gord lewis: Canadian guitarist Gord Lewis found dead at home in Ontario, son taken into custody

Gord Lewis, the founding guitarist of the Canadian rock band Teenage Head, was found dead at his apartment Sunday in Hamilton, Ontario. There is a suspected foul play in the death of the 65-year-old, and the police were treating the death as a homicide.

The deceased’s 41-year-old son Jonathan Lewis is the main suspect and has been charged with second-degree murder.

Police arrived at the scene at noon on Sunday and found a dead male in his sixties. Homicide unit Detective Sergeant Sara Beck later told reporters that there were “injuries consistent with foul play.” Beck said in her statement that the police received information about her death after she sent several emails to various media outlets informing them about a deceased person.

Based on the information, police arrived at the deceased’s home. Beck said that identification hadn’t been made yet, as the body was found in a state of decomposition.

She added that she had informed family members of the apartment’s occupant about the investigation.

At the time of the statement, an autopsy hadn’t been performed. Soon after the body was found, police took Jonathan into custody. No additional suspects are being investigated, and authorities believe it to be an isolated incident.

Media members received suspicious messages from two emails linked to Jonathan, starting at 8 pm Saturday. The messages continued until Sunday morning. One Sunday email discussed funeral people needing to get to the house quickly as his dad was decaying.

A previous message talked about the sender’s sickness and how he just wanted to get help and give his father a proper burial. The email also talked about the victim not serving this.

Police arrived at the crime scene after a staff member from a media outlet made a 911 call for a wellness check.

According to Beck, this marked the third homicide in Hamilton in 2022. Lewis’s brother Brian made a statement to CBS Hamilton on Monday and described the deceased guitarist as “gentle, artistic, musically inspirational, loving and loyal.”

Lewis — along with Frankie Venom, Nick Stipanitz and Steve Mahon — founded the iconic band in 1975 while still in high school. Venom passed away in 2008 after years of battling throat cancer.

In a statement posted on social media on Monday, the band described how they were left heartbroken in trying to process the death of their friend, bandmate and brother.