Colored Red
96 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 162 ratingsA look into the lesser known murders and true crime of Colorado. Learn about dark tales from Colorado and the murderous history of the Mile High City. Contact the host at: [email protected] and find the show on Facebook or Instagram @coloredredpodcast to see photos associated with each case.
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Episodes
Historical Murders: The Murder of Signe Carlzen
September 28, 2021 05:00 - 15 minutes - 10.4 MBOn August 11, 1912, 32 year old SIgne Carlzen finished up teaching a music lesson in the Montclair neighborhood of Denver. At around 8PM she walked towards the streetcar line to take it back to her parent's home where she lived. At 9AM the next day, a farmer discovered her axed and mutilated body on the road towards the streetcar line. Police would arrest and question some 25 suspects, including many of the stranger people to ever walk in Denver.
Historical Murders: The Murder of Signe Carlzen
September 28, 2021 05:00 - 15 minutes - 10.4 MBOn August 11, 1912, 32 year old SIgne Carlzen finished up teaching a music lesson in the Montclair neighborhood of Denver. At around 8PM she walked towards the streetcar line to take it back to her parent's home where she lived. At 9AM the next day, a farmer discovered her axed and mutilated body on the road towards the streetcar line. Police would arrest and question some 25 suspects, including many of the stranger people to ever walk in Denver.
The Murder of Susan Hernandez
September 02, 2021 21:00 - 31 minutes - 21.9 MBOn July 28, 2015, Susan Hernandez's daughter Katrina cannot reach her mom on the phone, and she gets a gut feeling that something is wrong. She drives over to her mom's house and finds a horrific scene, her mother is on fire in the basement. Detectives unravel a callous and obvious plot that originates inside the Hernandez family.
Historical Murders: The Troubled Mrs Emily Powell
August 25, 2021 05:00 - 15 minutes - 11 MBOn December 9, 1919, a butler for a Denver Apartment-Hotel discovered 38 year old Emily Powell despondent in a blood splattered room, her 10 year old daughter Jacqueline had been dead on the bed for hours. In their investigation, police find peculiar notes left behind by Emily that shed light on some of the delusional thoughts that haunted her.
Historical Murders: The Troubled Mrs Emily Powell
August 25, 2021 05:00 - 15 minutes - 11 MBOn December 9, 1919, a butler for a Denver Apartment-Hotel discovered 38 year old Emily Powell despondent in a blood splattered room, her 10 year old daughter Jacqueline had been dead on the bed for hours. In their investigation, police find peculiar notes left behind by Emily that shed light on some of the delusional thoughts that haunted her.
1975 Colorado Springs Killing Spree
June 03, 2021 04:00 - 29 minutes - 20.1 MBIn the early morning hours of July 1st, 1975, a woman was found dead on the porch steps of a trailer in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A blood trail 50 yards long marked the area where she crawled to the steps, and bloody marks on the door marked her futile attempts to ring the bell before dying. Her name was Karen Grammer, sister of famous actor Kelsey Grammer. It wasn't long before investigators discovered that all three murders over the course of 2 weeks were committed by the same suspects. ...
Historical Murders: The Grand Lake Spider House
March 20, 2021 17:00 - 11 minutes - 8.25 MBGrand Lake, CO sits nestled next to the largest and deepest lake in Colorado. It's full of rich log cabin architecture and charming shops and restaurants, but it has a surprisingly dark past. One of the more amazing houses in the area is nearly 150 years old and is called The Spider House, due to the intricate latticework of wood that decorate this two story log home. This home was built by Warren Greggs for his wife Mary and large family, but it would not bring them happiness.
The Colorado "Mad Bomber"
March 07, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 23.4 MBIn 1992, Grand Junction was rocked with three horrifying explosions. Pipe bombs were being planted in random places around the city and targeting no one in particular. Anyone could be the next victim by simply getting into their car or walking in the wrong place. The mystery seemed to life as investigators and ATF agents honed in on one suspect, a loner and electronics enthusiast named James Genrich. James had an interesting story of his own and also had tools in his home that investigators ...
