Trial begins for Ont. man accused of dumping his best friend’s remains after shooting him

The trial of an Alliston man accused of killing his best friend and dumping the remains in Jan. 2024 has begun in a Barrie, Ont. courtroom.

Gabriel DiCecco, 27, sat in the prisoner’s box, accused of first-degree murder and committing an indignity to a dead body following the death of William Schernhammer.

In his opening statement to the jury, Crown Attorney Raffi Dergalstanian said that in the early morning hours of Jan. 12, 2024, DiCecco shot and killed Schernhammer and dumped his body in a ditch. The Prosecution told the jury, “The truth needs to be heard because that is what everyone in this room is after.”

William Schernhammer was 24 years old. His family reported him missing after he told loved ones he was heading out to buy cigarettes with a friend and did not return. For days, his family appealed for the public’s help. They never saw William alive again.

Nine days later Schernhammer’s remains were discovered in the area of the 25^th Sideroad and DiCecco was arrested by police.

The Crown’s first witness, a longtime friend of the deceased, testified about the night Schernhammer and DiCecco came over to his place. He described DiCecco’s behaviour that night as especially unusual, recalling DiCecco smoking three cigarettes inside his kitchen despite being told not to smoke inside the home.

“It was known that Gabe was kind of an oddball” he told the court, describing DiCecco as being a friend to him and others because he was Schernhammer’s friend for more than 10 years.

The court heard the men often smoked, drank, and did drugs together, but on that night, he turned down gas money and an offer of drugs for driving Schernhammer, who did not have a car. He said that had never happened prior to that night.

The witness testified telling Schernhammer he was concerned about DiCecco’s actions. “There’s something off about Gabe,” he recalled telling his friend. The witness told the court DiCecco bizarrely returned to his car several times recalled seeing DiCecco then open and close the trunk of the car he borrowed from his mother that day.

DiCecco is represented by Toronto lawyers Sam Goldstein and Paul De Groot.

The four-week trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday.