On the evening of October 19, 1974, John Salerni, 55, was working at the Donna Lee Bakery in New Britain, Connecticut, when a robbery escalated into a mass killing. Salerni, the bakery’s proprietor, was one of six people forced into a back room, made to lie face down, and executed with shots to the back of the head. Salerni was killed by a shotgun blast; the other five victims were killed with a large caliber handgun.

About $300 was taken from the register. Investigators later developed a theory that the slayings may have been intended to eliminate witnesses after one perpetrator, Gary Schrager, was identified as a nephew by marriage of victim Michael Kron, who may have recognized him. Two local men, Ronald F. Piskorski and Gary B. Schrager, were arrested in connection with the case; Piskorski was convicted in December 1975 and Schrager pleaded guilty at his trial that began in late 1976.

Does anyone have memories of the Donna Lee Bakery or knew John Salerni and the others who were killed?