RASBACH o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-11-13 published
He was a pillar of society who put a contract on his wife
In 1984, he arranged the attack, delivered his wife to the scene
of the crime and watched her plead for her life before being
shot in the head in front of their 14-year-old nephew
By Noreen RASBACH,
Page S8
His 68-day trial was nothing less than a Canadian sensation,
with newspapers detailing the unlikely ways he used cocaine and
the lurid testimony about his unseemly trysts with prostitutes.
In the end, the verdict was quick and damning: The jury took
only 12½ hours to find Helmuth
BUXBAUM, then 46, guilty of first-degree
murder for arranging the 1984 contract killing of his wife and
business partner, Hanna.
He didn't just arrange the attack, but drove her to the scene
of the crime and watched her plead for her life before being
shot in the head. The murder took place at the side of a highway
near their home in Komoka, a small town outside London, Ontario
The couple and their 14-year-old nephew, Roy, stopped to help
the occupants of a car that appeared to have broken down. They
were immediately ambushed. When a gunman pulled Hanna out of
the car, the long-suffering wife of Helmuth
BUXBAUM looked at
him and said: "Please honey, no, not this way." She was 48.
"It was a big deal at the time; it was a huge story," said Heather
BIRD, who covered the trial for the Toronto Star and wrote a
book about the case, Conspiracy to Murder: The Helmuth Buxbaum
Trail. "It was also a really, really sad story and a very seedy
story."
Prominent Baptist
The tawdry details that came out in Mr.
BUXBAUM's trial were
in stark contrast to his reputation: Successful businessman,
prominent Baptist, devoted family man. He and his wife had built
a business operating nursing homes that had made them millionaires,
while also raising six children, one of whom was an adopted daughter
from Costa Rica. "He was well-known in the community," recalled
Greg CALCOTT, the investigating officer in the case who recently
retired from the Ontario Provincial Police. "He was wealthy and
an absolute pillar in the church."
For her part, Mrs.
BUXBAUM was known for her extensive charity
work. "She was legitimately loved and respected in the community
as being the exemplar Christian woman," Mr.
CALCOTT said. "She
used to stop street people and buy them clothing.
"That, in contrast to his hypocrisy, brought a lot of interest"
to the case, he added.
The case may have been irresistible, with its sex, drugs, money
and religion, but Mr.
BUXBAUM wasn't. The man who was repeatedly
unfaithful to his wife almost from the start of their marriage
was anything but charming.
"There was nothing charismatic about Mr.
BUXBAUM that I saw,"
Ms. BIRD said.
Mr. CALCOTT agreed. "He came across as arrogant, but he also
came across as very childlike - and I don't mean that in terms
of innocence. [He had] a kind of naive understanding of what
was happening."
That led to his being taken advantage of by the drug dealers
and prostitutes with whom he associated. "He liked the idea of
being a big-time operator," Mr.
CALCOTT said. "I know that Robert
BARRETT [who was convicted of conspiring to kill Mrs.
BUXBAUM
after testifying he hired the killers] used to get him $1,000
of cocaine and Mr.
BUXBAUM would pay him cash.
BARRETT would
get the cocaine and keep three-quarters of it and give the rest
to Helmuth, saying that's what $1,000 of cocaine would look like.
Of course, he had nothing to compare it to, so he took it on
faith.
"I think that everyone in that group who was dealing with him
was ripping him off one way or another," Mr.
CALCOTT said.
In 1982, after suffering a stroke, Mr.
BUXBAUM's behaviour spun
out of control.
By the end of the trial, the entire country knew all the sordid
details - that he had sexual relations with more than 100 prostitutes
(sometimes two or three at a time), that he wanted to have sex
with young girls and boys, and that he was a regular user of
cocaine which he injected into his ankle and even his penis.
The court heard, too, that he disparaged his wife to the prostitutes.
"Even though he did have all that money, there was nothing glamorous
about him or his story," Ms.
BIRD said.
