William Finetti

William J. Finetti Sr., who died July 23, 1976 in Novato, California at age 55, is remembered foremost as a member of a family and community rather than for the tragic circumstances that ended his life. Public memorial records and local victim-advocacy writing identify him as a father and family man whose death had a lasting effect on relatives and neighbors.

Contemporary accounts preserved by local organizations describe a household where family visits and ordinary evenings were part of daily life; one public remembrance recounts that he was at home watching the Summer Olympics the evening he was fatally wounded, and that a daughter-in-law who visited that day survived serious injury. Over the years the family’s efforts to seek justice and to participate in parole hearings have been documented by community groups advocating for homicide victims, a sign of how his loss continued to shape those closest to him.

Though formal, family-published obituary notices matching the exact date of death were not located in online newspaper archives accessible for this search, multiple reliable memorial and advocacy sources confirm his identity, residence in Novato, and the date of passing. These sources show a community that found the event both devastating and galvanizing, with family members repeatedly engaging with the criminal-justice process over subsequent decades.

William Finetti’s life, as can be drawn from the public record, was centered on family and home in Novato. This remembrance honors him as a real person whose life mattered to loved ones. Where public details are limited, the focus remains on acknowledging his humanity and the enduring impact his loss placed on family and community.