The Bombing of United Air Flight 629 | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

Hey weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Mob Bed. [Music] This is Mor. >> Hi honey. How are you?
>> I'm good. This is where we chitchat a little bit. Yeah, you you better get used to it. Okay. This is where you fast
forward if you don't like the banter. >> We just talk like that the entire Everybody's like I actually don't like
it either. >> Even the people who like it are like go [ __ ] yourselves. >> Go [ __ ] yourselves with that.
>> It's mob in the morning. >> It is. And you know um I got we got a stomach bug in the house.
>> No, no, no. Don't say that because if it's a full-blown stomach bug, it's going to blow through everybody.
>> No, I mean, I'm not saying it's like neurovirus or anything. Neurovirus will blow through everybody. It might just be
like a little >> little virus virus. That's all. Um, >> yeah, we had a my fellow parents will
will understand um that nothing is good when when the pukin starts. You hold your breath for a
couple of days, especially if you have other people in the house. Um, we're getting through it. You know, it was
just a tough night. I didn't really sleep last night. >> I'm here almost against my will today.
>> Yeah. >> She came over to me this morning and I said, "Hello, sweet one. Stay away."
>> You were like, "Hi there." >> I said, "Oh, stay away." >> I said, "Oh, good to see you."
>> But honestly, she's like she's a real one because >> she's so funny. >> She just she It's my youngest and she
throws things off like it's nobody's [ __ ] business. >> You got to say how she came down the
stairs. She came down the cuz I was just awake all night. Like that's that's just
the way it is. And so I came downstairs very early and just decided to sit by myself downstairs.
>> Needed a minute to >> rec. Just like you know what? I'm just going to sit by myself until everybody
wakes up. And she comes tearing downstairs. She slept she slept like pretty good towards the like morning,
you know. >> And so she came tearing downstairs and I was like, "Oh, hey girlfriend. Like how
you feeling?" And she goes, "Amazing." And she just like throws her hands up in the air.
>> And I was like, "Great. I don't." So that's wonderful that you feel amazing. Yeah. She's She's a trooper.
>> I love her. >> Um we're all tired. >> Yeah. >> And you know, it's just one of those
things. >> I didn't even deal with that. Luckily, I left just in time yesterday. I got a
text like an hour after I got home. >> Just in time. I knew it was coming. I felt it in my gut.
>> Yeah. because I just know her and I know her face and her actions. >> I was hanging out with Elena after work
and like the kids were off at activities and stuff and that's when she didn't she
started feeling like crappy and she walked in and she said, "I have a headache and my tummy hurts." And I
said, "It was so good to see you guys. >> Goodbye. I loved hanging out. Good luck
with this. I'm home." >> I literally looked at John and I was like, "I just know it.
>> I got a text." >> No, you're just like hour later. >> She's not showing cuz at first she just
had a headache. >> Oh, that's what it was. But she didn't look right. >> And she just something about her her
coloring and I just know her. I just know it's it's like a it's a mama thing. You just know you know in your gut.
>> Just her vibe too. I said I'm getting the [ __ ] out of here. >> Off. >> Um yeah, it's and I'm one of like I
don't know how like u fellow people who take care of other people feel because this can be of any age and any
persuasion. Uh, but like the one of those things that like you fear as when you have kids is like that you're like,
I have to take care of someone else's puke. Like that's scary. If you don't like if you're not good with that stuff,
that's a fear. >> If you don't like puke, >> I mean, no one likes puke, but like some
people are just not phased by it really. Like, which I envy. >> Weirdly, I'm not.
>> That's the thing. Like, I'm >> I mean, I don't have kids. >> I don't like it. Like, I don't I don't
like watching it in a movie. I don't like watching it anywhere. It immediately makes me feel nauseous.
>> Yeah. >> And so, but then you have kids and you I'm still in that place where like like
yesterday as she was not feeling well, I was like, "Oh no, she's going to like I
get very nervous and then like John's the calm one." >> Yeah. >> And then as soon as it happens,
>> I'm totally fine. Yeah. >> Like I can jump right into like console, clean up, it's the anticipation of it
that is the worst part for me. >> And John can handle that anticipation so well. So, I think it's it works very
well cuz he's able to chill with the anticipation and I can go like full into while it happens.
>> Yeah. I've been here for other ones and usually like there's been times where
they're like just with me and like you're doing something and I'm like, "Oh, they yacked." You're just like
>> and I just start cleaning it. >> Yeah. You're like, "Oh, here we go." >> I I like, you know, yacked a lot in my
earlier days of partying. So, my friends yakked and I helped them. We We were all
yakking together. >> Yeah. Everybody's just yacking. >> Some used to yak. >> So, yeah. That's um
>> that's yak talk. That's puking with morbid today. Um, but everybody stay stay healthy out there because those
summer viruses are a killer. >> I know. >> Um, and yeah, we've gone like a long time without something like that and it
was bound to happen. >> Here you are. So, here we are. >> Here you are. And you have the odds are,
you know, odds are against you. >> Yeah. The odds are not in our favor. So, >> no.
>> But that's why we might be a little a little kooky today. Little crazy >> cuz I have um very limited sleep behind
me. >> I've been sleeping like [ __ ] this week. Yeah, we the sleep has been shitty this
week. I think it might have something to do with like the heat wave that the East
Coast got, which was [ __ ] gnarly. You know what? >> I'm ready. I'm ready for September and
October. >> You need to get there with me. >> Now I get it. I was sitting in my office
the other day and the AC like it was working, but it wasn't. And I we're so lucky to have AC. Like I thank my lucky
stars all the time. But when it's so hot like that, I think it broke like 98 or something like that. And when it's so
hot like that, it just can't catch up upstairs. >> Oh, we broke a hundred last this week.
>> Yeah, that makes sense. So, I was sitting upstairs and I was just like, "Oh, [ __ ] Just give me September."
>> Yeah, >> cuz I like my house at least, even when it's like that outside, I like my house
to be [ __ ] freezing so that I can sit there in my sweatshirt and pretend like it's like it's
>> cozy weather. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I I'll put the fireplace on and everything. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> That's what I'm saying. >> But not when the AC is not working. >> No.
>> Like properly. >> I just can't. It's nothing for me. I've said it before, I'll say it again.
There's nothing for me. >> I know. >> Uh in summer, but but we'll get through it. You know, we're we we're through
June, >> so almost essentially >> you're in the future. >> Yeah, you guys are through June right
now. Um so that's good. >> Once you get to July 4th, summer's halfway over. There you go. So that's
that's all I'm thinking of. And we got a lot of stuff planned for the summer that
is going to be fun and make it go by fast. >> My god. And once we're done with the
summer, >> I'm serious. It's going to be amazing. >> Fall is going to be a thing of [ __ ]
beauty in so many ways. >> Fall. Seriously amazing. >> Seriously, it's going to be amazing.
>> I can't wait. >> Can't wait. Uh, so yeah, I we were watching I think we mentioned this
again. I have no idea when episodes come out, but that won't be a thing for too much longer. Um
>> it we were talking about it on like uh the spooky episode, the Crescent >> Hotel episode that Ash did.
>> Um I think we were we might have been talking about it before the episode. I don't know if we talked about it on um
>> what were we saying? >> Cuz you just are you're just my friends so I don't know if I tell you like in
real life or not. Uh but we were talking about ghost hunters because I think um we were talking about how like taps had
gone to some other place. I think we did it before the episode. >> Yeah. And um I was saying how like I was
watching Ghost Hunters for an episode like to look at this particular place and as I was watching it I was like all
I want to do I've never felt a stronger urge in my life than to sit in a room that's completely decorated for
Halloween and fall. >> That's going that's the other thing. I want my [ __ ] Halloween decorations
>> ready and I want it to be cool outside. I want to watch the leaves falling outside my window.
>> I want to have something that I just fall baked in the oven. >> I want to have something delicious.
>> Oh, and I want to be so basic. I want a [ __ ] pumpkin spice. >> I want to be wearing a Halloween
sweatshirt. >> Yes. >> And I want to have a cozy blanket on me. >> Halloween themed.
>> Halloween themed. And I want to be watching just a marathon of ghost hunters, scariest places on earth.
>> Hocus pocus. >> Hocus pocus. Food Network Halloween baking challenge. Oh, I want to be doing
all that. I've never felt a stronger urge in my life. >> Well, I'm going to cry is the thing.
>> I feel it. I'm going to [ __ ] cry right now. >> So deep in my soul, I can't even contain
it. >> You won't get this, but it's like that Spongebob episode when he's like, I need
it. >> I mean, that's how I feel. I get it. Uh, but yeah, we're almost there, everybody.
And if you love summer, then I hope you're having a wonderful summer. >> I I like summer. I'm having a fine one,
but I'm ready for fall. >> I'm ready. >> I've had like a month once my birthday passes, which is technically in spring,
but in my mind it's summer. I'm like, "All right, all done. All done. >> All done. I'm all done."
>> That's what you could say. >> Uh, but yeah. Oh, and in August, you know, my the paperback of The Butcher
Game is coming out. >> Hey, >> I just received the copies. >> I got mine. >> I'm going to post a I'll post a picture
of them cuz they're very delicious. They look like the first She's thick. >> And uh they look like the the Butcher
and the Ren paperback. So, they're going to I know that's important. It's important to me too in a series for them
to look nice together on the shelf. >> Oh, they're going to look great. >> These look nice together on the shelf.
So, >> Oh, I haven't even put mine on the shelf yet. >> Yeah, they look they have the same kind
of like matte material and everything. So, >> I'm in the market for new bookshelves.
>> Hell yeah. >> Yeah, we're redoing um my little like corner room. >> Yeah. >> And the shelves that we have are too
much right now. Unless I got to get new ones. >> Yeah, I love a good bookshelf. >> And I'm going to put your your books
>> Hell yeah. >> on display on display each and every day. Every day. >> Hell yeah. Well, maybe I'll see you guys
in August because maybe we'll do um a couple of events for the book. You know, >> I don't know. I do. I'll tell you later.
>> You know, I know. They just don't know. >> You don't know. But we'll see you maybe.
>> Yeah. Who knows? So, make sure you're pre-ordering the paperback of the butcher game.