Historical Murders: Murder at the Circus
February 18, 2021 21:00 - 10 minutes - 7.31 MBOn August 27, 1958, 11 year old Lester Gordon Brown Jr headed alone to the circus that was in town and being exhibited at the Denver Coliseum. Lester was particularly interested in elephants and he caught the eye of a 27 year old animal trainer named Walter J Hammil. Hammil offered him a ride on an elephant after hours and this would be the last time anyone saw Lester alive.
The Smaldone Family
February 06, 2021 05:00 - 50 minutes - 34.8 MBThis episode is a continuation of the earlier historical episode about the murder of Joe Roma. Hear about the Smaldone family, leaders of the Denver, CO mob for many decades. The two brothers Clyde and Eugene "Checkers" were undisputed family leaders and were at the front of many bizarre and brazen criminal acts over the years and used their money for a lot of good in the community and a lot of mischief.
Historical Murders: The Prohibition Era Mafia and Murder of Joe Roma
January 17, 2021 01:00 - 15 minutes - 10.4 MBBitter rivalry between the mafia controlled North and South territories of Colorado came to a breaking point in the deadliest 15 years of mafia crime in Colorado's history. The era between 1919 and 1933 was Prohibition Era and bootlegging took off, controlled by Colorado's warring mafia gangs. Joe Roma, aka "Little Caesar" the pint sized Boss, found himself at the center of it and in control of a bootlegging operation that served out of his North Denver grocery stores and home. That is, unti...
Historical Murders: The Soap Kettle Murders
December 16, 2020 01:00 - 12 minutes - 8.82 MBOn December 15, 1917, in a rural farmhouse around 4 miles from Olathe, Colorado, a young boy's body was boiled in lye to make a human soap. His father, too, would supposedly suffer the same fate. The woman at the center of the murders is Mrs. Mary Bush, a spiteful woman who accused her grandson, the boy in the soap kettle, of stealing $1.35 from her pocketbook.
Historical Murders: The Fate of the Fleagle Gang
November 19, 2020 03:00 - 19 minutes - 13.1 MBOn May 23, 1928, four masked robbers entered a bank in Lamar, Colorado and stole $200,000 in cash and gold bonds. In the process they shot the owner of the bank, Amos Parrish and and his son John Parrish. They took two hostages as well and drove off with guns blazing in a high speed chase with the Lamar County sheriff. By the end of the story, four men would be murdered and a two year chase would span multiple states across the United States and involve a number of bizarre aliases. The legen...
The Kidnapping and Murder of Adolph Coors
November 05, 2020 03:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBOn the morning of February 9, 1960, Adolph "Ad" Coors drove his car to his family's business, the Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado. Only a couple of hours later his car was found running with the doors open on the Turkey Creek Bridge. Ad Coors was nowhere to be found. A ransom note arrived the next day demanding money in exchange for his safe return, but the kidnapper mysteriously disappeared without collecting the money and without returning Ad Coors. In a massive manhunt that stretched al...
Historical Murders: The Schenk Family Massacre
October 17, 2020 16:00 - 14 minutes - 10.1 MBOn December 21, 1919, a quiet farm house in Weld County, Colorado was much quieter than usual. A family member discovered the entire family of 6 shot to death within the home, including 4 children under the age of 10. An investigation would reveal bad blood between the family patriarch Adam Schenk and Alex Miller, the farm hand who was known to be a violent drunk. The root of the problem would turn out to be the root of many people's problems; money.
Colorado's "Doctor" Death
October 03, 2020 22:00 - 31 minutes - 21.4 MBIn 2004, ER doctors were stumped. Two people had now been admitted to the ER with severe complications from treatments delivered by a naturopathic "doctor" named Brian O'Connell. One of the patients had died. When they look into Brian O'Connell's past, they discover he has a long history of taking substantial amounts of money for treatments he claimed would cure cancer. One of his final victims was 19 year old Sean Flanagan and his case was what sent O'Connell to trial for manslaughter.
