Fifty six years ago, Joseph Corbett Jr. was convicted of kidnapping and killing the heir to the Coors Brewing Company.
The ransom note that he left Adolph Coors III’s wife is the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s artifact of the month.
The text reads:
“Mrs. Coors:
Your husband has been kidnapped. His car is by Turkey Creek.
Call the police or FBI 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.”
It all started on Feb. 9, 1960. A milkman called police after he found a station wagon blocking the bridge over Turkey Creek near Morrison. Its engine was still running and the radio was still playing.
The milkman later noticed a reddish-brown stain on the bridge and a hat on the edge of the river bank below.
Police determined the car and those items belonged to Adolph Coors III, the 44-year-old heir to the Coors Brewing Company fortune.
His wife, Mary, received the ransom note and tried to contact the kidnapper using their exact instructions, but she never heard back. The FBI, meanwhile, tried to track down who was responsible for writing the note.
Their investigation led them to a canary-yellow Mercury that had been seen in the area. The driver disappeared, but the FBI says not before obtaining a gun, handcuffs, a typewriter, and an insurance policy.
The beneficiary? A man named Joseph Corbett.
This man’s son, Joseph Corbett Jr., was a former Fulbright scholar with a high IQ who had been convicted of shooting a man in the back of the head in 1951 (he said it was self-defense). He had escaped from a minimum security prison – and immediately became the prime suspect in the case.
For the Coors family, there was not a happy ending.
Hikers found a pair of trousers with Adolph Coors’ initials in September 1960 about 12 miles away from Sedalia. Skeletal remains were found nearby – and they were determined to belong to Coors.
The FBI says Coors' jacket and shirt had bullet holes: he had been shot in the back.
Corbett Jr. was placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List as the search and story went international. The FBI described Corbett as a "proficient typer and a neat dresser" who also happened to be a gun enthusiast.
Ultimately, it was people who had read Reader’s Digest in Canada who broke the case. One person reported a man who looked like Corbett Jr. was renting an apartment there.
The next day, the FBI says someone who managed a rooming house in Winnipeg called local police to say someone who looked like Corbett Jr. had passed through. They provided a description of a vehicle involved.
On Oct. 29, 1960, this led them to a rooming house at a Vancouver motel. A red Pontiac matching the description was parked outside, and when the FBI showed up, Corbett Jr. answered and said “I give up. I’m the man you want.”
On March 19, 1961, Corbett Jr. was convicted of Adolph Coors Jr.’s murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, and was paroled after a little less than 19 years.
In a 1996 interview with reporters with the Denver Post, he denied any involvement in the murder.
On Aug. 24, 2009 Corbett Jr. was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 80 years old, and had been diagnosed with cancer.
When a reporter asked him for an interview in the years before he died, he said, "it's nothing personal. I have nothing to gain from the notoriety. I've put it behind me. It's a gruesome memory."
The FBI has a lengthy write up on the case here: http://bit.ly/2nrUXto
They also discuss the ransom letter here: http://bit.ly/2o3jQOM
A reporter for 5280 dug deep in to the case. Those articles are posted here (http://bit.ly/2o85ZYj) and here (http://bit.ly/2nfVvBJ).