>> Tinyurl.com. You can get it anywhere. You You know, you get books. You can order books, you know. Go do it. I'll
love you forever. I will anyways. But >> can I ask you something? >> It'll be deeper.
>> Is your book available in this like that gigantic print? >> I don't know. I Every time I This is the
It's my fault. Every single time, you know, you know this. Every single [ __ ] time I order a book on Amazon, I
either I have a new problem now. So, I ordered one book like a couple months ago and I and it came in like big print
meant for like you know if you have like some kind of like >> like if you're older like you have like
a vision impairment. Yeah. I don't and I don't want that copy but I got that copy
and I was like crap. And then I just got for our book club book. I ordered it and
I got this like weird small edition that's like so small that I'm like what is wrong with me?
>> What the hell? >> I don't know. What the hell? >> What the hell? You just got you got to
really read that that description before you buy it. >> Maybe they should make that [ __ ] part
bigger. >> Yeah, there you go. That should be a big >> one bigger. It should >> I got this one book and it's in the most
giant print I've ever seen and it made the book look like so much longer. I was like, "What the [ __ ] did I order? Why is
this book 4,000 pages long?" >> And then the next time it's like this tiny ass book with like [ __ ] up
margins. I was like, >> that's crazy. >> What is going on? >> What? Yeah, that's crazy. I don't know
if mine is available in that, but uh I guess read descriptions before you buy books.
>> Yeah, I guess so. You know, that's a PSA. >> That's a PSA. >> My life. >> Uh and you can like you can pre-order it
from anywhere. Amazon. You can do it from Barnes & Noble, small bookstores. We love an indie bookstore.
>> Oh. Um Unlike Unlikely Story. >> Unlikely Story. We love Unlikely Story. >> We love that bookstore. We love the
people that work. >> Staff of Unlikely Story is a a [ __ ] ch treasure chest of humans. It really
is just >> We love them. >> I love them. All right, but that's enough. >> That's all like the good stuff. That's
all happy stuff. >> You know, we're about to get into >> some [ __ ] >> Yeah, you're here
>> because you clicked on this episode and you saw the title. >> Yeah. >> So, you know that we're talking about
the bombing of United Air Flight 629. >> We are. I also know I have a fear of flying.
>> Yeah. You know what? I think everyone in the collective nation has a fear of I
have a fear of flying right now. >> Here's the thing. It's still very safe. >> Yeah, totally.
>> You know, like it's still, you know, we're we're going through it a little bit right now.
>> Am I going to do it? No. >> Am I going to do it anytime? >> Am I going to tell you what to do? No.
>> And this does, just to make it, so you already know going into this trigger warning, we're talking about a plane
crash. >> Yes. Um, but it's not a crash in the sense that it just crashed. It exploded.
>> Oh. >> Because of a bomb, obviously, because it's the bombing of >> Yes. >> Um, this was also in the 50s, the 1950s
when >> less protocol. >> Less protocol, but it was still very safe consider it was still a very safe
form of travel in comparison to everything else. So, that'll give you a little pro like I need to tell myself
that all the time. So, I'm just telling you that in case you also are fearing things right now. That's fair.
>> I'm trying to help me and I'm trying to help you. >> Um, also, again, I've said this every
time that we've talked about plane crashes and I talk about my fear of flying. Follow pilots on Tik Tok.
>> Follow them on Tik Tok. They will make you feel better. They will explain things about noises and everything else.
And when a plane crash happens, they'll so many pilots maybe I'll find some names and I'll give you some will update
you to tell you why that happened so you can feel a little more in the know and understanding.
>> It's rare >> and why it's rare. >> So again, if you have a fear of flying, I'm with you. I feel you.
>> So let's start. >> Okay. United Airlines flight 629 started out um in New York on the late morning
of November 1st, 1955. It was stopping briefly in Chicago just for some minor repairs, which you know,
planes need to do. It was like a propeller part. Um, and then it was moving on to its scheduled stop in
Denver where it landed a little after 6:00 p.m. The plane, which was called the mainline Denver, was a Douglas DC6B,
which is a 105 ft piston-powered passenger and cargo plane that was pretty popular with the US military
actually before the end of World War II. >> Oh, wow. And uh that's when Douglas started retrofitting them to be part of
like commercial airlines essentially like compete in the travel market. >> The model was typically operated by
three to four crew members with an additional 1 to two flight attendants and could accommodate up to 89
passengers. >> That's a small plane. >> Yeah. So in 1955, air travel for just leisure was just starting to outpace
train and car travel. Well, it was really not a big thing before this. Uh, it was becoming a little more affordable
than it had previously been. So, people were starting to be able to take planes places.
>> As a result, many of the passengers on flight 629 were taking their first ride
on a plane that day. >> Oh, including >> That must be wild. Especially like everybody takes a first plane ride at
some point obviously, but you think about taking that first plane ride when plane rides are a new thing. Yeah,
>> that's [ __ ] terrifying. >> That's terrifying. Like that's a whole different cuz you have at least when you
take your first plane ride now, you can kind of like know what to expect a little bit.
>> A whole history of like safety protocols and technology and >> you can watch a video about what how it
[ __ ] happens. >> You can hear a pilot tell you how it all works out. >> I even the first time I like was
cognitive in flu. Well, I was cognitive as a 2-year-old, but you know, I had more cognitive ability as a 19-year-old
or Yeah. No, I was 14. Anyways, when you start [ __ ] barreling down the runway before you take off, I remember being
like, "Are we supposed to be doing that?" >> Oh, I still I've been on how many plane
trips and every time I ask, "Are we supposed to be doing this?" >> Like, it's scary.
>> And then when it lifts off, I say, "Am I supposed to be doing this?" >> Yeah. And then you're just floating in a
[ __ ] tube in the sky. Obviously, I know you're not like floating, but >> No, but it's just
>> it's wild. >> The whole time you're like, "Are we supposed to be doing this?"
>> So, back to my original point. I cannot imagine doing that for the first time
with absolutely baseline zero information. >> Like that would be a lot. >> Yeah.
>> Um so these passengers included Patricia and Gerald Lipkkey who were flying to
see Patricia's sister in Portland and also James and Sarah Dory who were on their way to see their son who they
hadn't seen in 9 years. H James Dory had been sick for some time and the couple decided to take the flight after his
doctor warned him quote his bad arteries might not last long enough to make the trip by car or train.
>> Oh, >> so like this was like their last ditch effort. >> Yeah. >> Others were taking this plane to connect
to longer flights like Helen Fitzpatrick and her one-year-old son James. >> Oh god. um they were going to visit his
father in Japan and Daisy King who was traveling to Seattle to catch a connecting flight to Alaska where she
was visiting her daughter. >> When you really put all that, that's what always kills me about these
like like plane crashes and these kind of things is like when you start looking into like the actual people on board and
they're doing such like >> normal things like I'm going to see my daughter, I'm going to see my dad, I'm
going to see my sister. >> Yeah. like these kind of things always just like oh they tear me
>> it's heavy >> in two they really do >> now at the time the flight engineers union were 8 days into a strike
protesting United's recent change in regulation that required all future flight engineers hired by the company
also to be qualified as pilots >> I feel like that's kind of fair >> feels it feels right to me but I
situation with a significant number of the airlines flight crew out on strike the company had scrambled to find a crew
that could take the flight. Finally, they settled on pilot Lee Hall, co-pilot Donald White, and flight engineer Samuel
Arthur. Several passengers on the flight had been booked on other flights that had been cancelled because of the
strike. >> Oh, that always hits so much harder with a story like this. >> So, did So, it was actually relief to
them when they got confirmation they would be flying out of Denver on flight 629. Mhm.
>> That always just sends me when they're not even supposed to be on this. >> Exactly.
>> Or the people who just miss it, you know, like those kind of things are just like those stories always send chills on
my >> very final destination and it like freaks me out. >> Now, when the plane arrived in Denver,
all but 19 passengers got off with the remaining going to Seattle. >> Right. After the baggage had been loaded
into the cargo hold and the cabin had been readied, the 20 new passengers started boarding. Several of them
stopping along the way to make a last minute purchase of life insurance, which I guess was like a common occurrence.
>> Oh, that's interesting. >> Yeah, it was common um at during this time period for those traveling by air
to purchase short-term life insurance to cover their time in the air. >> Oh, wow. That's interesting. which you
could purchase easily from a vending machine in the airport. >> What? >> Yeah. >> I never knew. That's crazy.
>> I had no idea. And also that would send me into cardiac arrest. >> Yeah. >> Having to purchase life insurance for my
time in the air. >> No. Can't do it. >> That's crazy. >> Can't do it, my friends.
>> Also, when you think about it, like life insurance is just death insurance. >> It's really It's wild. Like they really
they marketed that a much better they all sat at that table and they said no we can't call it that.
>> Yeah. They were like this is marketing genius to call it life insurance. >> Damn. From a vending machine.
>> Yes. >> Also just like I can't imagine pressing A2 getting my life insurance and being
like let me happily board this. >> Just jump on here cuz and it's like the passenger would just purchase the policy
sign the copy produced by the vending machine then drop it in a lock box to be collected by an agent at the end of the
day. >> Wow. In this case, passengers purchase policies from Continental Casualty and
Mutual of Omaha at 25 cents for each $6,250 of coverage with a maximum coverage amount of $125,000.
>> This is wild, >> isn't that? Like that blew my mind. >> Fascinating. >> Yeah, that really is really fascinating.
