In the quiet of a late October evening in St. Ignace Township, Michigan, the life of 75-year-old Richard A. McKenzie Sr. came to a sudden and violent end. On Friday, October 24, 2014, the man known to friends and family as 'Dick' was shot and killed in his home on Mackinac Trail in the Carp River area. The tragedy that unfolded was not at the hands of a stranger, but a sorrowful act of familial violence.
Richard, a veteran of the United States Navy, had built a life in the familiar
embrace of his hometown. Born in St. Ignace Township on January 20, 1939, he was a graduate of LaSalle High School. After his military service, he and his wife, MaryAnn, returned to the area in 1983. They owned and operated the River Bend Resort, a popular spot for hunters, until 2005. In the years leading up to his death, he had been a devoted caregiver to his wife until she passed away in December 2013. He was known for his love of the outdoors, his passion for collecting guns and NASCAR memorabilia, and the kindness he and his wife showed to the local deer population they fed in their backyard.
The circumstances of his death became tragically clear when his own son, Richard Allan McKenzie, Jr., was taken into custody at the scene. The investigation that followed culminated in the younger McKenzie pleading guilty to the murder of his father. In a courtroom on September 22, 2016, the son formally admitted to the shooting that had taken his father's life nearly two years prior, bringing a somber conclusion to a painful chapter for the McKenzie family and the tight-knit community of St. Ignace Township.
