Murder on the Menu Ronald Harnois

Murder on the Menu is described by Discovery ID as: when friendly cashier Tammy Petrin is found shot execution style at the local burger joint, the town of Woonsocket's in shock. After lead suspects don't serve up answers, a helpful hooker and letters from jail might be just what detectives ordered.   

Ronald Harnois was caught because he was committing bigamy. He had tried to kill his second wife and was in prison for attempted murder. He feared Tammy Petrin would testify against him and so he hired two fellow inmates to kill her. Perhaps avoiding marriage would have been a better idea. He has appealed his conviction. You can view the appeal by clicking on his name above.

This case has its genesis in defendant's attempted murder of his second wife, Joanne, when he attached a bomb to the underside of her car.   The events leading up to and surrounding the murder attempt may be found in Harnois I. At the time, an investigation revealed that Petrin also was married

to Harnois as his third wife and that she, too, had been involved in planning Joanne's murder.   In return for Petrin's testimony against Harnois, the state agreed to drop its charge against her for conspiracy to commit murder.   Believing that the state would be unable to convict him of the charges in Harnois I without Petrin's testimony, Harnois set about planning Petrin's murder through various intermediaries.   He succeeded in bringing his plan to fruition in the early hours of July 30, 1991, when Steve Wilson (Wilson) shot and killed Petrin at Harnois's behest.   The murder occurred at Petrin's place of employment at a Burger King in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.   Wilson also shot and killed Villeda, a janitor who happened to be cleaning the establishment at the time.   The events leading up to the shootings were as follows.



 You can write to Ronald Harnois at:

Ronald Harnois 82363   
Medium John J. Moran Facility
PO Box 8274,
Cranston  RI 02920