>> I wonder when that stopped. >> I know. I wonder that. >> You're like, "Hey, that's not the best
idea." So, after being delayed several minutes by a late passenger, flight 629 finally took off from the runway at 6:52
p.m. >> Those late [ __ ] passengers. Get there on time. >> Get there. 4 minutes later, at 6:56
p.m., Lee Hall radioed the tower and reported they had passed over the Denver um Omni Station, a radio broadcasting
tower several miles northeast of the airport. Several minutes later, air traffic controllers at Stapleton Airport
reported seeing a large flash in the sky, >> followed by two balls of fire falling
towards the earth. >> Oh god. >> At the same time, a farmer just outside Longmont, Colorado, reported seeing what
he described as quote, "a brilliant ball of fire that he said he watched just tear through the sky for nearly 2
minutes before it crash landed in a field about 8 miles away." >> Wow. It wasn't long before authorities
learned what those individuals had witnessed. It was the explosion midair of United Airlines Flight 629 and the
immediate death of all 44 passengers on board. >> Oh, that's awful. I'm going to read out
the names of all 44 passengers. >> Yeah. >> So, just sit tight. Jack Ambrose, Samuel Arthur, Bro
Brextorm, Irene Brestrom, John Bomlan, Frank Brennan Jr., Clarissa Bunch, Thomas Crouch,
Barbara Cruz, Carl Dist, John Jardens, James Dory, Sarah Dory, Charles Edwards, Clara Edwards, Helen Fitzpatrick, James
Fitzpatrick, Daisy King, Lee Hall, Goldie Herman, Vernal Herman, Elton Hickok, Jacqueline Hines, Marian
Hobgood, John Jungles, Gerald Lipkkey, Helen Lipkkey, Leila Mlan, Frederick Morgan, Suzanne Morgan, Peggy Pedicord,
James Pervvis, Herbert Robertson, Harold Sandstead, Sally Scoffield, Jesse Seismore, James
Earl Strud, Clarence Todd, Minnie Van Valon, Ralph Vanalon, Donald Dwight, and Alma Windsor.
>> When you read them out like that, it really makes you Yeah. like you you grasp how many people just in the blink.
>> Yeah. >> Like it's it sends chills down my spine. >> It does. >> And again, the youngest on board and the
only real child on board was James Fitzpatrick who was one years old. >> Oh, >> yeah.
>> Um and I believe the oldest person on board was Leila Mlan who was 80 years old.
>> Oh, >> I know. >> Lived to 80. And that's how you go. That's awful. All you can hope is that
it was so fast that nobody felt anything. >> I hope nobody even knew. >> Yeah. Which when you know what happened
here, it feels like >> nobody could have possibly had any idea what was happening. That's good. You
know what I mean? That's that's the only hope here. >> Now again, although they were more
common in the past than they are today, airline crashes have always been a pretty uncommon occurrence. Mhm.
>> Cuz again, and John's always telling me this, we see them on the news because
they're so uncommon. So, >> yeah. It's like if we saw all the the car crashes, you couldn't even have one
24-hour news station covering them all. It wouldn't even >> So, I know it's hard to think of it that
way. Sometimes that doesn't comfort me at all, but it might work for some of you. Mhm.
>> But however, flight 629 was the second plane to crash in the region near the Rocky Mountain Range in less than a
month. >> Oh wow. >> The previous crash was uh had occurred about 100 miles away on October 6th
after crashing into the mountain side and killing all 66 passengers on board. The crash the previous month was the
worst airline disaster in the United States until that period. Oh, and while the explosion of flight 629 didn't
surpass that disaster in, you know, casualty number, it was no less tragic. >> Yeah. Unlike several other crashes which
were relatively well contained to the area where the accident actually occurred, the explosion of 629 created a
massive crash site, dropping large pieces of flaming debris, luggage, and rows of seats with passengers still in
them into the yards and fields of the rural community of Longmont, Colorado. Conrad Hop, a farmer who lived near the
primary crash site, remembered hearing a big explosion like a bomb went off and he ran outside to see what happened and
he said, quote, "I hollered back to my wife that she'd better call the fire department. Then I turned around and the
plane blew up in the air." Oh god. >> Which is literally my nightmare. >> Yeah. >> I have literal nightmares of seeing a
plane fall out of the sky. It's like the worst thing I can possibly imagine seeing.
>> Do you remember when my mom did? >> Yes. like actually saw one. >> Yeah. Like into a parking lot.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> That would I'd never recover from that. >> Yeah. >> Now, um Martha Hop recalled, "I ran
outside and I remember all the roads were white with lights. Everybody was already out on the roads doing the same
thing and the hops were just two of a ton of local residents who were rushing out to the Weld County beat field where
the main portion of the plane crashed down, hoping there was something they could just do to help." Mhm.
>> Um that's when you like see the like >> the humanity >> the humanity there where people are just
rushing to this flaming thing that fell out of the sky just to see if they can help.
>> Yeah. >> Like that's something. >> But people pe peopleing. >> That is peopleing cuz there's people
going to people and then there's people going to people. >> Yeah. >> There's a peopleing. But when Longmont
Police Chief Keith Cunningham and the other first responders arrived in the field, it was pretty apparent that there
was nothing that anybody could do to help. Um, after just a few minutes of surveying the huge amount of wreckage in
the field, a patrolman radio dispatched to report no ambulances are necessary. >> Oh,
>> yeah. It was fall and the sun went down early at that time of year, so it was
fully dark by the time a full team of state and local investigators came to the scene. despite the lack of any real
natural light, um it became very evident early on that there was really going to
be no survivors. Um author Andrew Field said that they immediately went in there
looking for somebody to help, but it was pretty quickly determined like >> there's no way.
>> There's nothing we can do, which is so sad. >> Yeah. Law enforcement and fire officials
along with over 100 volunteers spread out across the field and surrounding area to look for bodies and potential
survivors because even though there was no survivors in this particular debris field,
>> they were just hoping. >> Yeah. And again, large crash site. >> Yeah. And uh the author Field said as
they would find bodies, they would station a man with a flashlight to indicate where the body was. So somebody
would just stand there with a flashlight next to where a body was so that they could just find them all
>> because they were so scattered. >> Yeah. >> Um he said and pretty soon the entire
field was filled with little points of light. >> Oh, that's such a >> which horrible visual.
>> And obviously this experience would weigh very heavily on anyone and it really weighed heavily on Conrad Hop Jr.
the the farmer who first saw it. He was just 18 years old at the time. >> Oh god.
>> His father had seen it first. I should say senior had seen it first. The junior
was 18 years old at the time. And he said finding a body was fairly simple. But later on to try and pick that body
up and put it in a body bag that was the tough part. >> Yeah. Yeah. That will change you as an
individual no matter what age you are. But >> 18, >> that's that's a lot. >> As the Stapleton air traffic controllers
had observed, the plane had essentially broken into two large sections which tore 4t deep holes into the earth when
they upon impact. Wow. >> And burned for hours after landing in the field. The nose of the plane, which
had avoided catching fire, was badly smashed, which indicated that it had been the first part to hit the ground.
Inside the cockpit, the bodies of the pilot, co-pilot, and engineer could all be seen still strapped to their seats.
Oh, that's haunting. It's very upsetting. Fortunately for investigators, the two main sections of
the plane had landed mostly intact. Um, they were super mangled. really damaged by, you know, the seemingly in
unstoppable blaze at this point that is just keeps going because it's being fed by a steady stream of jet fuel that's
leaking from the engines. So, it's just nonstop fire. >> By 900 p.m., the National Guard had been
dispatched to the scene to hold back spectators, reporters, and >> people going to people steal. Yeah.
>> Yeah. giving firefighters the space, you know, to finally extinguish the flames.
A short time later, electrical rigging had been set up, and the entire field was soon brightly illuminated, showing
the full extent of the carnage. Jim Matlac, a publisher of the Longmont Times Call, said, "There was nothing we
could do but cover up the bodies. There wasn't a sign of life." Mhm. >> Few places in the US are set up to deal
with this kind of disaster, this kind of largecale disaster. >> Yeah. >> Least of all rural Longmont. Like they
were just not ready for this. So the coroner set up a makeshift morg in the Gley Armory, which was a former National
Guard training center, and it occasionally served as an event space, and they had to use it as a morg.
>> Oh. >> The space was inadequate, >> I would think, >> to say the least. Uh, but it at least
provided enough private space for the coroner and local medical providers to try to work on identifying victims while
the local Western Union office worked late into the night contacting the families of those passengers through the
manifest. >> That's awful. >> Yeah. Um, in addition, managers from the Mountain State's Telephone and Telegraph
Company sent more than 40 technicians to the crash site with instructions to add
as many telephone lines and equipment as were necessary for responders to complete all of their work that they
were doing. >> Essentially, volunteers and service providers just worked nonstop to build
out a literal infrastructure to respond to this tragedy. They had to literally create the infrastructure as it was
happening, which is pretty impressive. >> It is. And you think about like the time, the fact that this was so
unexpected. >> This is 195. >> Very little resources. Like, yeah, >> that's very impressive.
>> The following morning, representatives from United Airlines held a press conference to share what little they
knew about the explosion and the passengers who died. The airline confirmed that by 7:00 a.m. all the
bodies had been removed to the armory and technicians had started examining the wreckage for clues of what the [ __ ]
happened here. The representatives declined to comment on what could have caused the explosion, saying that
witness reports varied a little bit. Some saying it exploded in the air and others saying it exploded when it hit
ground. >> Right. It one representative said it's difficult for us to say what took place.
That probably will have to be determined by the civil aeronautics board. Although
they were unwilling to identify what the hell happened here, United's president,
WA Patterson, told the press, "All evidence now strongly indicates this accident resulted from an explosion in
the air." Now, formed as a federal agency in 1938, the purpose of the CAB, which is the Civil Aeronautics Board,
was to regulate commercial air travel in the United States. Um, but CABB was also
responsible for investigating accidents involving air travel, trying to figure out what the [ __ ] happened and to
determine who or what is at fault in these situations. >> After receiving the report about the
explosion of flight 629, CAB dispatched a team of investigators to the site led by veteran investigator Jack Parall.
Now, the biggest challenge that Jack and his team faced was how [ __ ] huge this
crash site site was and how spread out it was. >> Yeah. >> Um it was spread out for more than a
mile and it was like rural land that was an active farm. Um so to move quickly, his team employed a new technique um
where the land was mapped out in a grid and every piece of debris from the wreckage was tagged with a label and
marked on a grid map. >> That's a smart way to go about that actually. >> Interesting. Yeah, I thought that was
really smart. >> It weirdly makes you think of when you're Did you ever learn that in art
class where you like map out a photo that you want to recreate and then you do it piece by piece by piece?
