Convicted killers go looking for love online
Windsor murderers have profiles on site that caters exclusively to prisoners
Two Windsor men convicted of murder in a 2006 shooting have taken their search for love from behind bars to a prisoners-only pen pal website.
Shane Huard, 36, and Richard Zoldi, 39, were both convicted in the Aug. 27, 2006 slaying of Jamaican drug dealer Troy Hutchison, 28.
Both men have profiles on the website canadianinmatesconnect.com, which posts photos and profiles of inmates looking for contact with the outside world. Prisoners do not have access to the Internet in Canadian institutions.
Huard was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder in 2010 with no chance of parole for 25 years and is currently at Warkworth Penitentiary in Campbellford, east of Peterborough.
Zoldi was convicted of seconddegree murder in 2011 and was sentenced to 13 years in prison and is serving his sentence at Collins Bay Penitentiary in Kingston. His biography on the site says he is first eligible for parole in 2019.
“I’m genuine, caring and passionate,” Huard writes in his bio on the site.
“I do believe in love but does love believe in me? It’s hard for me to share with people the things I’ve been through. I have walls but like the Berlin Wall they can come down with a little help.”
Huard alludes to his “severe childhood” and says “I don’t allow myself to be a victim of my past but a warrior of my future. I don’t believe in violence at all especially towards women and children. I suffered a lot of abuse growing up as a kid. The things I did to get here are what I don’t want other troubled teens doing.”
In Zoldi’s profile he specifically outlines what he’s looking for in female companionship.
“I’m looking for a woman with a big personality who has no drama, loves tattoos, has thick thighs and a big behind, lol,” Zoldi writes.
“I’m easy going and loves (sic) conversation and I’m a great listener. Trust me, I like music, movies and drawing. I miss them late night snuggles and all that late night play stuff lol.”
Zoldi also says he is enrolled in university.
“I pass time by training, doing tattoos, getting tattoos and reading,” Zoldi writes.
“Doing time gets to be hard on the head. So I need your letters and conversation to take me out of here.”
Canadian Inmates Connect was started about six years ago by Melissa Fazzina of Toronto who read a story about a notorious criminal from there who had a profile on a similar website in the U.S.
“I thought why is this inmate on an American site, and I thought I’d look into it and I found there wasn’t a website for Canadian guys,” said Fazzina.
“At the beginning it was a little tough, I started by mailing information packages to inmate committees across Canada at various prisons. It was kind of word of mouth. It was kind of tough at the beginning.”
The site began with 13 profiles and now there are more than 200. Over the years Fazzina estimates she has posted thousands of profiles. Inmates send her their biography and some photos and the $35 annual fee.
Although she has a full-time job, Fazzina said she probably puts in more hours on the website that she does her regular job.
“It keeps me very busy,” she continued.
Fazzina said Zoldi is “fairly new to the website” and Huard has been there “for a while.”