Family of man killed ‘execution style’ in unsolved Melbourne murder demands police reward

It’s been almost 50 years since Gary Lasky’s uncle was killed.

On St. Patrick’s Day in 1978, 16-year-old Lasky was watching television at his grandparents’ house, waiting for his uncle Keith to join the family for dinner.

“It was well after six o’clock,” he recalled.

“We were wondering what happened to my uncle because he didn’t show up.”

Lasky later learned that about four hours earlier, his uncle Keith Hyman and two other men had been brutally murdered at a jeweler’s office in Melbourne’s CBD.

Following the murders of Mr Hyman, Paul Pace and Robert Wartman, eight diamonds worth about $30,000 went missing from the Manchester Unity building office.

Although there have been reports of suspects over the years, no one has been charged in their deaths.

The men were killed “execution style”

Many of the events of that day remain a mystery to the Hyman family.

Mr. Lasky said his uncle was a gifted computer programmer who worked for a diamond wholesaler at the time.

He said Mr Hyman was helping a friend on the day of the murder by delivering diamonds to Mr Pace – a jeweler – for a potential client.

“And that’s really all we know; we don’t have much information other than what was in the newspapers… from that time,” Mr. Lasky said.

“He was an amazing programmer in his day… unfortunately he did a favor for a friend and the consequences were disastrous.”

In 1978, The Age reported that the bodies were found in “small adjoining rooms in Paul Pace’s jewelery manufacturing office on the eighth floor of the Manchester Unity building”.

The Age reported that “three men were shot in the back of the head during the execution.”

Mr Hyman’s sister Elaine Kovkin said her brother’s violent death had “torn the whole family apart”.

“It was a very difficult time for us, and my parents never got over it,” Ms. Kovkin said.

“My father lost a football teammate.

“My mother always said – if anyone asked when my father died – she always said the day Keith died.”

Mr Lasky and his mother are now calling on Victoria Police to reach out to the public and offer a reward for information about the unsolved murders.

Family seeks reward for cold case

Victoria Police said in a statement that homicide detectives were continuing to investigate the killings.

It said “several people” have been interviewed over the past four decades and investigators continue to receive new information.

A recent breakthrough in the 1977 Easy Street murders has prompted Lasky to renew his appeal for information about his uncle’s murder.

“I’m hearing about all the unsolved cases and how the police are offering rewards for all these unsolved murders, and I’m thinking…here are three young men executed for a jewelry robbery,” he said.

“As far as I can determine or from what I have researched, there has never been any reward offered for any information and I think this is a travesty.”

Mr Lasky urged police to contact his family.

“Contact my mother…and tell us where they are with this whole unsolved case, perhaps inviting the public to see if there is information out there that could help solve or resolve this horrific murder.

“I had no real closure, and I think my mother had no real closure after the whole event 46 years ago.”

‘Tender soul’ left a legacy for family

Sitting side by side, the mother-son duo reminisce about their days with Mr. Hyman.

Mr Lasky remembers his Uncle Keith as a soft-spoken and “gentle man” who loved family trips to Lake Eildon and going to watch Carlton play football.

“He would do anything for anyone,” he said.

“He was always generous and kind to me.

“I was a teenager at the time and he was 32 at the time… and he was annoying… being a teenager going through puberty and all that.”

Ms. Kovkin cherishes memories of her brother as a loving uncle to her children.

“We never fought as kids, but I wasn’t much older than him, but we got on very well, always got along very well,” she said.

“And he loved my children.”