The Slide-Rock Bolter
September 18, 2020 04:00 - 9 minutes - 6.76 MBIn this episode I change gears to talk about a deadly and fearsome mythological creature unique to Colorado, the Slide Rock Bolter. Miners and mountain folk, forever enraged by tourists romping into their towns, conceived this "cryptid" that swings down from high cliffs to gobble up unknowing tourists who wonder into the path of its gaping maw.
The Murder of Heather Dawn Church
September 02, 2020 04:00 - 42 minutes - 29 MBOn September 17, 1991, thirteen year old Heather Dawn Church disappeared with few clues from her home in the distanced and quiet neighborhood of Black Forest near Colorado Springs. For years her case sat in mystery, as if she simply stepped out of the front door and vanished. A dedicated fingerprint expert would open up pandora's box with a fresh look at the only clue found at the scene and investigators would uncover a serial killer lurking under our noses.
The Murder of Heather Dawn Church
September 02, 2020 04:00 - 42 minutes - 29 MBOn September 17, 1991, thirteen year old Heather Dawn Church disappeared with few clues from her home in the distanced and quiet neighborhood of Black Forest near Colorado Springs. For years her case sat in mystery, as if she simply stepped out of the front door and vanished. A dedicated fingerprint expert would open up pandora's box with a fresh look at the only clue found at the scene and investigators would uncover a serial killer lurking under our noses.
The Murder of Paige Birgfeld
August 04, 2020 21:00 - 34 minutes - 24 MB34 year old Paige Birgfeld went missing on Thursday, June 28, 2007. She left behind three children, a large home and several tumultuous relationships. Amongst Paige's scattered possessions along a highway were clues to a secret life that Paige lived to pay the bills. Her burned out car, her violent previous marriage, it all led to many suspects in a case with many twists and turns.
Historical Murders: A Look at Victor, CO
July 19, 2020 04:00 - 16 minutes - 11.1 MBBrawls, riots, shootings and other drunken buffoonery are only a small part of this once large and bustling town of the Rocky Mountains. Victor, CO once boasted over 15 saloons and theaters and was home to around 20,000 people in its prime. The town and surrounding mountains are still dotted with hundreds of old mines, some of which you can see and explore. A rich history keep this town moving into the future and new owners and renovators plan on making it a creepy destination for true crime...
The Missing Men of Silver Plume
July 03, 2020 03:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MBIn 1987, Tom Young went missing after closing down his bookstore in Silver Plume, Colorado and walking off into the wilderness with his dog. Months later, in 1988, Keith Reinhard would rent the same shop space for his antique store and become obsessed with the mystery of what happened to Tom Young. Then one day Reinhard closed his shop and walked off into the mountains and was never seen again. What happened to Keith and Tom, and what mysteries, if any, does Silver Plume hide?
Historical Murders: Brief History of the KKK in Colorado
June 17, 2020 23:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBThe 1920's saw the takeover of Colorado by the KKK, from politics to local businesses, they had their stranglehold in the state. Colorado was also brought into the 20th Century by a barbaric lynching of a 16 year old boy named Preston Porter Jr. Learn about the brief history of the KKK in Colorado, including the infiltration of them in the 1970's by Ron Stallworth, the first black investigator for the Colorado Springs Police Department.
The Murder of Kimberly Greene Medina
May 31, 2020 17:00 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MBOn October 29, 1996, Kimberly Greene Medina disappeared without a trace. Her husband didn't report her missing until two days later and claimed she went missing while walking to a local convenience store to buy cigarettes. The truly realities of what Michael Medina was capable of wouldn't be uncovered until nearly a decade later in 2005. This is a short but terrifying story.
Historical Murders: The Murder in Room 8
May 16, 2020 17:00 - 9 minutes - 6.5 MBOn January 23, 1920, shots could be heard ringing out from the Waldorf Hotel in Denver, Colorado. When police and journalists arrived they found a peculiar scene and uncovered a love triangle that involved a sick man, a woman, and an estranged husband who had been stalking his wife. Curiously, not many details remained on record about this case but a detective claimed for many years that there was more to it than the public saw.
