Case Summary
Annie Smith and Richard Wilson were found dead in their Niagara home on the morning of August 22, 1988, bludgeoned to death with a blunt object.1 Smith and Wilson had been married for five months after meeting in a nursing home where Smith was one of Wilson’s caretakers. The pair had an agreement: Smith would care for Wilson in his home until he died, at which point she would receive 25% of his estate.2 However, their agreement fell through shortly after it had been made. At the time of their deaths, Smith had been planning to move out and Wilson had taken steps to exclude her from his will.3 In hopes of receiving the money earlier, Smith had brought up killing her husband to Peter Frumusa, though she later told her daughter Brenda the talk was “nothing.”4
Frumusa had a serious criminal record, connections to the mob, and supported himself by trafficking and selling drugs.5 He was even mistrusted by other dealers due to his heavy drug use.6 Frumusa’s relationships were also strained as he was having an affair with Annie Smith while dating her daughter Brenda.7
On the morning of August 22, 1988, Brenda Smith asked Frumusa to check up on her mother, who had not shown up to work and was not answering her calls. Frumusa was unable to gain entrance to their home and called the police.8 When police investigated the scene of Smith’s and Wilson’s bodies, they found no forensic evidence linking Frumusa to the crime, but did come across a bloody shirt in Frumusa’s car, and proceeded to arrest him.9 The blood on the clothing did not match either his or the victims’ blood, but was later determined to be from his daughter’s frequent nosebleeds.10
It was Frank Costello’s testimony that sealed Frumusa’s fate at trial. Costello was a drug dealer with an impressive criminal record of his own, including a homicide at age 15.11 He testified that Frumusa had called him from jail and confessed to him that he committed the murders. As incentive for Costello to give his testimony, the police had agreed to drop the unrelated charges laid against Costello and grant him bail.12 Costello also admitted he was angry at Frumusa because Frumusa owed him money for drugs.13 The jury took him to be credible, and Frumusa was sentenced to life imprisonment.14
In 1992, two more witnesses came forward. The first was Cecil Cameron, who presented evidence that implicated Costello and other members of his mob in the double homicide.15 The second, Sherry Thorne, gave a statement that indicated that Frumusa had not, in fact, confessed to Costello while in prison. Her evidence was that Costello had committed perjury. Thorne had not come forward earlier thinking that, as a former sex worker, her word would not be given any weight.16
Costello was also a Crown witness for two other trials, that of John Patrick Walker, and George Buric. In both cases, Costello testified that the accused had confessed to him.17 As Frumusa’s appeal lawyer James Lockyer pointed out, “[t]he odds against the same person having crucial information from the mouth of the killer in three murder trials must be extremely high.”18 In light of the new evidence, the Court of Appeal quashed Frumusa’s conviction and ordered a new trial.19 The Crown chose not to proceed and dropped the charges against Frumusa in 1998.20
Frumusa was released on October 30, 1996.21 He sued his own lawyers as well as the Niagara Regional Police and the Ontario government, along with various police officers and Crown prosecutors who were involved with the case, asking for $6 million for everything that he suffered during those eight years.22 The parties reached a settlement out of court for an undisclosed amount.23