>> That's what it made me think of. >> I think it's the same idea. Like literally the same idea. Now, once
everything had been tagged and mapped, the entire wreckage and every piece of debris was transported to a airplane
hanger nearby where it was literally recreated exactly as it had been in the beat field
>> laid out completely. >> Oh, yeah. >> Wow. >> Cuz they were able to do that with the
grid. >> So, yeah. Wow. It really is. >> Literally recreating. It's the exact same premise.
>> Wow. >> Yeah. That's so strange to picture in your mind, >> isn't it? >> Now, in his 15 years with the CAB, Jack
Parall had never seen anything like this. Uh, the plane hadn't just crashed into something and, you know, mangled
when it hit the ground. It had been shredded by what looked like a massive blast and it sent the passengers and
contents out across a six square mile area as it plummeted to the ground. >> Yeah. Uh as far as partial knew, there
were a few things that could have caused this kind of thing to happen. One explanation was that and he said it was
possible that gas fumes had accumulated in a closed compartment, thus causing an
explosion, but he said it seemed pretty unlikely that there could have been such
a substantial buildup of fumes in such a short period of time. >> Yeah, cuz it hadn't been in the air that
long at that point. And another possible explanation was that a structural flaw in the construction had caused the
fuselage to break apart midair. But this also seemed pretty unlikely since the contents had been blown out across such
a big area which indicated that there was definitely an explosion happening here.
>> Yeah. Of some kind. >> The third and most reasonable explanation was that a combustible item
quote negligently put aboard the plane in the cargo area had exploded. >> Yeah. Now, in 1955, the idea that
somebody would intentionally bomb an airliner seemed pretty [ __ ] wild to most America. Like, it was
unheard of. This is not crazy because I've gone my whole life. >> Yeah. >> Thinking about that every single time I
got on a plane. >> Yeah. which is not unthinkable in any way, which is so >> it just it's so wild to think that you
would back then why would they think that >> that you would ever have a time where
you wouldn't be thinking of that. >> Yeah. >> You know, like I don't remember a time
that we weren't thinking about that. >> It's so Yeah, that's so weird. >> Yeah. Now, this again, this is not to
say like it had never happened before. Like in previous years, a number of flights in other countries had been
sabotaged and blown up, >> right? Um, and in the US there were examples of, you know, suspected
sabotage that couldn't be confirmed and so they were labeled accidents. Like, you know, a 1933 United flight out of
Chicago that exploded over Indiana. It killed all four people on board. But again, the idea that somebody would
intentionally try to kill so many people, including a toddler, >> uh, for any reason, seemed completely
unfathomable to Americans especially. Um, so that's why at this point they were still looking at it as somebody
negligently put something that was combustible. >> Combustible, right? Not somebody points
at a bomb. >> All I keep picturing is dry shampoo, which obviously was not a thing back
then, but that's all I can picture. >> That's all you can think of. Now, fortunately, Jack Parall wasn't most
Americans. partial had been in the industry long enough to know an explosion when he saw
one. And to him, the scene looked very much like the 1949 bombing of a Canadian airliner where an explosive device was
detonated in the cargo hold. >> In that one, it ripped an enormous hole in the side of the plane, killing all 23
people on board. Most significantly, the explosion on flight 629 had ripped the metal of the plane outward at the cargo
hold. Oh, yeah. Which suggested that something contained within the luggage section had indeed exploded.
>> Yeah. >> Um, also the pieces of the wreckage that came from the cargo section smelled like
sulfur. >> Oh. >> Which forensic chemist Charles Wilson determined to be residue from dynamite.
>> Yeah. Um, Andrew Field said a lot of people described it as a firecracker-l like smell that they could detect on the
metal. Finally, among the wreckage, CAB investigators took small bits of metal and copper wire that they finally
determined to be from a timing device. >> This was a straightup bomb. >> Bombing. Yeah. Taken together, these
pieces of evidence all but confirm Jack Parcel's belief that the explosion of flight 629 had indeed been
>> and intentional, >> which must be the last. I mean, I don't know. No answer is ever a good answer
for why something like this happens. But then when you think of like >> somebody set out to kill all these
people, including a toddler >> and why and everybody's gone. How do you investigate that?
>> Exactly. >> That's like that must be so difficult. >> Now, a few days after the investigation
started, chief of the CAB investigation division, James Payton, told reporters, "We found some things that appear
unusual and are investigating the possibility of sabotage." And this was all confirmed a few days later on
November 7th in a report released by United Airlines. In that they stated that authorities discovered evidence of
a bomb type explosion in the number four cargo pit which they believed to be the
cause of the disaster. >> The report said the side walls of the compartment were pushed out and the
floor pulverized and there were gunpowder type odors on sections of the compartment. In his statement to the
press, Parall said, "We don't know what type of explos explosive it is. Frankly,
we're going to have to await the results of the laboratory examination. This is the first midair explosion we've
encountered in some time, and we're exploring it from every angle. After finding evidence of sabotage, James
Payton, chief investigator of the CAB, brought the FBI in to determine if there had been a violation of a federal
statute and to conclusively determine whether the plane had, in fact, been bombed. Until that point, investigators
had been basically proceeding as though the explosion was not they didn't want to like they they
kind of knew it was intentional at this point. Like that's what they were leaning towards, but they couldn't
definitively say it. >> Yeah. >> Until they had >> concrete evidence. So, they were still
proceeding as if it were an accident. Okay. >> As if something exploded unintentionally
in the cargo hood. >> But it's like what? >> Which I think is a firecracker and explos.
>> Yeah. And so they know, but I think it's the safest way to approach it so that
you can >> cuz I think it's better to go like too less than too much cuz it's easier to
add than pull back. >> And you need all the information before you insight like mass panic.
>> Exactly. Um but with the introduction of the FBI, people were starting to be like, I'm thinking this might be
criminal. >> Yeah. That'll make you scratch your chin. >> Yeah. The first hurdle criminal
investigators needed to clear was figuring out why someone would want to blow up this plane in the first place.
>> The first and most obvious suspects were the striking United Airlines employees,
>> uh, whose negotiations and rhetoric had become a little hostile in the days leading up to the bombing.
>> That would be a big escalation. That'd be [ __ ] up. In fact, in the days following the explosion, a
representative for the Transport Workers Union went so far as to imply that, quote, "United might be criminally
liable for the deaths and suggested that all evidence be turned over to a grand jury, quote, for possible manslaughter
charges." >> Oh, [ __ ] Which is like bold. Mhm. >> Uh despite all of that rhetoric, uh the
union and striking employees cooperated very much with investigators and were very quickly ruled out as potential
suspects. >> That's good. >> And they even established a $1,000 reward for information leading to the
arrest of whoever did this. >> Okay, so we got >> They made sure >> different avenue.
>> We did not do this. The union's reward prompted United Airlines to establish its own fund for a reward. And a few
days later, they offered an additional 25,000. Wow. >> For reward for information,
>> which is like good. >> So, everyone did their part here. Like, it wasn't the striking workers.
>> Nice. >> If the union wasn't behind the bombing, which they were not, the most likely
scenario was that whoever bombed this flight had done so to kill one or more of the passengers on board. Like, they
had like a target. >> Yes. >> The passengers on flight 629 were a very varied group in terms of age and
background. Uh but with the exception of a few notable businessmen, they appeared
really not to have any reason that a death of any of these people would benefit anyone. You know, agents went
through the like full background investigations on each passenger. They interviewed family, friends, co-workers.
They went deep to determine, you know, who on the plane might have been a target. But their interviews turned up
absolutely nothing of note. Like nothing. So, the theory that someone was killed for like anything really was kind
of flying out the window because they even went forward and tried to see could somebody be killed for the insurance
money. That went nowhere because only two passengers, Stuart and Suzanne Morgan, bought more than the minimum
coverage. >> Oh, >> and they named their teenage daughters as beneficiaries, right? So, yeah, they
were the ones who were getting the money. So, it wasn't. Now, while several FBI agents interviewed the friends and
families of all the passengers, other agents uh conducted like serious interviews with airline employees at
every single stop along the flight. They went deep. >> Wow. >> Starting with its origin in New York and
then moving on to the Chicago uh stop and finally the last stop in Denver. >> And it was while interviewing the
baggage handlers in Chicago that agents got their first break. Okay. It turned out that when the luggage was being
loaded at the airport in Chicago, one of the baggage handlers lost his keys and was certain he dropped them at the cargo
hold. When the plane landed in Denver a short time later, baggage handlers at Stapleton completely unloaded the number
four cargo pit and found the keys. >> Okay. >> But when they began repacking the cargo
hold, only cargo from Denver was loaded into the number four cargo pit. So this is they're following this now. Based on
the evidence, investigators knew the explosive device had detonated in the number four cargo pit. And the testimony
from the baggage handlers indicated that particular cargo pit contained only luggage from the passengers boarding in
Denver, >> which meant that the bomb could only have been put on the plane at Stapleton
airport. >> Right. Fortunately, when agents checked the registry, they learned that only
three passengers on flight 629 had checked their bags. Oh [ __ ] And based on the recorded size and weight of the
luggage, only one of the three could have contained an explosive sizable enough to take down the entire plane.
>> For a second, we just have to really think about the time period where we're investigating this. That's impressive
detective work. Like >> that is truly truly impressive. >> 1955. >> Yeah. >> That's like real investigator work right
there. >> Wow. Now this suitcase >> who was it >> belonged to 53year-old Daisy King.
>> I did not think this was going to be a woman. >> So in their initial interviews, FBI
agents spoke to Daisy's son, Jack Graham, but that interview yielded really nothing significant.
But now they believed her to be the one who brought the bomb on the plane. So they were like, "Okay, we have some
different questions to ask Jack now." >> Yeah. >> From Daisy's son, Jack and daughter,
Helen, agents learned that life with Daisy had never been particularly easy. >> I wouldn't think it would be based off
of this information. >> Jack and Helen had both been born during the Great Depression. And like so many
other families at the time, they struggled financially. Short time after Helen was born in 1923, Daisy's marriage
ended in divorce and her husband Tom Gallagher left completely >> abandoned. Piece of [ __ ]
>> Her second marriage to William Graham followed soon after her divorce and in January 1932, she gave birth to her son
Jack. Unfortunately, the older Graham died from pneumonia a few months after Jack's birth, leaving them destitute.
