william james kapach › deadmonton 2007 › deadmonton › edmonton

William James Kapach, 65, was beaten to death November 17th, 2007. He died five days later after being taken off life support.

Kapach was Edmonton's 28th homicide victim of the year.

Case status is open and active.

At about 5:15 a.m. November 17th, 2007 paramedics received a report of an injured man lying near 96th Street and 102A Avenue.

A passing motorist had noticed the man lying on a sidewalk. Emergency medical staff called in police because the victim's injuries were consistent with that of a beating.

“His face was pooled in blood,” said Staff Sgt. Gail Dennis at the scene. The officer characterised the incident as a serious aggravated assault.

The man remained in hospital in a coma with serious head injuries until November 21st when life support systems were withdrawn. He died the next morning.

Police identified the man as 65-year-old William James Kapach. His friends called him Billy.

Homicide detectives treated the case as a suspicious death until an official cause was determined by the medical examiner.

On November 23rd it was revealed that Kapach died of blunt cranial trauma.

CTV Edmonton spoke to a woman who knew Kapach and lived in the area where he was found. She said two people attacked the senior.

"They took a sledgehammer and knocked him out in the face," said Carmen Schwartz.

At a media availability held later on November 23rd at the scene of Kapach's murder, homicide Det. Bill Clark re-capped the case.

"We originally got the call at 5:16 in the morning. An off-duty police member was actually going home and noticed Mr. Kapach lying on the sidewalk and attended to him and called fire and ambulance who responded within minutes."

"You have an elderly gentleman just out for his morning walk to get a coffee and paper and someone attacks him. That's cowardice ... it's despicable."

"It's a despicable and cowardly act because you have people here for who knows what reason ... I classify them as The Bullies, you know, walking along and for some reason targeting an elderly gentleman, probably thinking that he's easy pickings ... at that time in the morning and no one else is around."

"At this time we do not know if there was a weapon involved or if the trauma was simply caused by fists or feet."

Clark revealed additional details of the case.

Kapach was found on a sidewalk a block and a half south of the People In Need Society Shelter where he had lived for most of 2007.

Clark believed Kapach "was attacked by one person or more in what was likely a mugging."

"It is not like he would have had a lot of cash on him. He likely only had a few coins on his person," Clark said. “We think he was just about home when he was mugged. This was his neighbourhood. This should never have happened.”

Police were not able to confirm street rumours that up to three men had attacked Kapach.

“These people normally don't act along. They're tough in a group and that's why they attack that way,” Clark said.

Kapach, described as tall and frail, had a regular morning routine of leaving his apartment at 4:30 a.m. to pick up two newspapers and then go for coffee at a downtown Tim Horton's restaurant. The newspapers were found alongside Kapach's body.

On Fridays he attended breakfast and a church service at the Salvation Army. It was there that someone dropped off Kapach's identification on the same day his body was found. Investigators said they hoped that person would come forward. Police didn't consider the person a suspect but would like to know where the identification was found.

Clark noted the attack took place in a busy area of the inner city, across from the Mount Royal Hotel where a dozen windows overlooked the crime scene.

“Yet we don't have a single witness report,” the detective said. “We need help.”

Those who may have been in the area of 96th Street and 102A Avenue between midnight and 6:00 a.m. November 17th and saw anything suspicious were asked to contact Edmonton police at 423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.

At a December 3rd, 2007 press conference dealing with the murder two days earlier of Wesal Arabi, Det. Bill Clark offered the latest details in the Kapach investigation.

Since police released information about the beating death of Bill Kapach, a few leads have emerged. However the detective said they had yet to name a suspect.

"We definitely have got some witnesses come forward who saw Mr. Kapach that morning, saw him walking in the area and saw other individuals around.

"We're following up on it but there's nothing definite right now."

Clark said they were seeking one person in particular, but a name wasn't offered to media.

The officer admitted police didn't know whether that person was a suspect or just a witness to the beating.

