Forensic Files Season 11, Episode 41 - Bitter Brew - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: It was one of the most brazen crimes of the 20th century. Adolph Coors, chairman of the Coors Brewing Company,
was kidnapped and held for ransom, prompting one of the largest manhunts in United States history.
[theme music] The name Coors is one of the most recognized in America. For over 100 years, the Coors family
has been making beer in their Golden, Colorado brewery. They've been very successful and grown very wealthy.
KATHERINE RAMSLAND: The Coors Brewery is the fifth-largest brewery in the world.
They have 10 breweries in three different countries and employ over 11,000 people, and they actually make over
a billion gallons of beer annually. NARRATOR: In 1960, the founder's grandson, Adolph Herman Joseph Coors III was the company chairman.
On the morning of February 9, 1960, as was his custom, Adolph Coors got into his station wagon
and began his journey from his home to the brewery 12 miles away in Golden, Colorado.
But he never arrived. -He had left home at 8:00. His wife had said that he had left
in a good mood, had appointments at the brewery. RADIO ANNOUNCER: Can't believe what you're
seeing on Super K640 AM, Golden, Colorado. NARRATOR: A milkman found Coors' abandoned car
on the one-lane Turkey Creek Bridge with the engine running and the radio on. RON HARDESTY: Well, then they knew that he was missing.
He was somewhere. They didn't know where. NARRATOR: When investigators arrived, they found a large bloodstain in the dirt.
In the creek below, they found a lens from Adolph Coors' glasses and two hats, Adolph Coors'
baseball cap and a brown fedora. RON HARDESTY: Somebody heard some noises down there,
which they associated with maybe a gunshot, because it was an area where people hunted quite a bit.
NARRATOR: The Sheriff's Department issued an all-points bulletin for Coors, but no one reported seeing him.
The next morning, his wife received this typed letter in the mail. MAN (VOICEOVER): Mrs. Coors, your husband
has been kidnapped. His car is by Turkey Creek. Call the police or FBI, he dies.
Cooperate, he lives. NARRATOR: The kidnappers demanded $500,000 for Adolph's safe return.
MAN (VOICEOVER): We have no desire to commit murder. All we want is that money. NARRATOR: The kidnappers told me Mrs. Coors
they'd tell her later where to take the money. MAN (VOICEOVER): Deliver immediately
after receiving call. Any delay will be regarded as a stall to set up a stakeout.
If you follow the instructions, he will be released unharmed within 48 hours after the money is received.
NARRATOR: The letter was unsigned. The family got the money together and waited by the telephone for instructions
on where to deliver it. But the kidnappers never called. After the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby,
the United States government made kidnapping a federal offense. So the FBI quickly took over the investigation
into Adolph Coors' abduction. KATHERINE RAMSLAND: It's the second time one of their members has had a kidnapping attempt.
27 years earlier, the FBI had notified the Coors family of an attempt to kidnap Adolph Coors, Jr. The attempt was
interrupted so it did not occur. But the family was very aware that they were targets for this.
NARRATOR: The Coors family told investigators they were willing to do anything to get
the 44-year-old father of four back safely. Money was not an issue. The family was worth millions.
JUDGE WILLIAM H. ERICKSON: His father said, they have something I want. It's my son, and I'm willing to pay them
whatever is necessary to get him back. NARRATOR: The kidnappers never contacted the Coors family again.
ROBERT J. NELSON: Well, it was hoped that he was alive. But I don't think anybody questioned
there was a real problem with that blood and his hat and his glasses in the water.
NARRATOR: The FBI's document examiners carefully studied the typed ransom note for clues.
First, they dusted the letter for fingerprints and didn't find any. But they noticed right away that the typist was proficient.
PETER TYTELL: The typist, here, leaves two spaces after a period. That's what you were taught to do in typing class.
There don't appear to be any typos, no misstriking of the keys here. Overall, a very good job of typing.
NARRATOR: And the typeface was distinctive. PETER TYTELL: The type style we're looking at here
was made by a Swiss firm named Sea Tag. NARRATOR: This proprietary typeface was used by two typewriter manufacturers, Hermes
in Switzerland and the Royal McBee Company in Holland. The numerals in the ransom letter told the story.
PETER TYTELL: You could differentiate between the Hermes and the Royalite by the numerals.
They're round numerals. So the bottom of the 5 or the bottom of the 3 come back up.
They're even with the baseline of the other letters, like the M or N. NARRATOR: So the document examiners
concluded that the kidnapper used a Royalite Portable typewriter. Finding it wouldn't be easy.
PETER TYTELL: That factory was turning out the Royalite Portable, which was a specific model sold by Royal as part
of their line of portables in the late '50s and early '60s, $49.95 list. Sold widely in department stores and various other outlets
throughout the US. NARRATOR: And the FBI noticed one more thing. The kidnapper's typewriter had a tiny defect.
The letter "S" was lower than all the others. PETER TYTELL: So that letter "S" being low
would be one characteristic pointing towards the work product of a particular machine.