Despite the depression, Daisy managed to find work with the local phone company.
while her mother stayed home to care for Helen and Jack. But when her mother died
in 1938, Daisy found herself again back to being destitute. Without any child care options and already living on a
meager salary, she enrolled her teenage daughter at St. Schol uh Scholasticas, I
believe it's called, which was a Benedicting Prep School located a short distance away. Six-year-old Jack, on the
other hand, was placed in the Clayton College of Denver, also known as the Denver School for Boys, an orphanage
established two decades earlier. >> Oh, [ __ ] In 1941, Daisy married a third time, this time to Earl King, who was a
wealthy rancher living in uh Topus a few miles outside Denver. Daisy's marriage to King dramatically improved the
financial stability of the family. But despite all of this, she chose not to retrieve her son from the Clayton
school. Instead, she and Earl essentially lived as well as a wealthy childless couple until Earl's death in
October 1954. >> The [ __ ] >> And at that time, she inherited her husband's entire estate valued at
$150,000, which today is about $1.75 million. >> [ __ ] According to Helen, Daisy was the
kind of person who could never be happy, even when things were going well. >> Even with that much money, girl. Yeah.
Obviously, money doesn't bite happiness, but damn, >> she's just a miserable person.
>> Yeah. >> She had struggled with depression and anxiety for most of her life. She was
controlling. She experienced mood swings regularly. At one point, she had even unfortunately attempted to uh end her
life by overdosing on pills, but was discovered by a relative and received medical treatment and saved.
>> That's sad. Uh Jack kind really had the same kind of things to say about, you
know, about their mother, adding that she wasn't a warm or motherly person. In fact, Jack told them she wasn't a person
you could call mom. She wanted you to call her by her Christian name. >> The [ __ ]
>> You couldn't put your arms around her. You couldn't show affection like that to
her. >> Oh, that's really awful. An [ __ ] >> That's so sad. And based on their interviews with family and friends,
agents put together a profile of Daisy where she was described as quote very generous in providing toys and money for
her children but spent very little time with them. >> Yeah. >> She appeared to have been
quick-tempered, somewhat doineering, and not affectionate as a mother. >> Not affectionate as a mother. Yeah. She
placed one of her children in an orphanage and then didn't get him when she got the resources
>> and never got him back. >> Yeah. Like what the [ __ ] >> They just lived as a wealthy, childless
couple even though she was a mother. >> And she just went and got him back at some point. And it was like, "Oh, hey,
how's the orphanage?" Like the [ __ ] >> By the time Daisy re-entered Jack's life
in 1954, >> he was 22 years old. >> Oh, so he grew up in the orphanage. She never went back.
>> Never got him back. She reentered. He was 22 years old, was married to a woman named Gloria, and they had an
11-month-old son named Allan, and they were expecting another child in a few months.
>> That's awful. >> Yeah, >> that's gross [ __ ] behavior. Now, his Jack's little family was happy together, but
they he was struggling to provide for them because it was a tough time. >> Yeah.
>> Knowing this, Daisy offered to buy Jack's family a house in Denver, provided they renovate the home to
include a basement apartment for her to live in. >> No thanks. >> She suggested that by taking the house,
Jack wouldn't have to worry about money and could reenroll in courses at the University of Denver.
>> Then she's going to go ahead and hold that over your head, honey. Jack reluctantly agreed to Daisy's
proposition because, you know, he's trying to provide for his got two kids. >> And in December 1954, they all moved
into this house in Denver. Just a few months later, after Gloria had given birth to their daughter Suzanne, Daisy
approached her son with a second proposal she believed would help support them. She was willing to use a portion
of her inheritance from Earl to invest in roadside in a roadside drive-in diner if Jack was willing to manage the
restaurant. It's a cool idea. Although neither of them had any experience in running or owning a restaurant. Yeah. He
agreed. And a month later, Daisy had invested $42,000 and opened the crown a drive-in.
>> They restaurants are known to be money pits. >> Oh, yeah. I'm sure it's one of the
hardest things you can do. >> I think it very much is. >> Yeah. So, from the time the restaurant
opened in May 1955 until her death in November, Jack and Daisy spent nearly every day together.
>> Wow. In fact, it was Jack who drove his mother to the airport the day of the bombing.
>> And she just had a bomb in her luggage and he had no idea. >> Yeah. And they had had they asked
whether he'd helped Daisy pack her luggage. Jack insisted his mother was a little quirky and she refused to allow
anyone else to pack her bags for her. >> Yeah. >> Though he >> I love that that was considered quirky
back then. >> I'm like, I don't need somebody to pack my bag. >> Though he did recall that her bag seemed
a little heavy when he carried it to the car. >> Mhm. Um, which Daisy claimed was
probably because of the ammunition she had packed in her luggage because she intended on hunting caribou with her
daughter in Alaska. >> Can you pack ammunition in your [ __ ] luggage? >> I guess so. Back then,
>> is that was that allowed? >> I guess they when they arrived at Stapleton, Daisy asked Jack to get three
life insurance policies for her from the kiosk. One for Helen, one for Jack, and
the third for her sister. Each for the minimum coverage, which late agents later confirmed with the insurance
company. >> Damn, she only did the minimum coverage knowing what she was going to go do on
that plane. >> Based on what they'd learned from Helen and Jack, investigators were beginning
to put together a theory about Daisy and a possible explanation for the bombing.
They knew she had a history of mental health issues and had even attempted suicide before. and they knew she had
recently reappeared in her children's lives, bringing gifts of money and property that not only could be an
attempt to make up for her past with them, but also secure their future. >> So, yeah, set them up.
>> I think she was trying to uh I don't want to say make amends, but like she was trying to
>> It does kind of >> make it a little better what she had done before she >> did what she was going to do.
>> Yeah. Given all of that, it was starting to seem possible that Daisy could have
used the flight as an opportunity to end her life and in doing so further provide
for her family financially. >> But why are you taking >> You took 40 other >> 43 other people
>> who had no intent who were going to see their families, >> right? >> In a lot of cases. That's
>> But if that were the case again, and it's exactly what you just stated, why would she choose the absolute lowest
amount of coverage? >> Yeah, that's And was it realistic to assume that essentially like what she
was described in as by by everybody else, a former housewife in her early 50s, would she really know how to make a
bomb effective enough to destroy an airplane? Cuz like >> that's what I've been doing.
>> Where did the bomb come from? Like >> Yeah, >> we can talk about motive all day, but
like where the [ __ ] did she get a bomb? >> She's just tinkering in the basement.
>> Yeah. >> So around the time agents were interviewing Helen and Jack, FBI agents
in the Denver office received a call from Bishop Richard Hansen from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints in Denver. >> The Mormons are back out of that call must have been like, "What's up now?"
Now, according to Bishop Hansen, one of his parishioners thought he might have some information relevant to the bombing
case, but he wasn't sure whether he should take it to the authorities. >> Always, you should always take
information about the bombing case to the authorities. >> So, Hansen actually helped coordinate a
meeting a few days later where agents sat down to interview his parishioner, Lou Msurvy.
In mid 1955, Msurvy was working as a potato chip salesman in Denver whose route included the Crown A Drive-In,
which is restaurant. >> According to Msurvy, Daisy King was quote a fine person, but her son Jack
was quote a little odd. Msurvy told the agents a few months earlier in September, there was a gas explosion at
the Crown A that caused considerable damage to the restaurant. And although he couldn't be certain, he was fairly
sure Jack Graham had caused the explosion in order to collect on the insurance. Hello. Miss Servy had no way
of knowing it, but this wasn't the first time agents had heard the story of the explosion at the at the restaurant. Just
one day before that, Richard Connley, a former co-orker of Jack's from the General Adjustment Bureau, an agency, an
insurance agency where Jack worked as an office assistant assistant at one point.
He had contacted FBI agents in Denver to let them know of the explosion at the restaurant.
>> Connley had been assigned to assigned to the case when it came in that September,
and he strongly suspected Jack was responsible for the gas explosion at the restaurant. But without any proof, he
had no choice but to pay out the $1,200 claim. >> Okay. >> One day after they interviewed Lou
Msurvy, they received another call about Jack Graham. This time from Charles Mcer, a director of United Airlines
legal department. According to Mcerene, Samuel Morris, a United Airlines Flight Kitchen employee who also owned a diner
in downtown Denver, had conveyed his suspicions about Jack Graham to the legal department, but didn't want to
speak directly with the FBI. Morris had sold some pieces of kitchen equipment to
Graham just before the diner opened, and when he heard about the explosion at the
restaurant, he immediately thought it was an insurance fraud thing perpetrated by Graham.
>> Yeah. The statements about Jack's possible involvement in insurance fraud were very circumstantial, but Asians
decided to speak with local officials to determine what exactly happened at the Crown A diner in September. So,
according to assistant fire chief, by the time firefighters got to the restaurant, the fire suppression system
had extinguished the flames and they could clearly see that quote, "Someone had forced open the back door of the
restaurant and disconnected a popper a copper gas line near the chicken roaster."
Uh, I would go ahead and say that was intentional. So, when the gas leak reached the pilot light on the hot water
heater, it ignited and set fire to a portion of the kitchen. That's pretty simple. The arson investigator concluded
the gas line couldn't have been disconnected without a wrench, meaning it was intentional, but he was unable to
determine whether it was done with malice or fraud in mind. When he was interviewed about the uh restaurant by
local authorities, Jack claimed he had no idea who could have done such a thing, but many of his former employees
had been given keys, so it could have been any of them. Mhm. >> In the end, fire investigators and the
insurance company really couldn't do anything but label the explosion an accident, and nearly everyone suspected
Jack was behind it, though. >> That's rough. >> With all they had learned about Jack
Graham in the days following their interview with Helen and Jack, agents were beginning to uh reconsider their
theory about Daisy and instead shifted their focus to Jack. On a hunch, FBI lead investigator Roy Moore sent several
agents to Stapleton airfield where the crash scene had been reconstructed and asked them to go through whatever
belongings of Daisy's had been recovered from the uh crash. Among the things found near Daisy's body in the field was
her purse. It contained several personal items and an old tattered newspaper article from 1951 that identified Jack
Gilbert Graham as one of Denver's most wanted fugitives. You buried the lead. What? According to the article, Jack had
been working for a car company in Denver in 1951. When he did was discovered to have
forged nearly $5,000 in company checks. He used the money to finance a road trip
that took him all over the Midwest until he was caught in Lach, Texas after refusing to pull over, crashing through
a police roadblock. What the [ __ ] You made me feel bad for this boy. >> I know when they say and again feel bad
for the kid. I feel bad for the adult. >> I felt bad for him. I was like, "Damn,
his mom moves in, >> you know, not not having a great time together." >> Exactly.
