One Demand From Murder

One Demand From Murder It’s a cool Tuesday morning on February 9, 1960. A milk man on his morning delivery rounds pulled up to the single lane timber bridge over Turkey Creek in Golden, Colorado but there was a car blocking his way so he couldn’t cross the bridge. The car, an International Travelall, sat with its engine running and the radio on but no one was in site. The milkman honked his horn several times, thinking maybe the driver was around but no one came. Finally, he moved the car off to the side of the road himself and then noticed a large reddish-brown stain on the bridge.

The police were called to the scene. Upon arriving, they noticed a large amount of blood in the dirt and in the small creek below the bridge, lay a glasses lens and two hats. One a tan fedora, the other a baseball cap. Golden Colorado in 1960 was a small town where most folks knew one another. The western way of life was still prevalent. On the main drag, cars shared the road with horses and an electric trolley. The mountain town was a picturesque scene with a river running through town nestled in between Lookout Mountain (where Buffalo Bill is buried), North Table Mountain to the north and South

Table Mountain with it’s Castle Rock casting a glow above the Coors brewing plant. Only 15 miles to the east was the bustling city of Denver. For over 100 years, the Coors Family has been making their beer in their Golden Colorado facility. Adolph Coors III, known to everyone in Golden as Ad, was a popular, friendly type and even though he was one of the heirs to the Coors dynasty, he was humble and kind. Ad was 45 and the father to four kids and had graduated from the prestigious Cornell University. He had been a semi-professional baseball player and had risen in the Coors company to CEO and chairman of the Board.

Ad and his wife, Mary, had been married for 20 years. Ad and Mary, despite their wealth, enjoyed the simple life on their horse ranch just 12 miles from the brewery. On February 9, 1960, Ad’s normal route to the brewery was under construction and had been since January which forced him to detour alone a winding stretch of gravel road for four miles to Turkey Creek Canyon where it later connected back to the highway he normally traveled. That morning, Ad kissed his family goodbye, in a good mood, ready to tackle his appointments for the day at the brewery.

He left at 8 am but never arrived at work. Local police that came upon the abandoned white and turquoise station wagon and immediately recognized it as belonging to Adolph Coors III. A frantic search was about to begin – police released an all points bulletin for Ad but no one reported seeing him. 24 hours later, the FBI was able to get involved because of the federal kidnapping statute that had been instated after the kidnapping of Charles Lindburgh’s baby in 1932 which made kidnapping a federal offense so the full scope of the FBI resources could be offered. The FBI gave the case the code name: COORNAP.

J. Edgar Hoover was the agency’s director at the time and he stamped he case top priority. He had spoken directly with Adolph’s father and gave his assurances that it would be handled. The glasses lens and hats were identified as having belonged to Ad. The next morning, Ad’s wife Mary received a typewritten note in the mailbox. It said: Mrs. Coors: Your husband has been kidnaped. His car is by Turkey Creek. Call the police or F.B.I.: he dies. Cooperate: he lives. Ransom: $200,000 in tens and $300,000 in twenties. There will be no negotiating. Bills: used / non-consecutive / unrecorded / unmarked. Warning: we will know if you call the police or record the serial numbers. Directions: Place money & this letter & envelope in one suitcase or bag. Have two men with a car ready to make the delivery. When all set, advertise a tractor for sale in Denver Post section 69. Sign ad King Ranch, Fort Lupton. Wait at NA 9-4455 for instructions after ad appears. Deliver immediately after receiving call. Any delay will be regarded as a stall to set up a stake-out. Understand this: Adolph’s life is in your hands. We have no desire to commit murder. All we want is that money. If you follow the instructions, he will be released unharmed within 48 hours after the money is received.

Mary was advised by the FBI to begin making arrangements for getting the 500k while they worked with the bank to coordinate the selection of denominations and recording the serial numbers. Mary was concerned about this since the ransom letter specifically told her not to involve authorities and not to mark the bills. But, because the APB had been put out looking for Ad, the news of his disappearance had already made headlines. The FBI tested the envelope and letter for fingerprints but no impressions of value were found. But the letter still gave them valuable clues. They could tell the author was fairly well educated, writes well and proficient in typing.

No typos were found and after every period, each sentence was appropriately double-spaced as taught in typing class. The typeface used was distinctive. The proprietary typeface was used by just 2 manufacturers. Hermes in Switzerland and the Royalite company in Holland. The numbers were the telltale clue as to which one this particular typewriter came from. The numbers were rounded unlike on any other typewriter at the time so they were a match for the Royalite portable typewriter. That factory had made them in the late 50’s and early 60’s and sold them widely in department stores. However, the kidnapper’s typewriter did have a specific defect. The lower case letter ‘s’ was slightly lower than all the other letters.

