Family of homicide victim Kurt McKechnie 'need some type of closure,' friend says

Kurt McKechnie had a pretty distinctive swagger.

"He had a walk about him," says childhood friend Harold Smith with a chuckle. The two grew up in the Preston area of Cambridge. "Half a kilometer away, you know it was Kurt coming."

For the past year, Smith and others who knew McKechnie have been posting to social media, including different Cambridge Facebook groups, to remind people of McKechnie's unsolved murder on Jan. 31, 2019.

McKechnie, 56, was shot and killed in a Southwood Drive home in Cambridge, marking the first homicide of the year for the region. Police have said it was a targeted shooting, but a year later, there are few clues as to who killed him.

Smith says he continues to post about McKechnie's death because "somebody knows something" and McKechnie's family has a right to know.

"I don't know, what do you do? Run to a pay phone now and call the cops and and say something anonymously?" Smith said.

"His mom and his brother need some type of closure."

Life-long friends

Smith and McKechnie met in elementary school when they were five or six years old.

He remembers no one really messed with McKechnie in school.

"He was tough back in the day," he said. "He was just tough as nails."

But the two boys, and Smith's younger brother Derek, were all like brothers.

As they got older, Smith joined local bands and would play in bars around the region. Mckechnnie was a regular at the shows.

"I was on the stage and he just started headbanging and ... he was a party animal back in the day," Smith said with a bit of a laugh.

Smith and McKechnie kept in touch even after Smith moved to Alberta and Smith says anytime they saw each other, it was a good reunion.

"I was walking out of the bank one day downtown Cambridge and I hadn't seen him in probably a year or so, and he'd seen me and he came up running," Smith said. "He put his arms around me and he hugged me and I thought my back was going to break."

Four people seen leaving scene

Four people were seen leaving the residence where McKechnie was shot just before 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2019. Police say it's believed the four people were known to McKechnie and they were also seen in the Southwood Drive area in the hours before McKechnie was killed.

Police released a video of silver SUV-style vehicle seen in the area at the time.

Last week, the Waterloo Region Police Service spokesperson Cherri Greeno said there was no new information to report on the case but officers with the major crimes unit continue to investigate.

"Although very few tips have been received from the community in relation to this investigation, we strongly believe that there are people in the community who have information that would assist in solving this homicide," Greeno said.

Anyone with information — "no matter how small or insignificant they may think it is," Greeno said — is asked to call police at 519-570-9777 ext. 8191 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Smith says he hopes by reminding people of McKechnie's death, it will prompt someone who has information to speak up.

"Every couple of months, I'll go on Facebook and I'll do a post, I'll put his picture, just so people don't forget about him," Smith said.

"They say there's four people there. Doesn't one of those guys have a conscience?"