillan Avenue area in 1945. They were very brave as, like all witnesses, they were identified by full name, age and address in the press.

The stories were very similar, starting with a man asking them for help them find an address and ending in a back lane. In two of the cases a gun was produced and the boys were pulled into a secluded space where "certain incidents" took place. The man chillingly said to one victim: "you Canadian boys are more appealing than the German boys". The man ran off after each assault.

Only one of the boys, aged 12, enthusiastically identified Vescio in court. The others could only agree that he strongly resembled the man who attacked them.

The testimony of the boys, the ballistics comparison of the bullet casings, and Vescio's statement of guilt made after his arrest, were enough to proceed to a full trial for the murder of George Smith the following month and for Roy McGregor at the next session of court in February 1947.

Vescio entering court in October 1947 (Winnipeg Tribune)

The trail began on Monday, November 17, 1947 in front of E. K. Williams, Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench.

Vescio's counsel did not dispute that he shot Smith but said his client should be charged with manslaughter, not murder. The defendant did not speak for himself, but comments made to officers after his arrest were read into testimony.

Vescio claimed that he went on a long walk on the night of the murder and bought a bottle of alcohol that he drank in Vimy Memorial Park until he felt sick and dizzy. He was going to stop at a store at Home and Arlington to call for someone to pick him up but the store was packed and he instead continued walking down Home Street.

When Vescio saw Smith, he claimed he asked the boy if he could use the phone at his house. The boy said something to the effect that his father would not allow a drunk in the house. This angered Vescio who grabbed the boy and they struggled. When Vescio slipped on some clay, Smith tried to break free and that is when his shirt got ripped off.

Vescio then claimed that he fell to the ground which caused the gun in his coat to fire and it hit Smith in the back. His fear and cowardice led him to flee rather than call for help. There was no explanation as to why the boy's ankles were partially bound.

November 25, 1947, Winnipeg Tribune

The case was given to the jury on the morning of November 24, 1947, and just 35 minutes later it returned with a guilty verdict. Justice Williams sentenced Vescio to hang. When asked if he had anything to say, Vescio rose and said he didn't.

The Vescio family, a brother and two sisters from Port Arthur, tried every avenue of appeal open to them. The final step came on October 8, 1948, when it was heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. On November 2nd, it dismissed his appeal for a new trial and it was certain that Vescio would hang.

Vescio's death sentence meant that the McGregor family would never get their day in court. The murder charge related to Roy McGregor was eventually dropped from the court's schedule.

At 1:02 a.m. on Friday, November 19, 1948, Michael Angleo Vescio, now 24, was hanged at Headingley Jail. He was pronounced dead 15 minutes later. Media reports said that Vescio was calm on the gallows and had no final words to say.

It was rumoured that in his final days Vescio confessed to both murders and gave details of the deaths. This was confirmed in a 1950 annual report of the provincial jail system.

More from the Tragic Endings series.