The 1993 Chuck E. Cheese Massacre
May 02, 2020 21:00 - 35 minutes - 24.3 MBOn December 14, 1993, a man hid inside a men's bathroom inside a Chuck E. Cheese in Aurora, CO and came out after closing duties began. He shot everyone working in the restaurant and made off with around $1500, some keychains and some game tokens. 4 employees were killed and one survived the shooting and identified Nathan Dunlap, a former employee, as the perpetrator. Nathan's case would come to be an example of how not to handle a death penalty case and details about Nathan's motives or men...
Historical Murders: The Great Mint Robbery of 1922
April 16, 2020 20:00 - 14 minutes - 9.91 MBOn a cold December morning in Denver, CO, 1922, a Buick touring car pulled up behind an armored car in front of the Denver Mint. Four gunmen emerged from the Buick and demanded the money that was being loaded into the armored car. One of the Mint guards, a veteran of the police force, was killed during the ensuing shootout. The case wouldn't be "solved" until nearly 15 years later and the details of it sound closer to a gangster movie than a real life crime.
The Murder of Tina Tournai (Sandoval)
April 02, 2020 04:00 - 1 hour - 45.1 MBOn October 19, 1995 in Greeley, CO, Tina Sandoval left work to have a reluctant meeting with her estranged husband, John Sandoval, and retrieve money for an IRS debt they incurred while together. Tina was never heard from again. It would take over two decades for detectives to finally piece together the entire twisted and disgusting lifestyle of John Sandoval and finally extract from him what really happened to Tina.
BONUS Episode: The Chinese Race Riots of 1880
March 24, 2020 19:00 - 17 minutes - 12 MBIn this special bonus episode I'll discuss a dark time in Denver's history that isn't well known. All across America in the last decades of the 19th Century, racial tensions flared due to labor disputes and immigration. Everyone wanted a piece of the booming Denver economy and this caused a clash that culminated in the Halloween Day Chinese Race Riots in Denver's Hop Alley in 1880. The riots resulted in one horrible murder of a laundry worker named Look Young and included many more rapes, be...
Historical Murders: The House of a Thousand Candles
March 16, 2020 02:00 - 13 minutes - 9.16 MBThe House of a Thousand Candles sits at 1410 High Street in Denver Colorado and has been a hotbed of strange activity, some paranormal, and some criminal. The house was the inspiration for the book, The House of a Thousand Candles, written by Meredith Nicholson, who lived in the home for a number of years and went on to share his experiences with the home. Compounding these strange occurrences is the murder of Hubert Hahn, a renter in the home in 1955 who would have his life taken senselessl...
The Disappearance of Nonnie Dotson
March 03, 2020 05:00 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MBOn November 19, 2006, Nonnie Dotson walked to run some errands near Chatfield Reservoir in Littleton, CO. She was never seen or heard from again. Nonnie was an active duty Air Force officer and due to be released from the military the following May. The ensuing investigation would question whether or not Nonnie was a military deserter, a victim of a random kidnapping, or the victim of something even stranger. In a surprising twist, her brother Tony Dotson is revealed to be anything but innoc...
Historical Murders: The Babies in the Chest
February 16, 2020 00:00 - 11 minutes - 7.98 MBOn a warm April day in 1943, an apartment manager was searching an apartment building in Denver, CO for the source of a bad odor. He eventually found the source in the form of a painted wooden hope chest. What he found in the chest would launch an investigation into a tenant in the building named Bernice Williams. This story is short but tragic and, in a way, it highlights how few options women had at the time.
Historical Murders: The Babies in the Chest
February 16, 2020 00:00 - 11 minutes - 7.98 MBOn a warm April day in 1943, an apartment manager was searching an apartment building in Denver, CO for the source of a bad odor. He eventually found the source in the form of a painted wooden hope chest. What he found in the chest would launch an investigation into a tenant in the building named Bernice Williams. This story is short but tragic and, in a way, it highlights how few options women had at the time.
