Do you know who murdered 64 year old Charlie Russo in 1975? In the late hours of May 29, 1975, the lively sounds of music and evening chatter at Ye Olde Fireplace restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina, gave way to a scene of violence and tragedy that would leave a lasting mark on the community. Charlie Russo, a 64-year-old male musician of Caucasian descent, was fatally shot during a robbery that has remained an unsolved mystery for decades.
Just after midnight, with the restaurant officially closed, two white male suspects entered the
establishment through a kitchen door. One of the men was described as being in his twenties, approximately 5-foot-9, with a medium build and dark, curly hair. He wore a blue and white bandana over his face, a light brown floppy hat, a yellow and black T-shirt, and gloves with the fingers cut out. His accomplice wore a brown floppy hat and a red and white bandana covering the lower portion of his face, along with a tan long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and tennis shoes. He was armed with a blue steel automatic pistol.
The armed men quickly asserted control, striking a member of the cleaning crew with a pistol and ordering everyone to the floor. The chef was also struck and forced to the ground. The assailants then directed the waitstaff to crawl into a restroom. In the band room, Charlie Russo and another musician, Buddy Jett, were talking when one of the robbers entered. Jett was pushed to the floor, and when Russo extended his hands in a questioning gesture, he was shot once in the chest. One of the robbers was heard shouting, 'Ralph, this guy went for it.'
While one of the intruders was in the band room, the other forced the restaurant's owner, Charlie Grubbs, and another individual to open the safe, from which they stole money. Following the robbery and shooting, the suspects took Grubbs' Cadillac and fled the scene. The stolen vehicle was later discovered abandoned at a nearby Howard Johnson Lodge. Although the murder weapon was eventually recovered during a drug raid in Columbia, South Carolina, no arrests have ever been made in connection with the murder of Charlie Russo. The case remains a cold case, a somber reminder of a life cut short by a senseless act of violence.
