Bartender Murdered in Philadelphia

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Irish Voice News

Bartender Murdered in Philadelphia

January 11, 2008

By April Drew

AN Irish bartender from Belfast was found beaten to death in the basement of a bar in Philadelphia on Friday, January 4 and police on Tuesday named a prime suspect in his killing who they are still searching for.

James “Seamus” O’Neill, originally from Duncairn Parade in the New Lodge area of Belfast city, was beaten to death and then wrapped in a tarp, bound with duct tape and left in the basement of a Port Richmond bar in Philadelphia, according to police.

O’Neill, who is survived by his wife Bonnie and four children, had been a bartender at My Blue Heaven at Richmond and Pacific Streets for 13 years. He came to the U.S. nearly 30 years ago.

O’Neill, 60 was discovered by his wife and brother in the basement of McWhitey’s bar at Venago and Mercer Streets after they located his grey Ford Taurus car parked across the street.

The shocking discovery was made just two days after the Belfast man’s family reported him missing. O’Neill never showed up to meet a friend at a nearby café.

Officer Gillian Russell from the Philadelphia Police force told the Irish Voice on Monday that the cause of O’Neill’s death was a “blunt force trauma to the head and face.”

On Tuesday police named John McLaugh-lin, 36, the operator of McWhitey’s, as O’Neill’s killer, and issued a warrant for his arrest. Police allege that McLaughlin beat O’Neill to death early last Thursday morning after a dispute.

O’Neill apparently finished his shift at My Blue Heaven on Wednesday night, and then went to McWhitey’s.

“It could have been a robbery, an argument. We have no way of knowing until we talk to somebody who actually witnessed it,” said Philadelphia Lieutenant Philip Riehl.

According to police, O’Neill played a “street lottery” using bookmakers and had supposedly won money recently. It is unclear how much money he may have won, but Riehl was under the impression it wasn’t a large amount.

Police have questioned the McWhitey’s owner Maruscia McLaughlin and manager Raymond Mooney of McWhitey’s bar. They have retained legal counsel after giving statements to investigators.

McWhitey’s has since been shut down by the Department of Licenses and Inspections after its license was revoked for being a public nuisance and home to illegal violent activity.

Relatives of O’Neill arrived from Belfast over the weekend to be with the victim’s wife Bonnie and children. It is believed that O’Neill’s elderly mother, Jean has been in the U.S. since Christmas.

A message from O’Neill’s son, Seamus, in the family notices section of the Irish News, a daily newspaper in Northern Ireland read: “Dad, I wonder if you realize how much I’ll miss you so, or how I try to understand why you had to go.

“I’ll sit and think of you with tears falling from my eyes because you were taken so suddenly and no time to say goodbyes. Memories I have to cherish, pictures I can touch of a wonderful dad I love so dear and miss so very much.”

Patrons and staff at My Blue Heaven were shocked and distraught at the tragedy that unfolded only blocks from where O’Neill worked.

Cindy, who worked side by side with O’Neill for 13 years, told the Irish Voice on Monday that the whole community was in disbelief and heart broken. “Seamus was a great person; he definitely didn’t deserve what happened to him,” she said.

No funeral arrangements had been made at time of press.

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