Crime isn’t something that you like to see occur in your neighborhood, especially when it involves murder. Unfortunately for Colorado, we have seen our fair share of the unthinkable over the years, but one of the most notorious and unforgettable cases of them all may just be the Father’s Day Bank Massacre of 1991.

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On Sunday, June 16, 1991, when most of the country was celebrating their fathers and other important men in their life, a man who identified himself as the vice president of the (then) United Bank phoned the upstairs offices from a street phone, forced his way into a side freight elevator, and then shot and killed the security officer who responded to his call. From there, the man stole the officer’s electric pass card, made his way through the bank tunnels, and killed two more security officers who tried to apprehend him.

Nearly 30 minutes later, the perpetrator made his way to the vault, forced teller employees to crawl into a small room, and then left with nearly $200,000 in his satchel.

A few short weeks later, police arrested retired DPD officer James King in connection with the robbery and murders. The reason for the man’s arrest? Police suspected this had been an inside job, completed by someone associated with the bank. (King was a former guard of the building.)

Throughout the case, prosecutors argued that King was the killer because he once owned a .38 Colt Trooper, (the same gun used in the robbery), was a former employee who understood the ins and outs and the bank’s security system, purchased a larger safe-deposit box following the crime and even shaved his recognizable mustache for no known reason. King was later acquitted of all charges after jurors found the evidence to be “too questionable.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9XDy3mvtGI#t=124

After being acquitted, King led a quiet, under-the-radar life in Golden and passed away from dementia in 2013.

Do you have any theories about this case? If King didn’t commit the crime, who did?

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