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Hopyard opened Devil's Hopyard Sicilian-Style Pizzeria in 2013.

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Hopyard and Harkness were known as rivals because they both owned their own pizza shops on the same street. Everyone knew they were always in competition.

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They would constantly drag the police into it. Saying Hopyards sign violated the local cordinance, then Harkness would fire back saying Harkness’s outside deck violated the zoning code.

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They both complained that the

other was responsible for poor reviews on Yelp and Google.

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Harkness had one of the Ancient

Apizza servers passing out fliers in front of Devil's Hopyard Pizzeria. That led to another

call, from Hopyard, claiming “aggravated trespass”

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In February 2023, someone tried to burn down Ancient Apizza by setting fire to a stack of Ancient Apizza fliers under a wooden bench from the deck. Harkness claims it was Hopyard but there was no evidence.

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On May 3rd, Harkness confided in Sam. Sam told him about a guy named Willie Waramaug that does strange things for money and arranged a meeting for them.

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On Tuesday of May 23rd, the police was dispatched to Devil's Hopyard Sicilian-Style Pizzeria after finding Hopyard's body in the bar's office.

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On May 5th, Harkness went to Hopyard to pay the rent for the month and said “If you shut me down, You won’t get paid. Think about that, you ...” Harkness claims Hopyard was looking for an excuse to shut down Ancient Apizza.

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Hopyard cancelled Harkness’s lease, and served an eviction notice filed by Hopyard on Ancient Apizza on May 15, 2023, with a move out day of the end of the month.

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Casey Mattatuck from Sleeping Giant Brewery discovered the body and immediately called the police and reported that they didn't touch the body.

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On May 17th Harkness met up with Willie at Carley's Coffee Shop. He pulled 12k out of his account, supposedly making an agreement for Willie to murder Hopyard in exchange for cash.

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On May 19, at around 5 pm, right after the Mayor gave her opening remarks and introduced the Whiskey River Rats, Harkness ran up on stage, grabbed the mic from the lead singer and screamed, “I am going to kill you! I am going to kill you! You ruined me! You couldn’t let me have this weekend after all I have done for this community! You ruined me! I am going to kill you!” Harkness then ran off the stage in tears.

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The medical examiner pronounced Hopyard dead on the scene. It appeared as though Hopyard was shot in the back of his head.

Officer Sherlock concluded that someone must've came in through the door or Hopyard had let them in.

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The next day, Officer Sherlock interviewed both Hopyard's wife and Casey Mattatuck. They both suspected Harkness, and he was nowhere to be found, making him the primary suspect.

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Over the next few days, he also interviewed Jackie Pepin, who observed the interaction between Harkness and Hopyard after Hopyard bought out Harkness' building. Hopyard came into the building to threaten Harkness.

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After the incident Harkness left Rocky Neck and was allegedly with his family, claiming he was distressed and in need of his parents to calm him down.

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A couple of weeks later, Jackie Pepin overheard a conversation between Harkness and another man who appeared to be Willie Waramaug, and Harkness saying that he'd "take care of his family if it comes to that."

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He talked to Aspen Wadsworth, who was working at Sam Talcott’s pizza joint at the time, noticing that Harkness and Hopyard were putting bad reviews on each other's page.