On a bright May afternoon in 2004, a senseless act of violence cut short the life of 60-year-old Julius Petrovic, a man who had journeyed from his native Czechoslovakia to build a life in the United States. On May 17th, while seated in his parked sport utility vehicle at a visitor information center off Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, Maine, Petrovic was fatally shot in the chest. The brazen crime, which occurred in broad daylight, was later revealed to be a robbery attempt gone tragically wrong.
Petrovic, a resident of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, was a well-regarded maitre d' at the Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor, where he had worked for over a decade. He had no family in the United States, but his warmth and kindness had earned him a circle of close friends who considered him part of their own families.
The investigation into the shocking murder moved swiftly. Five days after the shooting, two brothers, Shawn and Ryan Hopkins, were apprehended by the Maine State Police while driving on the Maine Turnpike in Cumberland. Authorities identified 23-year-old Ryan Hopkins as the triggerman and his 28-year-old brother, Shawn, as the driver of the getaway vehicle. The brothers, described by police as drug abusers with extensive criminal records, had set out to rob Petrovic for money to buy drugs. Ryan Hopkins later confessed to his estranged wife and two others that he was the one who had pulled the trigger. The murder weapon, a. 40-caliber Glock pistol, was recovered from under a couch in a motel room in Old Orchard Beach where Shawn Hopkins was residing with his girlfriend. A shell casing found at the scene of the crime was matched to the recovered firearm.
Initially, both Shawn and Ryan Hopkins pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder and robbery. However, they later changed their pleas to guilty. For his role as the shooter, Ryan Hopkins was sentenced to a 42-year prison term for murder, to be served concurrently with a 40-year sentence for robbery. Shawn Hopkins, who drove the getaway car, received a 30-year sentence for felony murder and a concurrent 20-year sentence for robbery. The brothers also faced federal firearms charges related to an illegally shortened shotgun discovered at the time of their arrest. The tragic and untimely death of Julius Petrovic, a man remembered for his kindness and mentorship, was a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of addiction and violence.
