About 150 hold vigil for murdered Warwick runner

By C. Eugene Emery Jr. WARWICK -- Darkness was not Jack Fay's friend the morning he took his final fateful run along the beautiful meandering walking path of Warwick City Park on May 17. It was before sunrise when the usual strollers on the path saw his familiar form going past them. It was part of the everyday routine.

His body wouldn't be discovered until the next day, in a trash can at the park, his clothing and possessions making it appear that a random runner had been plucked off the nearly-three-mile path. His killer -- or killers -- have not been identified.

Saturday night, as darkness closed in, about 150 friends and family of the 66-year-old retired postal worker gathered near some ballfield bleachers, close to where the body was found. They were there for a brief candlelight vigil to remember John Fay, to celebrate his life and hope that the event would encourage someone to offer a tip that would solve his puzzling murder.

"Jack, we hope you're looking down, and we miss you," his brother, Jerry, said before the hushed crowd as they raised their candles to the darkening sky.

"Our Police Department has put every available person on this case so we can bring it to a resolution quickly," Mayor Scott Avedisian said in an interview Thursday. "So far, that's eluded us."

"We just need one break and we can take off," said Warwick police Capt. Robert Nelson.

Several police -- both uniformed and plainclothes -- were at Saturday's event, in which many people took flowers provided by the family and laid them at a small memorial along the path, at the two-mile mark.

Jerry Fay, who is lives in Olympia, Wash., said his brother was probably murdered there, at a spot with lots of poison ivy. "There's a good chance" that the killer or killers got it on their hands "and this is just now clearing up," he told the crowd.

Family members, including the victim's four children, wore white "Justice for Jack Fay" T-shirts.

"He loved to run in this park," the brother said, adding that, after spent some time there, he could understand why. "For 30 years, virtually every weekday, Jack ran around this park.

"We all think that we're safe, but his death tells us that we're not all safe and he tells us we have to keep an eye out for each other," Jerry said.

Fay was an unlikely victim -- 6 foot 3 inches, 240 pounds and a Vietnam vet. Most people think he would have put up a good fight. But police are holding a lot of details close to the vest. They have said there is no evidence of robbery and plenty of evidence that Fay was doing the run he did every day.

"He was a typical exercise runner using the path," Nelson said.

"There were probably six to twelve people that used to go to the park in the hour just before the darkness faded to light," according to the police captain. Many -- most of them older -- still do, although they are taking extra precautions since the killing.

"They spoke to him that morning," Nelson said. As always, they walked, he ran, leading the pack of the people opening up the trail for the day.

That also meant that Fay's attackers risked being caught by the walkers as they followed up behind him.

However, "There was a darkness factor, the fact that someone wouldn't be able to see you right away. That played into it," said Nelson.

Jerry Fay said his brother probably put up a tough fight, so whomever was responsible for the attack may have had some facial injuries.

Avedisian said he didn't think trips to the park have declined because of the murder.

Nelson said he suspects that "some people probably don't visit the part as a result of that incident, but it was a rare incident, an anomaly in terms of crime in the park. I don't think it should limit your attendance in the park during daylight hours."

Anyone with information on the case can leave a voicemail at (401) 732-8477, which is the Warwick police tips line, or speak to a detective at (401) 468-4233.