William Fitzsimmons

William Fitzsimmons, a 64-year-old White man, was found dead inside his home in Eggertsville, New York, on January 12, 1969. He lived there with his wife, Pearl, and in the weeks leading up to the violence their only child, George Kearon Joseph Fitzsimmons, had been back under their roof again, bringing with him a reputation for intense moods and a fixation on karate that neighbors didn’t yet understand would become central to the tragedy.

That Sunday, a disagreement erupted over someth ...