>> Damn. >> And that's the thing when they were going through this, they initially they
thought, "Holy [ __ ] Dais this 50-year-old Daisy >> Yeah. did this all." >> I did. As soon as you said Daisy, I was
like, "What?" >> I said, "What?" Well, after he crashed through the police roadblock, they
searched the car and police discovered that Jack had been transporting bootleg whiskey in his trunk. So, he's just like
he's got so many things going on. >> He served 60 days for evading police in Texas and was extradited back to Denver
where he was tried and convicted for the check forgery. >> In his pre-sentencing report, the
probation officer wrote that Jack quote shows very little concern over his present the present offense. For the
last couple of days, he led a wild life, spending most of his money on drinking parties and women. What the [ __ ] At his
sentencing, Daisy pleaded with the judge on behalf of her son. >> Oh. Uh, begging for leniency and
claiming he had learned an important lesson from the entire situation. Never uh smuggle whiskey across state lines.
Don't don't crash into police brigades and don't steal money from your job. >> Yeah. She also valuable lessons.
>> Yeah. Valuable lessons. She also offered to pay the restitution on Jack's behalf.
>> Oh wow. >> Moved by Daisy's intervention, the judge sentenced Jack to 5 years probation and
ordered him to pay the full restitution. >> That's crazy. >> So he managed to avoid jail time. The
more investigators got into Jack Graham's past, the more they were like, >> "Huh, I think we might have been looking
in the wrong direction." >> Yeah. They had assumed that the small insurance payout couldn't possibly have
been enough to motivate someone to kill 44 people. But the more they learned about Jack, the more they started to
wonder whether that could have been true, just on a different on the different side. In the course of their
investigation, agents learned that Jack and Daisy had always had a difficult relationship, obviously. Yeah. Which had
become more so in the months leading up to the death. >> Right. Beginning in the late summer, the Crown
A was having serious financial difficulties, obviously, which Daisy blamed on her son's bad management, and
she was considering closing the restaurant. If that happened, Jack would have lost his job, and all the money
would have gone to Daisy. But if Daisy were dead and the restaurant were sold, the money would go to Jack. Oh. Agents
went back to Jack's house to ask some more questions about the day he drove his mother to the airport. And he told
the same story he had already told. Daisy had packed her own luggage, had been in a rush to get to the airport.
She asked him to purchase the three life insurance policies totaling $12,000. Then she checked the baggage and went to
her gate. After Daisy boarded the plane, Jack and his son Allan watched the plane
depart and stayed on the second floor observation deck until the plane had vanished from their sight and they
returned home. I'm stuck on the part where he took his son to go [ __ ] watch the plane take off. That's
diabolical. >> Yeah. >> Bye, Nana. What the [ __ ] >> Bye, Nana. Yeah, >> like that's so [ __ ] up.
>> That is [ __ ] up. Yeah. >> Holy [ __ ] dude. This story is wild. >> Yeah. I did not think I didn't know what
happened at all, but I didn't think it was this. Holy balls. >> So, while FBI agent Roy Mishki to spoke
with Jack outside and his partner went inside and spoke to Gloria Graham, his wife, under the guise of needing a drink
of water. >> Um, they casually chatted and Gloria corroborated Jack's story, including the
part about Daisy's quirky packing habits. Uh, but there was one thing she remembered that she'd forgotten to tell
them a few days earlier. According to Gloria, just before they were planning to leave for the airport, she'd seen
Jack carrying a box about 18 in in length, which had been wrapped in Christmas paper.
>> Huh. A few weeks earlier, >> it's November. It's barely November. >> Yeah. >> A few weeks earlier, um Jack had talked
about getting his mother a set of Xacto knives she could use to carve jewelry. So Gloria assumed Jack had bought those.
Although she couldn't confirm whether Jack had actually given the box to Daisy. Gloria assumed he had put them in
her luggage so she would discover them once she got to Alaska. She said, "My husband's just a sweetie pie."
>> Yeah, this is a nice gift. At that time, there were only two shops in Denver that
sold Xacto knives, and neither had a record of selling one in the previous month.
Earlier in their investigation, FBI agents learned that the bag was significantly over the weight limit for
checked baggage and she was required to pay the $27 fee. >> I've been there, girl.
>> Uh or remove some of the items. I That happens to me every time I go to the airport.
>> Yeah. The baggage clerk remembered their interaction with Daisy and she recalled
Jack insisting that they just pay the additional baggage fee rather than unpack everything in the airport.
>> Oh [ __ ] If their evolving theory was right that Jack was responsible for this, his having put the box in her
luggage would have accounted for the additional weight. >> Also, their theory would have accounted
for his insistence of just paying for the fee rather than taking out the stuff and having Daisy discover the box that
they believed contained the dynamite. >> Wow. >> Um, yeah. Andrew Field said, "If Daisy
had been a little cheaper or a little more inquisitive, this never would have happened because they came very close to
opening the suitcase." Oh, that's awful. Based on the evidence and everything they'd learned, investigators obtained a
warrant to search Jack and Gloria's home, where they discovered, among other things, copper wire very similar to that
which they found in the wreckage and believed to have been part of the explosive device. Also found in their
home, taped against the back of a heavy bureau that was flushed with the wall, was an additional insurance policy taken
out the day of the flight with a payout of $37,000, which today would be $434,000.
>> Wow. >> And Jack was listed as as the beneficiary. >> Dang. >> Taped it behind a bureau.
>> He's like a criminal mastermind. The agents traced the copper wire back to the store it was sold in in Denver where
the owner identified Jack Graham as the purchase the customer who purchased it a
few weeks earlier. >> The way you set this up, I really didn't think that's where we were going.
>> Until that point in the investigation, the FBI had little more than circumstantial evidence and hearsay
connecting Jack Raming. Well, the discovery of the additional insurance policy and the copper wire
were not, you know, they they weren't the smoking gun, but they weren't like in, you know, it was pretty good.
>> Yeah, that's good evidence. >> It was definitely enough to convince the district attorney to issue a warrant.
>> Yeah. >> And on November 14th, 2 weeks after the bombing, Jack Graham was arrested on
suspicion of mass murder. >> It's also crazy that crazy that it only took them two weeks to get this all
together. >> Yeah. They went they went hard. >> And just to think that they went out
there initially to talk to him and they're really following this lead of Daisy and then you look back and you
think they were sitting on that house and the copper wire was sitting somewhere was taped to the back of the dresser.
>> Yes. >> And he knew full well >> but was sending them down the >> completely different path. Like that
must have as an investigator and it probably happens so often just the amount of times you once a case is
solved sit there and think and I was sitting in that house and that thing was right over there
>> and he was right there like that's and I yeah sitting down looking at the guy who
did it. >> It's very only going to find out like a week or two later. >> It's very much like the Clary Starling
Buffalo Bill moment of like you're just sitting there talking to him in the house and then you see the the moth land
on the thing. >> It's like what the [ __ ] I'm just standing here with this person. Yeah.
Now, at first, Jack stuck to his story. Just as Gloria had said, he had bought the X-Acto knives for his mother, and
that's what his wife saw him carrying. He said, "Yeah, there's no [ __ ] record of that, my guy."
>> And the copper wire they'd found in his shirt pocket at the house, that was something they commonly used at the
restaurant. And the insurance policy, he didn't remember getting that one for a higher amount of coverage, but things
were chaotic. >> And he also didn't remember taping it to the back of his [ __ ] dresser. Are you
kidding me? He literally said, "Things were pretty chaotic as I was trying to get Daisy on the plane, so maybe I made
a mistake." >> And taped this document to the back of my [ __ ] dresser. >> He had a dumbass answer for every
question until one of the agents left the room and returned with several boxes of ammunition Daisy had supposedly
packed for her trip. >> In response, Jack told them he must have been mistaken about how much ammunition
his mother had packed for the trip, and she'd left some behind. >> So, he just had an answer,
>> dumb ass answer after dumbass answer. The interrogation went back and forth this forth this way for hours until
finally just before midnight lead investigator Roy Moore flat out accused him of lying at which point he just gave
it up. That's always so interesting to me too. >> That's the thing exactly what it takes
and how long are you willing to go for before you just >> give it all up. What's the moment that
like he literally is just like, "You're a [ __ ] liar." And Jack literally said,
>> "Okay." >> And then he took a sip of water and said, "Where do you want me to start?"
>> It's always that. It's always that. >> Where do you want me to start? At the beginning, maybe. That would be great.
At >> the point you decided to commit a [ __ ] mass murder, you piece of [ __ ] >> You killed 44 people, including your own
mother. Not only that, like that very much that >> you watched that plane take off with
your child. That is >> disturbed on a whole different level. >> You made your son complicit for this
whole thing. >> Like now, according to Graham, it had all started about 6 months earlier when
his mother had pinned the blame for the failing restaurant on his poor management, but it actually stemmed from
something much older than their business affairs. Jack admitted he hated Daisy for sending him to an orphanage,
>> which is fair. >> That that part that hatred is fair. >> And he said, and this part you think of
the child and you say, "Wow, that's sad." Because he said when she got married to Earl King, he naturally
assumed she would come and get him. >> That's heartbreaking. >> And her decision to leave her son in the
orphanage for what he considered to be selfish reasons was just something he could never forgive her for.
