In the autumn of 1979, a grim discovery was made in Lynn, Massachusetts, shattering the community's sense of peace. On November 4th, children playing in a local dump stumbled upon the dismembered torso of a man. The remains were later identified as 22-year-old Robert "Bino" Garbino, a resident of 126 Winnepurkit Avenue. The brutality of the crime was immediately apparent, and as investigators delved deeper, they uncovered a dark story with connections to an infamous motorcycle club.
The
investigation revealed that Garbino had been shot multiple times in the head, back, and shoulder before his body was gruesomely dismembered. His severed head and hands were later found buried in the yard of his own home. Garbino was known to be a prospect for the Hells Angels motorcycle club, and police quickly suspected his murder was tied to a drug-related dispute, possibly a deal gone wrong involving the notorious organization. The violent nature of his death was believed to be a stark warning to others.
A central figure in the investigation was Garbino's friend and roommate, Michel Gagnon, who was also a member of the Hells Angels. Gagnon became the prime suspect not only in Garbino's murder but also in the disappearance of his own girlfriend, Susan Marie DeQuina, who had vanished a month earlier on October 3, 1979. DeQuina's car was found abandoned and burned in Saugus shortly after she went missing, and authorities believe she too was murdered.
The web of violence and mystery continued to unravel when, on November 25, 1979, weeks after Garbino's body was found, Michel Gagnon was discovered shot to death in a Bridgeport, Connecticut apartment. While his death was officially ruled a suicide, there remains considerable suspicion that he was murdered to silence him. To this day, the murder of Robert Garbino remains officially unsolved, and no arrests have been made, leaving a cold case that speaks to a violent chapter in the city's history.
