Two young men murdered in St. Henri

Matt Garner

   Dreadful, awful, terrible story about this 29-year-old concert promoter Matt Garner who was burnt alive alongside his friend, ski instructor Einick Gitelman, 28, in an apartment in St. Henri on St. Remi, on the east side, a few doors up from Notre Dame late Friday afternoon Nov. 11, 2011.
   This is certainly among the most disturbing local crimes in recent memory.

Einick Gitelman in costume

  It was initially reported that up to five people were seen fleeing Garner's apartment but police later reported that witnesses were not found.
   Garner was an outgoing and well-known concert promoter.
   Gitelman died after escaping when the blaze burnt the rope that was tying him to the chair. He ran down the stairs but died in a spot near his front door.
   Garner's longtime childhood friend from their days in Hudson, musician Bad News Brown was beaten and shot dead in 2010 in a crime that will likely never be solved.
   Hopefully there is some information that will lead to arrests.
   My theory is that the assailants had meant to terrorize the two by dousing them with gasoline and threatening to light them. That method was employed in England in the 60s, notably by the Krays. The tactic that had been shown on Canadian TV in re-enactments, possibly seen by the killer.
   I would imagine that the attackers did not intend to actually light these two on fire, however as human immolation would be beyond the pale of even the most hardened psychopath.
   My notion was that an informant present at the scene would have come forward, but apparently that hasn't happened in the two years since.
   By the way, Coolopolis has heard endless theories connecting the crime with certain drug dealing affairs, but without stronger evidence and out of respect for their families and many friends, who seem like good folks on both sides, we won't go on record with them.