Saskatoon police seek help solving 2024 homicide

Police are renewing calls for help two years after a Saskatoon man was killed in a Fairhaven park. Stacey Hein reports.

Two years after a Saskatoon man was beaten to death in a Fairhaven park, police say the case remains unsolved and are renewing calls for anyone with information to come forward.

Harvey Zoerb, 66, was walking back to his Fairhaven care home after buying a drink at a nearby 7-Eleven in the early morning hours of June 12, 2024. Police say he was attacked while passing through Herbert S. Sears Park.

“He was met by someone or [a group of] people who brutally attacked him, unprovoked as far as we know, and left him for dead,” said Staff Sgt. Corey Lenius with the Saskatoon Police Service major crimes unit.

Police believe Zoerb was beaten with a T-shaped piece of metal and say one witness saw three potential suspects leaving the scene.

Zoerb was found around 6 a.m. near the Fairhaven School basketball court with life-threatening injuries. He was taken to hospital where he later died.

Lenius said there are no new leads at this time, but police are exploring new technology and remain hopeful the case will be solved.

“There’s not a week that goes by without him being mentioned, just because of the brutality of that file,” he said.

For Lenius, the case hits close to home.

“I grew up in Fairhaven. I went to that school. I played baseball on that tarmac where he was found.”

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Ward 3 Councillor Robert Pearce spoke about Zoerb’s case on social media, saying he’s a family friend, and “the family, the community and those involved in solving this case need closure.”

Police say any piece of information could be key.

“What the public might not realize is they might hold a piece of that puzzle and we have the bigger picture. So any piece of information that they might have, even if they think it’s insignificant, could be mountainous for us,” Lenius said.

Information related to the case can be reported to police or anonymously through Crime Stoppers.