On the evening of December 22, 2014, Paul Milluzzo, a 45-year-old male, was fatally shot in the parking lot of Smitty's Tavern in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Leicester resident was discovered with multiple gunshot wounds, a violent end to what began as an ordinary night. Milluzzo, a talented carpenter and business owner, was a father and had been with his fiancée for 23 years.
His death left his family, including his mother and son, devastated.
The investigation into the homicide continued for three months before a significant breakthrough occurred. In March 2015, authorities arrested 48-year-old Peter M. Jasper in connection with the slaying. The arrest was a startling development for the family, as Jasper was Paul Milluzzo's cousin. Investigators and prosecutors began to piece together a narrative of a soured relationship between the two men, once close, that had deteriorated over the years due to a failed business partnership.
During the trial, the prosecution presented a case built on circumstantial evidence, portraying the murder as a meticulously planned act of rage that had been years in the making. In September 2016, a Worcester Superior Court jury found Peter Jasper guilty of first-degree murder. At his sentencing, Jasper denied being the one who shot his cousin, claiming he knew a man who intended to rob Milluzzo and that he merely went to watch without intervening. Despite his claims of being wrongfully convicted, the judge handed down the mandatory sentence for his crime. Peter Jasper was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his cousin.