While the FBI and police continued their tenacious investigation, the Coors family awaited a call from the kidnappers, ready with the money and ready to carry out any and all demands they made. The call would never come. BREAK The FBI was dogged and impressive in their skills at seeking out every lead they could. They set up surveillance and recording devices at the Coor’s home, went to the brewery to question anyone who might have helpful info, deputies stood in front of Ad and Mary’s house, stopping all passing vehicles and questioned the occupants. They canvassed the area near the crime scene for witnesses. Locals set up tables near the bridge with pots of hot coffee, donuts, sandwiches and water for the mounted posse and jeep patrol who had spent the night searching for Ad and for those beginning the day search.

Helicopters searched for a person stranded or hurt, or anything out of the ordinary in the hills or ravines. Still, no further signs of Ad could be detected. During the door-to-door canvassing of the turkey creek canyon area, one woman said it was very windy on the day of the incident which made it harder to hear than usual, but that she heard some voice and then a cracklin’ noise like lighting striking a tree. She looked for a fallen tree but didn’t see anything so then she got to thinking that maybe what she had heard was a gun shot or even possibly two really close together. Another woman who lived 2 ½ miles from Turkey Creek told a similar story.

This quote is from a passage in a book called The Death of an Heir by Philip Jett. I’m not sure if it’s a direct quote from how officers wrote or recorded the interview, but it’s written with accents and all and actually reminds me a bit of how my dad talks. “Right around eight o’clock yesterdee, I was hangin’ the wash on a clothesline out back. The wind was blowin’ real hard. I could barely get a clothespin on ’em. Then I heard a shot in the canyon real clear. I usually work on Tuesdays cleanin’ folks’ houses in Denver, but my boss called the night before and told me not to come in. The shot I heard was a far-off shot, not a close up, but a far off-shot, towards the bridge.”

Several witnesses recalled seeing a yellow car that could have been a 51 mercury in the area. One woman said she’d seen the yellow car parked near the bridge 3 consecutive days in a row when she was on her way to work at the Colorado School of Mines the week before Ad’s disappearance. One witness in particular had a keen eye and even recalled a partial license plate. It was a 1960 Colorado-style plate. Read AT-62,” he said. “It may have been AT-6205. I’m not a hundred percent sure about the last two numbers.” A was the county designation for Denver. Within the greater Denver area, police found 4 mercury sedans with that sequence in the license number and of course checked them all.

One in particular caught their attention. It was registered to Walter Osborne who bought the car just one month earlier. When police went to Osborn’s apartment in Denver, it was empty. He had moved out the day after the kidnapping and left no forwarding address. He was said to be a very quiet, unsocial person. Sounds to me like he was very socially awkward and possibly was on the Autism spectrum. Later, it was discovered that he was a Fulbright Scholar with a genius-level IQ. In a dumpster behind the apartment, police found empty boxes for a pair of handcuffs and leg restraints. Agents dusted the room for fingerprints and made a shocking discovery. The prints matched convicted killer, 31 year old Joseph corbett. In 1951, he had shot another man and killed him. He claimed it was self defense, but the man had been shot in the back of the head, so Joe was convicted of murder.

While in prison, he was a model prisoner and was moved from max security to minimum security and from there, he escaped. Corbett’s mugshot was identified by the landlord as the man who had rented the apartment. Under his alias, joe worked as a paint mixer for the Benjamin moore paint company. According to a co-worker, he had made several incriminating comments. He had told them to watch the newspapers, that there would be a big thing bust loose here and then you won’t see me anymore. According to BM, Joe quit coming to work after the kidnapping and they never heard from him again. The resident at the apartment told the FBI one other detail. He often heard typing coming from Joe’s room late into the night.

Only 2 stores in Denver were identified as selling that particular brand of typewriter. One was the May D & F department store. A clerk at that store recognized joe corbett. He was one of the few customers who paid cash and bought the typewriter 4 months prior to the kidnapping. 8 days after the kidnapping and 1700 miles away in New Jersey, police found the 1951 Canary yellow Mercury they’d been hunting for. The plates were removed and the car had been doused in gas and lit on fire so not much of worth remained. However, the serial number on the engine block survived and led authorities to a familiar name.

Walter Osborne, Joe Corbett’s alias. Investigators were certain of the man they needed to find and they began circulating wanted posters in force. In fact, the hunt for Joseph Corbett would be one of the biggest man hunts in US history. Determined to take every shred of evidence as a clue, police went over the burned out vehicle with a fine toothed comb. On the undercarriage, there was soil – 4 layers of it. The most recent layer contained sand, most likely from the New Jersey coast near where the car was discovered. The 2nd layer was unremarkable; probably dirt built up from the long drive east. The oldest layer was unusual with several types of shale in it, consistent with and matched to a control sample taken near Turkey Creek. It also had large amounts of granite dust flecked with pink feldspar.