NARRATOR: While the typewriter analysis was going on, the FBI got a number of possible leads.
The most promising was from a man who saw an automobile parked near the kidnapping site.
KATHERINE RAMSLAND: There was a man near the bridge who was guarding his mines, and he told the police
that he had seen a car there that was an early 1950s model of a Mercury sedan. And he even remembered part of the license plate number,
because he was afraid it was somebody who's coming out to disturb his mines. NARRATOR: The man said he remembered the sequence,
A-T-6-2 in the license. Within the greater Denver area, police found four Mercury
sedans with A-T-6-2 in the license number. Naturally, the FBI checked all of them.
But one in particular caught their attention. It was registered to a man named Walter Osborne, who
had bought the car just one month earlier. When the FBI went to Osborne's apartment in downtown Denver,
it was empty. He had moved out the day after the kidnapping and left no forwarding address.
ROBERT J. NELSON: His demeanor was a very quiet, as I recall, very unsocial. He never got close to anybody, as
far as we knew or we found out. -The lady that cleaned the room had indicated that she had seen some guns in the room.
NARRATOR: And in the dumpster behind the apartment, investigators found empty boxes for a pair
of handcuffs and leg restraints. Agents dusted the room for fingerprints and made a startling discovery.
The prints in the room matched those of a convicted killer, 31-year-old Joseph Corbett.
KATHERINE RAMSLAND: 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, which is not self-defense. So he was convicted.
But he was a model prisoner, so he was eventually moved from maximum security to minimum security.
From there, he escaped. NARRATOR: The landlord identified Corbett's mugshot as the man who rented the apartment.
Using his alias, Corbett worked as a paint mixer for the Benjamin Moore Company, and according to a coworker,
had made several incriminating comments. -I remember one comment he made. He said, kind of watch the newspapers.
Someday there's going to be a big thing bust loose here, and then you won't see me anymore.
NARRATOR: According to the Benjamin Moore Company, Corbett simply stopped coming to work after the kidnapping,
and they never heard from him again. And a resident at Corbett's rooming house told the FBI one more thing.
He often heard Corbett typing late into the night. Joseph Corbett, an escaped killer,
was the prime suspect in the kidnapping of Adolph Coors the III. Investigators knew the ransom letter
was typed using a European-brand Royalite Portable typewriter. The FBI identified only two stores
in Denver that sold this make and model. One was the May D&F Department Store, and a clerk there recognized Joseph Corbett.
RON HARDESTY: He was very positive, that's the man I sold the typewriter to. NARRATOR: Apparently, Corbett was
one of the few customers who paid cash. He bought the typewriter four months prior to the kidnapping.
Despite these leads, police still didn't know where Corbett was or where Adolph Coors was,
for that matter. The FBI put out an all-points bulletin for Joseph Corbett's 1951 Mercury sedan.
Eight days after the kidnapping, 1,700 miles away, New Jersey Police found the automobile.
JUDGE WILLIAM H. ERICKSON: A fire chief in Atlantic City, New Jersey, who reported that they'd
found a '51 Mercury in their dump burning. It had been doused with gasoline, and so the interior was pretty well destroyed.
NARRATOR: There were no license plates on it, but the serial number on its engine block
showed the car belonged to Walter Osborne, the alias used by Joseph Corbett. On the undercarriage of the car, investigators
found four layers of soil. The most recent soil sample on the outside contained sand, most likely from the New Jersey coast.
The second layer was unremarkable, most likely from the drive across the country.
The oldest soil sample was unusual, with many different types of shale, consistent with the soil at the kidnapping site.
-That sample matched one of the control samples, and that control sample was collected
near Turkey Creek near the Coors' ranch. NARRATOR: So investigators believed that soil sample on top of the shale was from the area
where Corbett took Adolph Coors after the abduction. It, too, was distinctive, because it had large amounts
of granite flecked with pink feldspar. For comparison, FBI agents took hundreds of soil samples
from Denver and surrounding areas, hoping to find out where this came from. ROBERT J. NELSON: We sent in 612 samples of dirt or soil,
and they said, don't send us any more soil. It was all over that lab. NARRATOR: The soil sample from the car
was similar to the Pike's Peak granite, which gets its pink color from the potassium feldspar.
Pike's Peak is on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, about 10 miles west of Colorado Springs.
But searching the Pike's Peak area was a huge undertaking. ROBERT J. NELSON: We searched mines.
We searched houses. We searched empty buildings, stalls, thinking we might find something.
NARRATOR: Eight months after the kidnapping, in an area frequented by hunters, searchers found a human skull, bones, and the clothing
that Adolph Coors was wearing on the day he disappeared. JUDGE WILLIAM H. ERICKSON: They found a right shoulder blade
that had two holes in it that were made, in the opinion of a pathologist, by a high-speed projectile.
NARRATOR: The holes in the shoulder blade corresponded to two holes in Coors' jacket.
-The projectile went through his lungs and would have created a fatal injury. -That was similar in MO to the fact
