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Adjala-Tosorontio man found guilty of manslaughter

June 11, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

A jury in a Barrie courtroom has found Gabriel DiCecco guilty of manslaughter in the killing of William Schernhammer near Alliston over two years ago.

Schernhammer was 24 when he was reported missing on Jan. 12, 2024. His body was discovered on a rural property in Adjala-Tosorontio on Jan. 21, 2024.

After an investigation, DiCecco was arrested and charged with Indignity to a Dead Body.

Upon further investigation, DiCecco was charged with First Degree Murder.

DiCecco has been in custody since his arrest.

At first, DiCecco told police he didn’t know what happened to his friend Schernhammer. The two men had been friends for more than 10 years.

During interrogation, DiCecco agreed to show police where he dumped his friend’s body. This was before he was charged with first-degree murder.

After more questions from police, DiCecco said that he and Schernhammer were approached by a masked man, dressed in black, who emerged from a field and fired three or four shots, hitting Schernhammer.

DiCecco said he loaded his friend into the car and drove away. He claimed not to know the shooter or why his friend was shot.

During the trial, the prosecution and defence presented wildly different versions of what happened the night of the killing.

The Crown argued that DiCecco murdered Schernhamm when he fired four shots at close range with a shotgun he had in his car that night, saying he planned to murder Schernhamm.

Defence lawyer Sam Goldstein claimed DiCecco ‘lost control’ out of fear and panic after a chaotic sequence of events, and DiCecco was provoked by Schernhammer, leading to the shooting.

The defence asked the jury in closing submissions to find CiCecco guilty of manslaughter rather than murder.

The jury deliberated for more than six and a half hours before returning with a guilty verdict on the charge of manslaughter. DiCecco was also found guilty of interfering with a dead body.

Schernhammer’s family was shocked by the verdict, expecting DiCecco to be found guilty on the murder charge.

DiCecco is scheduled to return to court to set a date for his sentencing hearing.

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