Helmuth BUXBAUM grew up in Germany as the youngest in a family
of 10 children. At his trial, he recounted how his family spent
some time in refugee camps; when he came to Canada at 19, he
arrived with no money and only one pair of shoes.
He went to work and studied, part-time, for his Grade 13 diploma.
In 1960, he met Hanna
SCHMIDT, after being introduced by his
parents. They had a lot in common, especially their Baptist faith
and hard childhoods. Hanna, who was born in Poland, stopped her
formal education at 8, when she was sent to a Russian concentration
camp with her mother and brother. She was to spend five years
in camps, before being released and eventually reaching West
Germany, and later Canada. When Helmuth met her, she had already
spent seven years working at a meat-packing plant in Kitchener,
Ontario
They married in June, 1961, with dreams of becoming medical missionaries.
Two years later their son Paul was born, and not long after that
Mr. BUXBAUM finished his diploma and decided it was time to go
to medical school. The family moved to London, where he enrolled
at the University of Western Ontario as a pre-med student. By
Christmas he had dropped out of the program, saying it was too
difficult. Instead, he pursued a bachelor of science degree,
which he received in 1967.
All that time he was supported by Hanna, who scrimped and saved
and managed to purchase a house, then a three-suite apartment
building and a farm. Eventually, the couple went into the nursing-home
business, where they made their millions.
They raised six children, with Mrs.
BUXBAUM fighting to keep
the family together despite her husband's repeated romantic dalliances.
In June, 1984, he packed his bags but she persuaded him to stay.
A month later, on July 5, 1984, she was shot by the side of the
road.
A little more than two weeks later, on July 23, the police charged
Mr. BUXBAUM with murder.
Children Devastated
The shooting devastated his children. The older ones appeared
frequently at his trial, but weren't in court to hear the guilty
verdict. Their family friend and pastor, Rev. Douglas
DAKIN,
who was looking after the children during the trial, said at
the time that the children "didn't know what to say" about the
verdict. "They didn't know what to do if he got out, and they
didn't know what to do if he stays in." Reached this week at
his home in Komoka, Mr.
DAKIN refused comment on both his and
the children's behalf. "They all decided not to say anything."
After Mr. BUXBAUM's conviction on February 13, 1986, the case
became even more provocative. During the trial, he had not allowed
his first lawyer, Edward
GREENSPAN, to play up the fact that
he had suffered a stroke and how it had affected his ability
to reason. Later, he hired another legal heavyweight, Clayton
RUBY, who persuaded him to base his appeal on it. Mr.
RUBY argued
that Mr. BUXBAUM's stroke had rendered him mentally disabled,
and that he was insane when the murder occurred. The proof? Mr.
BUXBAUM's
refusal to allow an insanity defence to show that he was, in
fact, insane. The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the
case, which effectively ended Mr.
BUXBAUM's appeal options. Requests
to various justice ministers to review the conviction were denied.
Back In Court
There were other legal battles, too: He took on Mr.
GREENSPAN
to get back some of the $1-million-plus he had paid in legal
fees (which his lawyer James
CARTHY suggested were the highest
ever in Canada.) Mr.
BUXBAUM lost.
He was sued by his brother for involving his nephew in the shooting
scheme - and for the teen's "severe and traumatic mental and
emotional upset and nervous shock" after witnessing his aunt's
murder. The nephew won $400,000, which was reduced by $65,000
upon appeal.
Mr. BUXBAUM also fought for control of his wife's $2.8-million
estate, objecting to his children's plan to invest the money
in Florida real estate.
In the early 1990s, he gave a number of interviews from prison.
He complained he had not had a fair trial. He was pursuing yet
another attempt to get a justice minister to review his case.
He believed he should be the subject of a royal commission.
At Kingston Penitentiary, his prison job was to wash convicts'
underwear; when he moved to the medium-security Warkworth Institution,
he learned to use a computer and tutored illiterate prisoners.
He married again while in prison, but the marriage didn't last.
Not a lot was heard from Mr.