that Corbett had shot his first victim in the back of the head. So that seemed to be his style, his approach.
NARRATOR: Investigators also found Coors' pocket knife engraved with the initials A. C. III.
ARDELL ARFSTEN: The bones were in pretty good condition. The skull was in fairly good condition,
enough that they could identify to the dental records that it was Mr. Coors. NARRATOR: Investigators knew that Joseph
Corbett was the killer. All they had to do now was find him. Joseph Corbett was the prime suspect
in Adolph Coors' kidnapping and murder. -Each of the special agents-- NARRATOR: FBI director J. Edgar Hoover
called Corbett the "most wanted man in America." Based on the forensic evidence, the FBI
believed that Corbett planned this crime for months. -We know that Corbett purchased his typewriter
several months ahead of time. He's watching Ad Coors drive to work, so he now knows the route.
He's looking on this route to know, where is the best way to try to apprehend him, where there won't be witnesses?
Where even Coors won't have any suspicions that anything's wrong? NARRATOR: One month before the kidnapping, Corbett
purchased a 1951 Mercury automobile and stored it in an off-site garage, so no one in his apartment building knew he owned it.
The evidence shows that Corbett typed the ransom note and mailed it to Mrs. Coors on the morning of the kidnapping.
He put the handcuffs and leg restraints in the car. Then, drove out to the secluded Turkey Creek Bridge
to wait for Adolph Coors. Most likely, he backed his car onto the bridge to make it look like it had broken down.
[car radio playing] Coors got out to investigate. -Did you get yourself hurt? NARRATOR: The evidence suggests there was a flight,
and that Coors ran back to his car for cover. [gunshots] Corbett fired twice, hitting Coors
in the back killing him instantly. With Coors dead, Corbett may have panicked, and he abandoned his plans to collect the ransom.
The geologic evidence shows that Corbett drove to the Rocky Mountains, 45 minutes away, to dump the body.
It was an area he was familiar with as a hunter. He left town the next day and drove to New Jersey, where
he set his car on fire to destroy potential evidence. But it didn't eliminate the serial number
or the geological evidence underneath the bumper. KATHERINE RAMSLAND: What I think happened is-- because I think
Corbett really wanted the money, he wasn't really after killing somebody-- it's clear he's
trying to keep the police from finding a trail to him, and yet he does one, two, three, four,
five things that lead right to him. So he's careful, but he's quite limited in his awareness
of what he's actually doing that is making it easier to find him. NARRATOR: For seven months, Corbett successfully eluded
one of the largest manhunts in American criminal history. Newspapers and magazines covered the story.
A woman in Vancouver, Canada saw the press reports and called the FBI saying that a man matching Corbett's description
was living in her apartment building. JUDGE WILLIAM H. ERICKSON: When the arrest
was made in Vancouver, the FBI agent making the arrest said, Joe Corbett. And he said, I'm your man.
I'm not armed. I surrender. NARRATOR: Investigators didn't find the Royalite typewriter,
any paper or envelopes matching the ransom note, or the murder weapon among Corbett's possessions.
But they had proof that Corbett purchased a typewriter like the one used for the ransom note
and owned the automobile that contained geological evidence from both the abduction and body dump sites.
Joseph Corbett plead not guilty at his trial, but was convicted of kidnapping and murder,
and sentenced to life in prison. RON HARDESTY: In Colorado, the law at that time, and I
think it still is the law, you can't have a death penalty case unless there's an eyewitness or a confession.
And in this case, we had neither. NARRATOR: The case remains one of the most notorious in Colorado history.
RAYMOND MURRAY: It was, in fact, the first high-profile case in this country where soil evidence was
critical to the prosecution of the case. -To pinpoint it to Turkey Creek Bridge and the area
where the body was found, that's unique even today. So for those days, for someone to, A, have thought of it,
B, to have analyzed it carefully enough to prove that the car was in these two areas
was really quite a feat for forensic science. [theme music]

It was one of the most brazen crimes of the 20th century. Adolph Coors III, chairman of the Coors Brewing Company, was kidnapped and held for ransom prompting one of the most intense manhunts in United States history.

Forensic Files is the longest-running true crime series in television history. Evidence and interviews with experts help solve real crimes, disease outbreaks and accidents around the world.

Brief Summary

Adolph Coors III was kidnapped and murdered in 1960, leading to the arrest of Joseph Corbett after extensive FBI investigation.

Key points

The Kidnapping of Adolph Coors. Adolph Coors was kidnapped, leading to a massive manhunt and a shocking ransom letter.
The Discovery of Evidence. Investigators found crucial evidence linking Joseph Corbett to the crime, including a typewriter.
Corbett's Capture. Joseph Corbett was arrested in Vancouver after evading authorities for seven months.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was one of the most brazen crimes.

NARRATOR

0:06WatchJan 20, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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