"I just can't believe anyone would do this to him," Kapach's cousin told the Edmonton Journal. "He wasn't a normal 65-year-old. He sort of kept on his own."

Kapach suffered from schizophrenia and was living on Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) payments in the downtown area at the People In Need Society Shelter. He had grown up in Redwater and had earlier lost both of his parents and his brother. He had been living in Edmonton since he was 16.

In an interview with CTV Edmonton, Kapach's cousin spoke of the man's routine and the impact of his death.

"Every morning he got up at four o'clock, went for a walk, picked up the paper and went back home."

"I guess shock that anybody would go after a guy that minded his own business. It's upsetting but it's a shock that anybody could be that cruel."

"I'm just hoping that whoever did it gets caught and pays the consequences. That's a helluva thing to do somebody."

Fred Moody, Billy's brother-in-law, said the senior was mentally handicapped but "not severely."

"He was a boy at heart" and was independent and held down various odd jobs for years.

Kapach often hung out at the City Centre mall and downtown regulars often saw the man in The Bay and in the Stanley A. Milner Library.

As Kapach aged, his schizophrenia got worse and caused him to become estranged from his family, more so after his parents died. He rarely saw his sister, Arlene.

The nurse who cared for Kapach for the last 15 or 20 years became his closest friend and surrogate mother, Moody said.

"It was just such a brutal, vicious attack," Fred said.

The man also described what it was like going with Arlene to see her brother in the hospital.

"It was awful," Moody said. "He was in a deep coma from the trauma. The brain injury was incredibly severe."

With no improvement in his condition foreseeable, doctors suggested all family members be contacted and Kapach be taken off life support. He died the next morning.

Kapach's family then released a statement to media.

"He did not deserve to have his life ended in such a brutal fashion."

"When a 65-year-old man with a disability is brutally beaten to death it signifies a deep underlying problem with society today."

"The family would appreciate it if any one having information about this crime, do the right thing and contact the police."

"The individual(s) who committed this crime must be caught."

Media spoke to Ron Allen, executive director of the Edmonton People In Need Shelter Society, where Kapach had lived for the last nine months of his life. Allen described the man and spoke of how the loss affected those in the loosely-knit downtown community.

"Very gentle, well-liked personable chap that wouldn't hurt a flea," Allen said. "Obviously a very sad time for us. Residents and staff are devasted."

"It is just so senseless," Allen added. "If he was being robbed, it was so unnecessary. You could have knocked him over with a Kleenex. He couldn't have put up a struggle. He couldn't have offered any resistance to anyone and he would not have initiated anything."

Allen described Kapach as polite with a pleasant nature. He was very much a "please" and "thank-you" person.

"He wouldn't have said anything anyone would have taken offence to," Allen said.

Staff from the People In Need society erected a memorial near where Kapach was found and within sight of Edmonton Police Service headquarters.

"William, know that you are loved," was written on Bristol paper adorned with flowers, a white teddy bear and his picture.

Those who make the street their home were also sought for opinion and comment.

A man who lived with William Kapach at the shelter and earlier at the Salvation Army was shocked when heard the man had been found beaten.

"Who would do this to him? He was a nice, quiet guy. I got along with him. He kind of kept to himself," Gerald Steed said.

"I think he was a nice guy – he was quiet. I knew him from basically in the Herb Jamieson and I've just seen him around. I didn't really know him all the well but he was just a nice old guy," Clayton O'Brien said.

"Kept pretty much to himself. Into Western ... he always liked to wear cowboy boots," one man said.

"Disturbing ... to find a man like that's beaten to death over getting a paper. You know, just to get a paper and gets beaten to death ... that's uncalled for," said a woman.

At the Salvation Army, news of Kapach's death was broken to regulars by staff.

"And you could see the look of shock, of sadness. He was well known, he was a very gentle – you talk about a gentle man. That was Bill," said Ken Percy.

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