>> And here's the thing, don't you don't ever have to forgive. >> No. There's plenty of people though that
get abandoned and don't reconnect and send their mom on a plane with a [ __ ] bomb committing a mascot
>> to not only kill her but kill innocent people. Exactly. And also like was your
mom a good mom? No. >> Was she like was she super shitty for your whole life? Absolutely. Did she
deserve to die? >> No. >> No. That's not the answer, man. >> And it's not for you to decide. That's
not >> And it's not for you to decide that those other people have to die, too. Like what the [ __ ]
>> You move on with your life, dude. Like you can you can compartmentalize the fact that you can say, "Yeah, that's
[ __ ] up." That you were put in an orphanage and then when she got financially stable, she just [ __ ]
left you there. >> Yeah, she's a piece of [ __ ] >> [ __ ] up. And yeah, I agree with you.
You never should have forgiven her for it if you didn't feel the need to. >> But also, so you go your separate ways.
>> You're a grown man, you're married, and you have two children. So why would you
not do better for them? >> Exactly. Now their dad's a murderer, a mass murderer.
>> And you made that choice. >> Exactly. Like that's the thing. So, but still he said he moved on with his life.
He left his mother in the past. He got married. He had children and was doing his best to be a decent father. And then
Daisy came back in his life. >> But okay, then you let her leave her, which again, I know this is a
complicated situation on like a familial level. >> It is, but >> but then you take it to the level it got
taken to and you say nothing leads to that. I can understand it being chaotic and feeling like your life is a little
in turmoil when she comes back, but you deal with that and you figure it out. You either cut her out or you learn to
you figure out a way to deal with the present here. >> Exactly. >> But you do not take it to this level.
There's no validation for taking it to no justification for doing what you did. >> There's just not.
>> Your story is sad that does not lead to this. >> So many people have sad stories. I have
personal experience being abandoned by multiple people who were supposed to take care of me. Never have I ever
thought of sending them on a plane with a bomb to kill other people. >> You can say that his life story sad
>> sad as [ __ ] >> No justification for this whatsoever. >> And if anything, >> do better.
>> Do better. >> Do better. All I want in my life is to do better and prove to everybody that
ever like [ __ ] me over that I'm better than them. >> Yeah. >> Do that. Because see, as far as Jack
could was concerned, his mother's return and then her generous offer to buy the house, invest in a business with him,
all that was just another selfish act, a seemingly benevolent gift that was really just an attempt to basically
soothe her own guilt for being a bad parent, >> which I can understand, >> which I get why he thought that.
>> And maybe that was it. And maybe it wasn't. >> No, you don't know. >> Maybe Daisy went into this. I'm just
saying like maybe people evolve. I'm not saying you have to forgive people even when they do evolve.
>> Well, and especially the older people get and the closer they get to the >> maybe she started thinking about her
life and she said and maybe it wasn't for purely selfish reasons. Maybe she just said I just want to do better.
>> And it could be both. >> And again, I'm not saying that you have to accept that. No.
>> And that you have to be forgiving and that you have to allow that person back
in your life. But if that's the case, if you don't feel you can do that one, you're perfectly oh, you can do that. If
somebody's hurt you to that extent, just because they have become a better person
doesn't mean you have to accept that. I've gotten for a long, long time. You know what that's called?
>> Protecting your peace. >> See, and that's okay. >> Protect your peace. >> But you let that person go.
>> Yep. >> Or you choose to work forward with them. Those are your two choices. You can't
cause mass [ __ ] tragedy and take other people from people they love because you are upset
>> here. This is clearly not a well man. >> No, this is beyond. So he figured this
was just trying to soothe her own guilt. In fact, it quickly occurred to Jack that the gifts his mother offered
weren't the nice, generous acts, but just another way of just controlling him. That's how he felt. Jack and his
family may have occupied the majority of the house, but it was still Daisy who owned it. And he may have managed the
Crown A diner or drive-in, but it was Daisy who owned the business and she could do with it as she pleased. So, he
felt controlled. >> Mhm. >> When they started having financial troubles at the restaurant, Daisy
announced to Jack that she was planning on selling it, and he started to panic. >> If he sold the business, she would
recoup the investment and maybe even make a profit. But all Jack would end up with was unemployment and an uncertain
future for his family. So, it's exactly what the investigators thought. >> Yeah.
>> But if he got rid of Daisy and made it look like an accident, Jack would end up
with a significant portion of Daisy's estate and the life insurance payout >> and the rest of it.
>> So, he started coming up with a plan to kill Daisy and make it look like an accident, which is so [ __ ] scary.
>> It is. He explained that he constructed the bomb from several sticks of dynamite. a sixvolt battery and electric
caps. Just before they left the airport, he affixed a simple 90minute kitchen timer
to the explosives and wrapped it in the box Gloria saw him carrying, which he packed into his mother's luggage after
removing the ammunition that she had packed. >> Wow. He wrapped it in [ __ ] Christmas
paper. >> We've covered a case like that before. something that happened on a subway
>> and the remember it was the camera that was an explosive and it was also wrapped
in >> wrapped in Christmas paper. >> Mhm. >> It's so chilling. >> That adds a whole different layer.
>> It really does >> mentally. I mean now although he had made it seem like poor time management
in the moment, it was because of the 1hour timer that they left for the airport at the last minute. He wanted to
make sure the device didn't detonate until act after the plane had taken off. The plan was almost completely undone at
the baggage counter when his mother was like, "I don't really want to pay this overweight baggage fee." But Jack was
able to convince her to pay the $27 and got around the plane. >> Damn. When the investigation uh started
weeks earlier, it seemed completely unthinkable that the explosion of flight 629 had been anything other than an
accident. But now, Jack's confession proved that very thing that no one really wanted to believe. He had killed
44 innocent strangers to benefit from the death of his mother, Daisy King. >> That's unable.
>> That is an unthinkable thing to wrap your [ __ ] brain around. >> Yeah. No, it is. I don't want to wrap my
brain around that. >> Jack's confession to the murder of the 44 passengers on a board flight 629
seemed to bring the case to a simple and very sad close. The problem according to
the US attorney Donald Kelly was that quote at the moment it doesn't look like the federal penalty is sufficient to
justify prosecution. What >> in simple terms at the time there was no law specifically prohibiting the bombing
of an airliner. >> We got to make one real quick. >> So any attempt to find Graham
responsible for all 44 deaths would have fallen well short of the actual crime he'd committed.
>> Right. which is mind-boggling. At best, the FBI could charge him with peaceime sabotage. What
>> a somewhat dated charge that carried a maximum of 10 years in prison for killing 40
>> and a fine of $10,000. Hardly an appropriate punishment. So, what did they do?
So, in light of the federal statutes, the Denver District Attorney's office worked fast and the day after Graham
confessed the DA's office filed a charge of murder against Jack for the death of
his mother. They were like, "We can at least do this." >> Yeah. >> In a statement to the press, Denver
District Attorney Bert Keading told reporters, "This does not mean that the government will drop its charges, but
merely defer to the more serious charges in state court." >> Yeah. Also, if convicted on the murder
charge, Graham faced a potential death sentence, which the prosecutor intended to pursue.
>> Jack Graham waved his right to a hearing on the peaceime sabotage charge and was
placed in jail on $100,000 bond while waiting to be arraigned on the murder charge, which had been scheduled for
November 17th. But when he was brought before the judge on the 17th, he asked for a 30-day continuence in order to
quote obtain adequate counsel. >> Okay. Uh, in response, the judge granted Graham a week to find counsel and
suggested Jack use his time in jail to quote, "obtain services of attorneys and be prepared to enter a plea in this
case." >> Yeah. >> Instead of using his time to find an appropriate lawyer, he immediately
started strategizing for his defense. In a jail house interview on the 18th, Jack
denied planting the bomb on the plane and claimed that while he had signed the confession, he had only done so under
duress. He said, "Yes, I signed the statement, but it's not true. They told me they were going to put my wife in
jail, and I'd better get it straightened out myself." Then, somewhat suspiciously, he pivoted mid-statement
to claim that he actually had no money memory of signing the confession at all. >> Come on.
>> He said, "If I did, they had something they had something Gloria signed, but declined to elaborate on what that could
mean." >> I love that now he's blaming his wife. Yeah. He's like, "Actually, Gloria,
>> maybe she did it." when he as when he was asked about what if any tactics the
FBI agents had used to cause his duress. Jack said, "Well, they started about noon that Sunday and didn't stop until I
signed a confession about 4:00 a.m. the next morning." Though, he was quick to add that the agents had taken several
breaks, including one which they quote, "took me out for dinner and gave me drinks of water and such."
What? While he talked endlessly about the with the press about his innocence, the DA's office worked to build their
case against him. now anticipating a plea of not guilty. >> A few days after his interview with the
press, Keading's office brought Lyman Brown, owner of Brown Brothers Supermarket, in to make a formal
statement. FBI agents had traced the dynamite used to the bombing back to Brown Brother Supermarket and had hoped
Brown could make a positive ID on the man who'd purchased it several days earlier. The fact that you could buy
dynamite at the [ __ ] supermarket is is quite a concept. >> It's so 1955, you know.
>> I'm just going to go pick up the milk, the eggs, and the dynamite. >> Dynamite. Anything else you need, huh?
>> Yeah. >> The [ __ ] >> So, apparently Brown was shown a lineup of seven men, and he immediately picked
Gran out. Graham out of the group as the man who'd purchased the dynamite. >> You You're going to remember the guy
that purchases the dynamite at the super record. I can't imagine they sold a [ __ ]
ton of it. >> He knows. He knows every person who walked in and sold dynamite and bought
dynamite. >> You got a list. >> He looked right at the DA and said, "That's him." All right. It turned out
that Brown had actually known Jack Graham years earlier when they both lived in Kreming, a town just outside of
Denver. Uh he told a reporter, "It never dawned on me that this was the man I sold the dynamite to. In fact, Brown
only remembered Graham's purchase because Jack had specifically requested electric caps, which he described as a
type that are discharged by a timer wired to batteries. >> The dynamite and blasting caps were
commonly used in the area by miners in construction crews needing to blow away their large sections of rock, so the
sale didn't seem strange at the time. >> That's so crazy. Now, the case against Jack got stronger when investigators
interviewed one of Graham's recent employers, Damon Ward. A little over a month before the bombing, Jack had taken
a job at Ward Electric Company, which only lasted six day um which lasted only six days before he quit. Uh Ward said,
"I thought it peculiar that Graham should want to work in the place." Uh since Jack owned a restaurant and was
already fully employed. So Ward pointed out that Jack claimed that electrical equipment in his restaurant occasionally
needed repairing, so he thought it would be good to learn about electrical work.