The Murder of Bruce Dodson
February 01, 2020 06:00 - 49 minutes - 34.1 MBOn the morning of October 15, 1995 a man at a hunting site camp on the Uncompahgre Plateau in Colorado heard a woman hysterically screaming for help. He ran to the scene to find 48 year old Bruce Dodson lying on the ground and apparently dead. He had been shot. His wife Janice was screaming and throwing around his orange hunting vest and asking her dead husband why he had taken off his orange vest. The story that would unfold was a complicated and strange romance involving greed, mental illn...
Historical Murders: The Unsolved Axe Murders
January 16, 2020 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.2 MBIn 1911 a serial killer stalked the United States by train. He would sneak into a home through a window and kill entire families with the blunt end of an axe he found in or near their home. What he did in addition to murder in the homes was even more peculiar and included destroying their heads until they were unrecognizable and draping pieces of clothing over mirrors and glass to avoid the judgmental gaze of either his victims or himself. In Colorado Springs he murdered two families and has...
The Murder of Randy Baker
December 31, 2019 23:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBRandy Baker had a rough start to his year in 2017. He had heart surgery, his wife left him, and he had fallen asleep at the wheel a grand total of 5 times. But the real surprise came when Randy was found dead on August 16, 2017 by his wife Kelly. She seemed upset and so did his sister, Carol, and at first it appeared he died from natural causes. However, police would soon uncover a greedy family conspiracy that would shock Greeley, Colorado.
Historical Murders: To Sleep Forever
December 15, 2019 20:00 - 13 minutes - 9.47 MBRussel Gulch, CO, 1904. Azel Galbraith was never a satisfied man. He and his family lived in a quiet mining town in Colorado at the turn of the 20th Century and enjoyed the small luxuries of his salary as a business manager for a local mine. But soon his attention moved to a mistress he kept in Denver and his patience and money dwindled. He needed to find a way out of the family life he now loathed, and he'd find that solution at the bottom of a bottle.
The McCormick Murder Farm
December 05, 2019 06:00 - 40 minutes - 27.7 MBFor decades rumors persisted about a farm on the eastern plains of Colorado where transients and farm workers would head to for work and never be seen again. This farm was owned by Tom McCormick and run by him, his two sons Michael and John and the dozens of transient farm hands they recruited from Denver. The McCormicks carried a reputation of being mean and quick to anger and it wasn't until an investigation into missing trucker named Herbert Donoho in 1983 that the truth, or what small pa...
The McCormick Murder Farm
December 05, 2019 06:00 - 40 minutes - 27.7 MBFor decades rumors persisted about a farm on the eastern plains of Colorado where transients and farm workers would head to for work and never be seen again. This farm was owned by Tom McCormick and run by him, his two sons Michael and John and the dozens of transient farm hands they recruited from Denver. The McCormicks carried a reputation of being mean and quick to anger and it wasn't until an investigation into missing trucker named Herbert Donoho in 1983 that the truth, or what small pa...
Historical Murders: The Sand Creek Massacre
November 16, 2019 02:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBOn November 29, 1864, First Colorado Calvary troops of the Colorado Territory led by Colonel John Chivington, a preacher from Ohio with no war experience, attacked a camp of peace seeking indigenous tribes by Sand Creek. Nearly 200 members of the tribes were killed, mostly elderly men, women, and children. But the massacre isn't the only story to be found in this tragedy. A man named Silas Soule emerged on the right side of history before going down as Denver legend in his own tragic end. A ...
The "Clockwork Orange Murder" of Jacine Gielinski
October 31, 2019 03:00 - 58 minutes - 40.1 MBJacine Gielinski was on her way to visit her boyfriend on April 29, 1997 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Little did she know she was being stalked by two men in another car after they saw her stopped at a stoplight. As she exited her car to enter her boyfriend's apartment complex, the two men grabbed her and shoved her into their car. Within less than two hours she would be dead. The two men who killed her would turn out to be two incredibly inept and psychologically immature guys looking to ...
