In the quiet community of Grass Lake, Michigan, the life of 70-year-old Edward John Kantzler was brought to a tragic and violent end on August 22, 2021. Kantzler, known affectionately as 'Fast Eddie,' was a man described as fun, loving, and eccentric, with a knack for making people smile. However, the warmth of his personality was extinguished when he, along with two other elderly men, Delmar Eugene Fraley, 80, and Michael George Pauli, 70, were found shot to death inside a residence on
Fishville Road.
The discovery of the three men's bodies in the early morning hours launched a triple homicide investigation by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. The immediate focus of the investigation turned to Zacharie Scott Borton, a 43-year-old man who had been staying at the home where the shootings occurred. Borton was missing from the residence, and adding to the suspicion, Kantzler's 2006 Ford Explorer was also gone. Authorities quickly identified Borton as a person of interest, considering him armed and dangerous.
A manhunt for Borton ensued, and he was apprehended in Grand Rapids the evening of the following day. Already wanted by the Grand Rapids Police for felonious assault and discharging a firearm into a building, Borton's arrest brought a swift, though grim, resolution to the search for a suspect. He was subsequently charged with three counts of open murder in connection with the deaths of Kantzler, Fraley, and Pauli.
Zacharie Borton's case proceeded to trial, where the tragic details of the murders were laid bare. The jury heard testimony about Borton's actions, including the use of a. 40-caliber handgun to perpetrate the killings. In May 2022, Borton was found guilty on two of the murder charges and a host of other related charges. The court handed down the most severe sentence possible under Michigan law for the first-degree murder conviction: life in prison without the possibility of parole. The judge, during sentencing, characterized the killings as 'cold-blooded murder,' noting that Borton had hunted down and shot one of the elderly victims multiple times.