BUXBAUM until 1993, when papers
around the country ran a story about a personal ad in placed
in the Kingston Whig-Standard newspaper. The man who arranged
a hit on his wife, watched her get shot in the head, and shattered
his family of six kids in the process, was seeking a new companion.
Describing himself as "a Christian, generous, caring, loving
man," he was seeking someone who was pregnant or had a baby recently
but had no man in her life. He was willing to be "a supporting
father for your child and a husband-father for yourself."
It's not known whether there were any takers.
Helmuth BUXBAUM was born on March 19, 1939 in East Prussia, Germany.
He died of undisclosed causes on November 1, 2007, at Kingston
Penitentiary regional hospital, in Kingston, after being transferred
there from Warkworth Institution, near Peterborough, Ontario
He was 68. He leaves six children, sons Paul, Mark, Phillip and
Daniel, and daughters Esther and Ruth.
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RASBERRY o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2007-09-24 published
ROBINSON,
Ivan
Calvin
Peacefully at his home in Owen Sound on Friday, September 21,
2007, Ivan
ROBINSON at the age of 72 years. Beloved husband of
June for fifty years. Loved father of David, and Nancy and son-in-law
David TAILOR/TAYLOR.
Loved grandfather of Amanda, Carleigh, Steven,
and Michael. Dear brother of Doreen
PAYNE,
June
RASBERRY, and
brother-in-law Jack
RASBERRY.
Predeceased by his parents, Frank
and Elsie ROBINSON and brother-in-law Elmer. Son-in-law of Patricia
WILLIS.
Brother-in-law of Carolyn and George
JANKO, and Jackie
and Paul VINCENT. Survived by several nieces and nephews. Visitation
will be held at the Kitching, Steepe and Ludwig Funeral Home, 146 Mill
Street North, Waterdown on Tuesday evening from 7-9 p.m. Funeral
Service will be held at Grace Anglican Church, 157 Mill Street
North, Waterdown on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at 11 a.m.
Interment to follow in the Churchyard cemetery. Thank you to
Dr. Jill RICE and Doctor Jeff
BARRETT for their wonderful care.
Also thank you to the Oncology Clinic of Owen Sound Hospital,
the staff of the Wiarton Hospital, the Victorian Order of Nurses,
and to all the personal caregivers of the Community Care Access
Centre If so desired, donations to the G.B.R.H.C. or the Victorian
Order of Nurses Grey-Bruce would be appreciated as expressions
of sympathy. Please sign the Book of Condolence at www.kitchingsteepeandludwig.com
“God has called for you and we know you are resting peacefully.
You will live in our hearts forever.&rdquo
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RASCHKE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-08-15 published
RASCHKE,
Frances "
Franziska" (née
PINETZ)
Passed away peacefully at Sunnybrook Hospital on Monday, August
13, 2007 in her 76th year. Loving wife of John (Hans) for over
50 years, devoted mother of Margaret
DAVIE
(Jeffrey) and Diana
MAGGISANO
(Frank.)
Proud grandmother of Thomas and William. Retired
employee of the Toronto-Dominion Bank with 38 years service.
Frances will be sadly missed by her many Friends in the Canadian
Austrian Society as well as her Friends and neighbours in Toronto
and on Six Mile Lake. The family wishes to express their deepest
thanks to the staff at Sunnybrook Hospital for their help and
support during this difficult time. Frances was a joyous spirit
who enjoyed spending time with Friends and family with songs
and a good glass of wine. She was always happy to lend a helping
hand and to volunteer for many good causes. Her laughter will
be greatly missed by every life she touched. Friends are invited
to visit at the Ward Funeral Home, 2035 Weston Road (north of
Lawrence Avenue) Weston on Saturday from 6-9 p.m.. and
on Sunday
from 2-4 and 6-9 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday
at 10 a.m. at All Saints Church, 1415 Royal York Road. Private
interment. A reception to follow at Weston Golf and Country Club.
Those wishing to honour Frances' memory may do so by making a
donation to Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation. Condolences may be
sent to frances.raschke@wardfh.com
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