The Murder of Robert ‘Robbie’ Schmidt
For this case, I watched an episode of Dead of Winter. It’s season 1 episode 3, titled ‘Winter’s Bone.’
A popular local bartender is found dead in a snowbank.
Background
Robbie Schmidt was only 26 years old at the time of his death. He worked as a bartender and bouncer at a restaurant called Bankers in New Britain, Connecticut, The restaurant was owned by a man named Jeffrey Stenner, who became a friend and mentor to Robbie. However, once Robbie became friends with Jeffrey, the problems in his life started.
Robbie was extremely close to his family, especially to his sister Laura. Robbie’s brother, Jay, said that Robbie had been looking forward to having a family of his own one day.
Robert ‘Robbie’ Schmidt
The Discovery
On Wednesday, December 20, 1989, a local pastor was out walking his daughter to her bus stop. They noticed what looked like a dead body in a snowbank behind the local church.
The victim didn’t have an ID on him. Due to the cold temperatures, rigor mortis had kicked in quickly. It was clear to the police that the murder hadn’t occurred there but that the body had been moved.
There was blood coming from his left eyebrow and a blood-stained glove was found on top of the body. The cause of death was believed to be strangulation as the victim had ligature marks on his neck.
The victim was identified as Robbie Schmidt when one of the detectives recognized him from the bar and restaurant where he worked.
The Timeline
The police tracked down the owner of the bar, Jeffrey Stenner. Because he was close to Robbie, Jeffrey was asked to go down to the morgue to identify the body.
Jeffrey admitted to seeing Robbie the night before at the bar. He said Robbie left around 10 pm. They had planned to hang out later, but Robbie never showed up.
Jeffrey went with the police to Laura’s home as she and Robbie were very close. Laura was notified that Robbie was dead. She was devastated and said that she had known something was wrong.
Laura also saw Robbie the previous day when he left for work. His car had broken down and he had to borrow Laura’s car. Laura said that Robbie told her that he needed to run an errand in New Haven. Laura said they fought because she wanted her car back.
The police asked Laura if Robbie had been acting strange before his death. Laura said that Robbie had been acting nervous. She said she found a gun in his room under his bed and knew that he had been afraid of something or someone.
The Witness
Laura’s car was found parked behind Bankers. Laura gave the police permission to search the car. The car was unlocked but the keys weren’t in the car. In the trunk, the police found rope from a clothesline. It seemed like it matched the marks found on Robbie’s neck. Under the front seat, they found a tag that had been removed from a pair of gloves.
The Connecticut State Police Major Crimes Unit found 13 fingerprints in the car.
The autopsy revealed what the police already knew, that Robbie’s cause of death was strangulation. The ligature marks were only found on the front not the back of Robbie’s throat. The police knew that Robbie had probably been in the car with 2 people and that he had been killed while he sat in the passenger seat.
The police obtained a list of people who had been at Bankers on December 19. One of these people was a stockbroker who knew Robbie. He said that he had been at the bar and saw Robbie outside talking to Jeffrey and 2 men who looked like bodybuilders. He had seen them pushing Robbie’s pickup truck which had broken down, into the parking lot of Bankers.
Robbie’s Secret
The police went to a gym in New Britton. The bodybuilders were believed to be Scott Cancel and John Grzeszczyk. The police interviewed them about being at Bankers on December 19. They said that they were asked to help move a truck that had broken down. They identified Robbie as being the man that they helped.
John didn’t have any fingerprints on file but Scott did. Scott had a criminal history of selling drugs, but his fingerprints were not a match.
One week after Robbie’s funeral, the police went to pay their respects and to keep an eye on any possible suspects. They saw Jeffrey and his girlfriend whispering to each other and believed that they were somehow involved. The girlfriend seemed to have panicked when she spotted the police.
Robbie’s brother, Jay told the police that Robbie had confessed that he had been involved in a robbery scheme. Robbie made him promise that he wouldn’t tell anyone. Their dad didn’t find out until he heard it from Jay at the police station. Jay said that Jeffrey Stenner was also involved in this scheme.
The FBI confirmed that armored car robberies did occur around the time and they had been watching Jeffrey Stenner for a while.
The Scheme
The scheme started in 1987 after Jeffrey was having financial problems with his restaurant.
Exactly a year before Robbie’s body was found, on December 20, 1988, Jeffrey had pulled a gun on the armored car guards. They never got a good look at his face because he wore a Santa outfit and beard. It was reported that he stole about $700,000.
Shortly before his death, Robbie had been having second thoughts about being involved and was afraid.
Jeffrey’s girlfriend was interviewed. She told the police that she came home on December 19 around 10 pm. She said Jeffrey came home between 12:45 and 1 am. Both Jeffrey and his girlfriend asked for a lawyer.
Jeffrey was arrested and charged with robbery. His ambition from his high school yearbook was to commit the perfect crime.
Sadly, there was no hard evidence against him to charge him with murder.
The Plan
Robbie’s family believed that his case was going to go unsolved.
In 2001, 9 years after Robbie’s murder, Jeffrey was set to be released from prison. There was still a lot of money missing from Jeffrey’s robberies. The police knew that Jeffrey probably had the money somewhere and could flee the area or country if he was released from prison.
By 2001, the police believed that Jeffrey had hired someone to kill Robbie. They ran the fingerprints from the car again. A fingerprint match was found from a print on the rearview mirror. It came back to John Grzeczcyzk, one of the bodybuilders.
At the time of the murder, John’s fingerprints hadn’t been in the system. But a few years later, he had applied for a pistol permit.
John was located and brought to the station for questioning. He claimed that he didn’t remember being interviewed about Robbie’s murder a few years earlier.
He was shown a photo of Robbie and the car. He still denied being involved or ever seeing Laura’s car. He was asked why his fingerprints were found inside. The police said that John put his head in his hands and began to tremble.
John said he was afraid of Scott Cancel. He said that Scott told him that a man who worked for Jeffrey was out of line and needed to be taught a lesson. Scott hired John and another man named Gilberto Delgado and promised them $1,000.
On December 19, 1989, they met Jeffrey at Bankers. Jeffrey had asked Robbie to take them to New Haven. John drove, Robbie sat in the passenger seat and Gilberto Delgado sat behind Robbie. Gilberto strangled Robbie as they drove. They dumped Robbie’s body behind the church parking lot where he was found.
The Convictions
By August 2001, Jeffrey had been finishing up his sentence in Phoenix. But he was notified that he was being charged with murder.
Jeffrey was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Another inmate told the police that Jeffrey had buried the money in the Dominican Republic.
Jeffrey Stenner
Scott Cancel was also sentenced to 60 years.
John Grzeszczyk and Gilberto Delgado were sentenced to 25 years. John was released in 2018.
John Grzeszczyk
There was also another man involved named Salvatore Zampi. In 2004, he was sentenced to 7 years. He served 3 years in prison.
Side note: These other photos are not labeled because I couldn’t find anywhere online which man was which.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Not just 1, not 2 but 4 men killed another man over $1,000 and some armored cars. So ridiculous and heartbreaking. Robbie knew that what he had gotten involved in was not good. Robbie was nervous and afraid but I don’t think he believed that Jeffrey would have been the one to hurt him. Jeffrey didn’t care about anyone but himself and money. I hope he rots in prison.
Sources
https://thecinemaholic.com/robbie-schmidt-murder-where-is-jeffrey-stenner-now/
https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Santa-robber-gets-60-years-in-slaying-of-11671061.php
https://www.courant.com/2005/01/13/man-gets-25-years-for-role-in-murder/