Historical Murders: The Black Hand of Colorado
October 16, 2019 04:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MBWas the Black Hand, otherwise known as the Italian mafia, a real organized crime gang or a myth in the early 1900s? Regardless of what you might think, the hysteria and murders stemming from fear and intimidation under the name of the Black Hand were real and often gruesome. In this episode I'll discuss some of the early history of Southern Colorado towns and the cultural climate that instigated crime.
The Devil's Foothold: The Murder of Jennifer and Abby Blagg
October 02, 2019 03:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MBThe Blagg family was described as a picture perfect family. They were born-again Christians and active in their community. But on November 13, 2001, Michael Blagg calls 911 from his home in Grand Junction, Colorado to report his wife and daughter missing. There's a massive pool of blood on his wife's side of the bed. At first, Michael appears to be a concerned husband but his bizarre actions that day reveal a man determined to appear to be someone he's not.
Historical Murders: The 100 Year Old Murder Confession
September 18, 2019 00:00 - 19 minutes - 13.5 MBIn 1986, a man remodeling his home in Fountain, CO comes across a murder confession written in pencil on the back of a piece of wood built into the home. Who wrote the confession and who was murdered? I'll go over this story as well as some other strange occurrences from Fountain, CO.
The Mysterious Death of Randy Wilson
August 31, 2019 23:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBOn June 14, 2010 Kiowa High School teacher Randy Wilson was found dead by his car in a field at the intersection of two rural county roads. He had his hands tied behind his back, a bag over his head and his own belt around his neck. Clues would be few and far between in the case until a man confesses to the murder in 2017. But he doesn't confess in any conventional way, he does so by facebooking detectives, leaving notes around a mall, and writing on the windows of his apartment. Is he the m...
The Mysterious Death of Randy Wilson
August 31, 2019 23:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBOn June 14, 2010 Kiowa High School teacher Randy Wilson was found dead by his car in a field at the intersection of two rural county roads. He had his hands tied behind his back, a bag over his head and his own belt around his neck. Clues would be few and far between in the case until a man confesses to the murder in 2017. But he doesn't confess in any conventional way, he does so by facebooking detectives, leaving notes around a mall, and writing on the windows of his apartment. Is he the m...
A Brief History of Colorado State Penitentiary
August 16, 2019 23:00 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MBIn this episode I'll go over some of the more notable events of the Colorado State Penitentiary leading up to the 1970's. I'll cover the execution methods including one odd execution method that was only ever used in Colorado. Also hear about some of the weirder stories of inmates buried at Woodpecker Hill including some gruesome murders.
A Brief History of Colorado State Penitentiary
August 16, 2019 23:00 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MBIn this episode I'll go over some of the more notable events of the Colorado State Penitentiary leading up to the 1970's. I'll cover the execution methods including one odd execution method that was only ever used in Colorado. Also hear about some of the weirder stories of inmates buried at Woodpecker Hill including some gruesome murders.
The Unsolved Murder of Peggy Hettrick and Railroading of Tim Masters
August 01, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 56.8 MBOn Februrary 11, 1987, 15-year-old Tim Masters walked through the field behind his house on the way to the school bus stop in Fort Collins, Colorado. There he discovered the body of Peggy Hettrick who was lying face up with her shirt pulled up and her pants pulled down around her knees. She had been stabbed and mutilated. The investigation that would follow would span over a decade and be bungled so severely that it saw an innocent man behind bars. Many suspects, some more obvious than other...
Historical Murders: The Unsolved Murder of Lois Coursey
July 17, 2019 03:00 - 12 minutes - 8.8 MBIt's June 19, 1957 and Nora "Lois" Coursey has just dropped off her 11 year old daughter at a birthday party in Englewood, CO. A woman at the party notes she forgot to pick up party napkins and Lois offers to go run an errand for the them. She walks out into her car and drives off, never to be seen by loved ones again. In the coming weeks Denver would find out about the secret life of the Courseys.