For comparison, FBI agents took hundreds of soil samples from Denver and surrounding areas hoping to find where the granite with pink feldspar could have come from and would hopefully lead them to Ad. In fact, they sent in 612 samples – so many that the labs told them not to send anymore. The soil with the granite was similar to the Pike’s Peak granite. Pike’s Peak is one of the 58 fourteener mountains here in Colorado which are all mountain peaks above 14,000 feet. Pike’s peak gets its pink color from the potassium pink feldspar.

Searching the Pike’s Peak area, though is a massive undertaking. They searched mines, houses, empty buildings, stalls and ranches, but they didn’t find Ad. BREAK 8 agonizing months after the kidnapping, in an area frequented by hunters, in the Pike’s Peak area, searchers found a human skull, bones and the clothing Adolph Coors 3 had been wearing the day of his disappearance. They found a right shoulder blade that had 2 holes in it that were caused by a high-speed projectile. There were 2 holes also in the back of Ad’s jacket found with the bones. Investigators also found a pocketknife at the scene engraved with the initials ACIII. The bones and skull were in fairly good condition, and they were able to be used to identify through dental records that it was indeed, Adolph Coors III.

At this point, the law knew that Joe corbett was the killer, but now they had the task of trying to hunt him down. They believed Joe had planned this years in advance. He watched Ad to find the best area to kidnap him. 1 month before the kidnapping, Joe purchased a 51 Mercury and stored it in an offsite area away from his apartment so no one there would know he owned it. He typed the ranson note and mailed it to Mrs. Coors on the morning of the kidnapping, then put the cuffs and leg restraints in the back of the car. He drove out to turkey creek bridge to wait for Adolph. He made it look like his car had broken down, and Ad, being a helpful man, offered to help. When Joe brandished the gun, Ad wasn’t the type to let himself be taken and a fight broke out.

They believe Ad tried to run back to his car and was shot in the back. The shots punctured a lung and proved to be fatal. With Ad dead, Joe panicked and gave up on his plan to collect the ransom. He then drove up into the Rocky Mountains, 45 minutes away from Golden to dump the body. As a hunter, he was familiar with the area. He then left the next day and tried to burn away the evidence left in the car. He hadn’t planned on killing Ad, he only wanted money. He thought he was covering his bases, but the true gumshoe detective work of the police and FBI made it possible to track him down. For 7 months, he eluded one of the nation’s biggest manhunts in US history. In Vancouver, Canada, in October of 1960, a woman saw the press reports about Joe Corbett and she called the FBI to report that a man matching his description was living in her apartment building.

He was found at that apartment building and surrendered without incident. The typewriter or pistol wasn’t found among his possessions in Canada, but it didn’t matter. He had left behind his meager posessions, including chains and padlocks and a paperback copy of Robert Traver’s book “Anatomy of a Murder.” Authorities had enough proof from the car, records and such. He plead not guilty, but he was sentenced to life in prison. In Colorado at the time, and possibly even now, you can’t have the death penalty on the table unless there’s an eye witness or a confession. They had neither. It was the first high profile case in the US where soil evidence was crucial to solving a case.

Soil evidence now is even difficult to determine so for someone at that time to even think of examining that and to have the labs analyze it so thoroughly to have been able to prove exactly where the car had traveled was revolutionary. My guess is the FBI had been doing research like this and since it was such a high profile case of a very wealthy “royal” US family, they pulled no punches. On Friday, December 12, 1980, Joe Corbett walked out of the Canon city prison. He was originally released on parole in July 1979 after serving a little less than 19 years for Coors’ murder. He immediately boarded a plane for San Francisco, where he had a place to live, then flew back to Denver the next day to close his bank account — a violation of the terms of his parole. For three days, officials wrung their hands, unsure where Joe was, before he turned himself in. He was sent back to prison.

Over the ensuing months, as he applied again for release, the public debated whether he should be given another chance. Prosecutors and even Gov. Dick Lamm questioned the wisdom of allowing a two-time convicted killer back into society. Finally, more than 17 months after his first taste of freedom, Corbett was moved to Denver and ordered to spend five years on supervised parole. He found work first in a manufacturing plant and then as a truck driver for the Salvation Army. And although he was good about showing up for his appointments with his parole officer, he also exhibited two very different sides to his personality. He was described as intellectually incredibly smart, but very immature emotionally. In 1985, Joe was released from supervision Over the years, reporters tried to interview him to get his story, but he was elusive and close-mouthed. At the age of 80, Joe, diagnosed with cancer and declining rapidly, committed suicide in his Denver apartment with a single gunshot wound to his head. He left no note and no one to claim his body.

Another interesting detail - 27 years before Adolph Coors III’s murder, the FBI had notified the coors family of the plot to kidnap Adolph Coors jr. The attempt was interrupted but it made the family aware that they were targets for it.

Sources: Fbi.gov, Wikipedia, Denver post, Stratfor, medical detectives/forensic files season 11, episode 41 called bitter brew. Vice.com, longreads.com, The Death of an Heir by Philip Jett