Victim: Paul Monchnik, 91
Murderer: George Steward, 17
Crime date: November 23, 2015
Crime location: Detroit
Summary
Steward invaded the home of his neighbor, 91-year-old Paul, and beat and murdered him. Steward may have forced Paul to drink gas as well. The killer then set fire to Paul’s body.
Details
Remembering 91-year-old War World II veteran Paul Monchnik
Paul Monchnik was an 91-year-old immigrant from Poland, who lived his adult years in Detroit.
He survived combat in World War II and was a productive member of society for all those years on earth.
Now he is dead.
Paul Monchnik came over to USA as an immigrant when he was about eight.
He went to school in Detroit, then he went off to World War II. He was in the Army; he made it through the war.
Monchnik did not, however, survive the attack on his person and property when a 17 year-old teenager visited him in 2015.
91-year-old Paul died in a horrific burglary attack that shocked a whole world. His body was discovered in his home early morning when police and fire personnel responded to a fire at the home.
The body, which was located near the front door of the living room area, had been doused with gasoline and set on fire.
George Steward, a teen who lived with his grandfather next door to Monchnik, had entered the latter’s home, beat him, and lit him on fire.
Paul had burns on about 80% of his body, and there was about one-fifth cup of gasoline found in his stomach. The veteran also had a skull fracture, three cutting injuries on the back of his left hand and two broken ribs on the left side of his body.
The horrific murder Paul’s distraught son, Scott Monchnik, 56. Just after the murder, he asked for the public’s help to track down the suspect and help ‘get this scum off the streets’.
The sight of his childhood home consumed in flames and the blood soaked floor where his dad had been beaten Scott Monchnik described as “a scene from hell”, according to The Detroit News.
This image, as well as the “terrible sickening feeling I get thinking that my dad’s last hour on Earth was filled with horror and pain,” left Scott and his family “traumatized”.
Weeks later, the Detroit police announced charges against 17-year-old George Steward of Detroit.
Police believe Steward used the fuel to try and cover his tracks.
Thankfully, it didn’t work out as well as he planned. Steward was found and arrested by local authorities and jailed.
He was charged with first-degree murder, felony murder and Arson.
A motive for the crime was not immediately clear.
“This man (Steward) has created a hole in all of us that is filled with anger and hatred, fear and loss,” Scott Monchnik said.
“You have taken something that was not yours to take.”
Since he was a little boy, Paul Monchnik called Detroit home and prided himself in knowing his city inside and out, family said.
He was a self-employed television repairman for more than 50 years and worked throughout his life to provide for his family – which included a wife who died seven years ago, three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Even though he was in his 90s, Paul Monchnik continued to take care of himself, keeping groomed and well-fed, reading his newspaper to keep up with current events, his son said.
“He was kind and open-minded… He had no prejudice, he had no malice and he was a kind-hearted man. He worked very, very hard to support his wife and his family and he wanted to live to be 100 and this kid cut that short”, Scott Monchnik told Inside Edition:
”And that’s one of the hardest parts. He didn’t get to pass away quietly in his sleep as an old man,” he continued.
Almost a year after the murder, George Steward IV, 18, was sentenced.
The Monchnik family said they felt a sense of closure when Wayne Circuit Judge Michael Callahan sentenced George Steward IV, the man convicted in the brutal murder, to 30-60 years in prison.
Medical Examiner Testifies Slain Detroit Man Had Accelerant In Stomach
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – A doctor says an accelerant-type liquid was in the stomach of a 91-year-old man found beaten and burned to death in his Detroit home.
Assistant Wayne County medical examiner Kilak Kesha testified Tuesday during 17-year-old George Stewart IV’s preliminary examination, before a judge ordered a trial in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Stewart is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder and arson in the Nov. 23 slaying of Paul Monchnik, who was discovered with severe burns and a head injury at his burning house on Bentler Street.
After surveillance video showed a young man driving Monchnik’s van to a nearby gas station to purchase gasoline in cans, Stewart — who had been living next door to Monchnik — turned himself in to police.
Kesha said about one-fifth of a cup of the liquid was in Monchnik, adding that the victim may have been forced to drink it or it was forced into his throat.
At the time of his arrest, Stewart’s family members seemed shocked by the accusations; one relative telling WWJ, “…He’s supposed to be at Romulus High School playing basketball, going to class like all his siblings.”
According to family members, Monchnik was a widower and father of three who had lived in his home for 65 years. He worked for more than 50 years as a self-employed television repairman before retiring.
Detroit Teen Gets 30-60 Years In Prison For Murder Of 91-Year-Old Neighbor
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – An 18-year-old Detroit man will spend 30 to 60 years in prison for the slaying of a 91-year-old neighbor.
George Stewart IV was sentenced Friday in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Paul Monchnik was beaten Nov. 23, 2015 and his home was set on fire. A medical examiner testified during Stewart’s preliminary examination that an accelerant-type liquid was found in Monchnik’s stomach and that the elderly man may have been forced to drink it or it was forced into his throat.
After surveillance video showed a young man driving Monchnik’s van to a nearby gas station to purchase gasoline in cans, Stewart — who had been living next door to Monchnik — turned himself in to police.
At the time of his arrest, Stewart’s family members seemed shocked by the accusations; one relative telling WWJ, “…He’s supposed to be at Romulus High School playing basketball, going to class like all his siblings.” He pleaded guilty Sept. 16 to second-degree murder.
Scott Monchnik said in court Friday that his father’s “life was brutally taken … by a monster.”
According to family members, Monchnik was a widower and father of three who had lived in his home for 65 years. He worked for more than 50 years as a self-employed television repairman before retiring.
Also see Paul Monchnik
