A machinist in rural Ontario flipped the switch on a flashlight that arrived in the mail. Then it exploded

The package arrived at Wayne Greavette's farm home southeast of Guelph on Thursday Dec. 12, 1996, wrapped in white paper with a ribbon and containing a cheery message.

Didn't realize you had moved," it said. Had some trouble finding you. Have a very Merry Christmas and may you never have to buy another flashlight."

Inside the Canada Post package was a wine cask container. Inside that was a rectangular Duracell Floating Lantern flashlight with a black-and-yellow lens cap.

Twenty-one-year-old Justin Greavette tried to turn the flashlight on but nothing happened. Then his father, 42-year-old Wayne Greavette, gave it a try.

When the self-employed machinist flipped the switch, a homemade bomb filled with a mining explosive and roofing nails exploded. Greavette was instantly dead.

His wife, Diane, and his brother, Robert, were sitting on the other side of the room and weren't injured. His son Justin, who had tried to turn on the light seconds before, was treated for minor burns.

At first, there seemed to be plenty of clues for police. Oddly, the letter that was attached to the package was intact after the explosion.

It also contained the words:

My partners and I are opening a new business sometime early in the new year called Acton Home Products' and would be very interested in having you give us a price on rebuilding some equipment.

You did some work for a company I was with a few years ago and although you won't remember me, (name withheld) and your delivery man (name withheld) most likely will.

We don't plan on doing anything until after the new year, but would be most anxious to proceed at that time. We have no staff or office in place just yet, but you can reach us by mail at our new address below.

Thanks for your time and I'll look forward to hearing from you sometime early in the new year.

Police found the letter was typed on a manual Smith Corona typewriter with the rare font, 10/12 number 59543, which was used by only 2 per cent of the device's owners. It had a flaw on its daisy wheel, which left a forward slash after each period. The attached letter contained the fictitious signature of a man who never existed. Neither did the company the letter said he represented. The Acton return address on the package was for a place that also didn't exist.

Police heard that a month before the murder, two men visited the Acton post office in an attempt to learn Greavette's current address. Those men couldn't be located.

There were flyers in the package for a Milton store - Copeland Lumber - but that led nowhere.

Police profiled the killer and the conclusions weren't surprising. It was assumed Wayne Greavette was the intended victim, but that the killer had no problem with endangering other family members. If the flashlight had worked when Justin Greavette flipped the switch, he would almost certainly have been killed.

The profile also stated that the killer was cowardly and callous, choosing to kill from a distance. The killer also seemed to be someone trying to get revenge for a perceived slight.

Certainly, the killer had a twisted sense of humour.

The killer was also deeply angry. The explosive was easily powerful enough by itself to kill Greavette. The packing nails were overkill.

Perhaps the attack was connected to business.

Greavette had a couple of those. He rebuilt and serviced packaging machinery for the food industry. Sometimes he angered customers by not returning expensive machinery quickly after it was repaired.

Greavette and his wife Diane were also in the water bottling business. They had hoped to use an artesian well on their newly-purchased farm to begin a spring water bottling business.

Investigators quickly learned that Greavette was a quiet man with a compartmentalized life, who kept things private.

He didn't have a criminal record. He and Diane moved to the Puslinch farm from Acton in the summer of 1996, months before he was murdered. They had hopes of being players in the province's then-flourishing bottled water industry, but that never panned out.

At one point, a $75,000 reward was offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) who sent the bomb.

Greavette's widow, Diane Greavette, also set up websites, www.unsolvedmurders.ca and www.unsolvedcrimes.ca in the hope of soliciting tips.

Six years later, there were questions about whether the killing was linked to the unsolved May 17, 2002 murder of Paavo Paul" Henttonen, 54.

Henttonen, a one-time Toronto resident, was stabbed repeatedly in the entrance of his Georgetown apartment after spending the evening at a pub. He and Greavette were in the same line of machine repair business and knew each other.

Journalist David Ridgen has investigated the story exhaustively for CBC. He has maintained contact with Greavette's family for years, even after they moved from the farm and lowered their profile.

Wayne's murder haunts the Greavettes and has altered all of their paths in life," Ridgen says. They're a strong family but have each struggled in their own way. I think they and I would relish the opportunity to meet the perpetrator' who undertook this terrible act face to face ...

Seeing your father or husband suddenly blown up in front of you by a flashlight built for that purpose has made the family perpetually wary and careful," Ridgen says. But like I say, they are a group of strong-willed, smart individuals and they have support."

Det. Insp. Randy Gaynor of the Ontario Provincial Police says the force is still hopeful it can bring the case to court. He's reluctant to comment on anything that might end up as evidence in court. That includes questions on whether the murder might be related to organized crime.

There were strands of hair found on the wrapping materials on package that held the flashlight and there have been plenty of advances in DNA testing since 1996. Still, Gaynor declines to comment on how the hair factors into the investigation.

Hair is certainly a good source of DNA," Gaynor says. In this particular case, that would be direct evidence."

Gaynor says he hasn't seen a murder like this in his 31 years on the OPP.

We're open minded. We're not concentrating on any one person. We're pursuing all avenues of investigation."

Peter Edwards is a Toronto-based reporter primarily covering crime for the Star. Reach him via email: pedwards@thestar.ca