>> Or you could just hire an electrician. >> Yeah, exactly. That though did not explain why Graham had asked Ward many
questions about buying a timing device from him, though he ultimately purchased the timing device from Riyle Electrical
Supply in Denver. After more delays, Jack finally went before a judge for his arraignment on
December 9th. When asked for his plea, he said, "I am certainly not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity before,
during, and after the alleged commission of the crime." >> Wait, what? >> The prosecutor, Burke Keading,
immediately objected to the plea, insisting it was improper, but the judge accepted Graham's plea and asked the
defense and prosecution for written motions as to whether the plea was proper. >> Okay. Also, the judge ordered that
Graham be committed to the Colorado Psychopathic Hospital, that's what it was called, for 30 days in order to be
evaluated and asked the two psychiatrists be assigned to the case. >> Okay. >> The prosecution objected to this,
saying, "Graham appears no different from any other person except to the wholesale slaughter he committed. The
case was continued until the end of the evaluation period on January 9th." Jesus. When he first was arrested, Jack
confessed to the bombing. Then when he was in front of reporters, he claimed he was innocent and his confession was
obtained under duress. Now facing a judge, he claimed he was insane at the time the crime was committed before,
during, and after. >> Yeah. It was beginning and coming increasingly clear that Jack was
tailoring his defense to counter whatever the prosecution learned about him. And it wasn't going well. In fact,
Jack's evaluation period lasted longer than anyone had expected and appeared to have taken a serious toll on him.
Really? >> On the evening of February 10th, guards found Jack unconscious in his cell, two
black socks tied around his neck in an attempt to end his own life. >> Oh, that's dark.
>> The guards began CPR and he was revived. But according to his lawyer, John Gibbons, the suicide attempt had forever
changed Jack. He said, "I asked him if he remembered trying to" and he said, "Trying to commit suicide. He just had a
blank look. He looked at me and said, "No, he didn't remember anything about it. He isn't the same person I knew last
week. The man is gone. >> Wow. >> In the days after that, Jack did everything he could to convince the
psychiatrist that he was indeed insane. But like many criminals who try to get that unwarranted insanity defense, and
most Americans at the time, for that matter, Jack didn't really know what the symptoms of a psychiatric or psychotic
disorder looked like. So, his performance of insanity, quote unquote, appeared to psychiatrists to be exactly
that, a performance. >> Yeah. They said uh he walked very slowly and stared straight ahead with a vanken
expression on his face. When he was asked questions, he would respond with bizarre and nonsensical answers, likely
under the erroneous belief that people experiencing psychosis were incapable of rational thought and lack the ability to
respond appropriately. Ultimately, the psychiatrist concluded that his quote patchy amnesia, intermittent
disorientation, and absurd as well as correct answers to arithmetic problems were indicative of what they termed
quote simulated insanity. >> Yeah. >> In simple terms, he was [ __ ] faking it. >> After a few days of performing insanity
for the evaluating psychiatrist, he dropped the act and returned to outright confessing.
>> Oh my god. On February 15th, he again confessed to planting the bomb on the plane after his attempts to stop his
mother from traveling to Alaska failed. He said, "I tried to tell her how I felt. She just wouldn't stay. She
wouldn't give me any reason at all. No reason why she didn't want to stay. I thought it was the last time she was
going to run off and leave me. I just wanted to do things with her, to sit down and talk to her, just like
everybody else's mother would do." >> That's sad. >> And it's like, but but really, like, are
you is that real? I don't think so. From the moment agents found evidence of an explosive device in the wreckage of
United Flight 629, everyone had assumed the motive for the sabotage was financial gain. And maybe at least in
part it was. But in his final confession to psychiatrist, Jack revealed an even deeper motive, one that maybe he didn't
even recognize in the moment. Daisy King, you know, you know, in the beginning, she had abandoned, avoided,
and manipulated her children at when they were children. But when she reappeared in her son's life a year
earlier, he thought, or at least hoped, this was finally his chance to have a real relationship with his mother,
>> when she threatened to sell the business, then made plans for the long trip to Alaska, he felt like she was
abandoning him again. >> Mhm. >> And for Jack, that trauma took over and he wasn't willing to endure it a second
time. So, he made sure she could never leave him again. And he made the ultimate awful, sadistic and evil choice
he could. >> Yeah. >> Which again is unjustified. >> Yeah. And in a way, you're killing her.
So she is leaving again. >> He's going to leave you for good now. >> Like that does I don't
>> Not only that, you've you have these abandonment issues, which 100% I understand that like he I get it. Like
he was justified in having abandonment issues. Absolutely. But now you're also taking people away from other people
>> like you're you're causing a whole host of other issues >> just selfish >> across the United You know what I mean
like it's like you just you're not even thinking of >> exactly >> of that >> he didn't think of anybody else but his
own which is >> interesting it's it's awful but it's also interesting when you think about it
because >> was that little kid and him making that decision and that's why it was like so
incredibly selfish. >> Yeah. You know, >> cuz it's a very selfish decision. >> No matter what, wrong, like immensely
[ __ ] up. But when you look at it a little different from a psychiatric point of view, purely psychiatric point
of view, >> I think at least partially the child in him was making that decision.
>> Yeah, it does feel that way because it's a very >> shortsighted forward decision as well.
>> Also, he was 22. Was it? I don't even think his brain was fully developed. >> Yeah. I don't even know. So, and that's
interesting because your whole frontal lobe isn't developed in that. >> He was a couple years older than that. I
>> Oh, was it He was 22 when they connected. >> He was 22 when they reconnected.
>> Gotcha. Gotcha. Any It's just It's interesting. It's a fascinating It's a fascinating mindset. The psychology of
it is fascinating to think about. Um because even if it's like even if he was making this plan to kill just his mother
for this, it's like >> you're not justified to do that. You can't take another person's life because
they hurt you. I understand >> the frustration. I I like I can't personally understand or appreciate to
the fullest extent >> those kind of abandoned issues. I just can't because I didn't
>> and that's the thing. So I'm I'm standing here from a point of view where I can't understand that deep kind of
trauma. Yeah. >> But I know that no matter what it is, you can't kill someone. We just can't
live in that kind of society where you are allowed to murder people for you for the trauma they cause you. You know what
I mean? >> It's like a weird form of like vigilante justice. >> Even though like in ways you sit there
and you say like yeah like I understand trauma can make you upset and make you feel certain things. But
>> the thing is >> especially a whole plane of people >> that's where >> innocent people.
>> That's where it's like you lose me completely. And even if he had just killed his mother he would have lost me
completely. >> Yeah. cuz you're we can't >> you could just can't kill people obviously but this is the thing he very
well absolutely had abandonment issues but there's got to be something else within him
>> for sure >> that was like capable to do this abandonment issues or not >> because some people can deal with them
>> or or grieve through them you know what I mean like not fully deal >> well honestly that is dealing with them
>> yeah grieving through them >> and it's like and they don't kill people >> and the thing Part of grieving through
them is recognizing that you were a child when those things happened and that like the child
>> part of you is still sad but you are an adult now and you have to make the choice and you have to make the steps to
move on from that in whatever way is right for you >> cuz the child didn't deserve
>> without killing anybody >> like the child doesn't did not deserve that. >> No. And that's probably part of healing
is realizing that your childhood self did not deserve that or >> it 100% >> do anything to warrant that
>> because abandonment issues make you think that something's wrong with you inherently. So yeah, absolutely that's
part of it. >> Of course that part of it is sad. >> Mhm. >> But this was never the answer.
>> No. >> Ever? No. >> In any lifetime was this the answer. >> It's so sad that therapy is just now
becoming a mainstream. >> Back then it was he wasn't getting help for that. No, it's wild. So, his Jack's
trial began April 16th, 1956, just months after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that cameras could be allowed in
the courtroom to document the trial. >> Oh, wow. >> That meant that Jack Graham's case was
going to be the first time Americans outside of a courtroom would get to see the workings of the court during an
active criminal trial. >> Oh, wow. In his opening statement, Bert Keading explained to the jury that Jack
had quote coldly, carefully, and deliberately planned his quote diabolical scheme of destruction and
death. Which is true. >> Yeah. >> And as a result, Daisy King had fallen nearly 6,000 ft to her death.
>> And everybody else did, too. >> Yep. He had done this, Keading insisted, for financial gain, and because of the
lifetime of animosity he'd felt towards his mother. Also, Keading assured the jury the state would prove as much. And
when it came to sentencing, there was only one possible penalty and that is death.
>> Because remember this trial can only be for the murder of Daisy. >> Y >> uh in the days that followed a
prosecution u the prosecution called a long list of witnesses from airline technicians, specialists, psychiatrists,
accused, you know, accused family members, all of whom presented damning and compelling testimony to support the
prosecution's theory. The defense, on the other hand, appeared to be relying on theater in flatout denial of guilt.
>> That's never good. >> At one point, when Bert Keading brought it in a table full of airplane parts,
Jack's defense attorney, Charles Vigil, vehemently objected and began throwing the parts on the floor in a surprising
and very inappropriate outburst. >> Tantrum until he was loudly admonished by the judge and threatened with
contempt. Like, what are you doing? >> Yeah. Vigil began his defense several days later after the state rested what
was a very strong case. And for their part, the defense stuck to the previous statement that Graham was innocent and
played no part in the sabotage of flight 629. But little was said of his supposed
mental illness. This was likely due to the fact that Jack refused to testify on his own behalf and wouldn't allow his
lawyers to call his wife or any of the evaluating psychiatrists to testify. In fact, the defense called only eight
witnesses to the stand, none of whom provided evidence or statements that did anything to contradict the prosecution's
case. >> Yikes. >> So, if Charles Vigil presented a poor defense of his client at trial, it's
because Jack Graham gave him few other options as well. >> On May 3rd, the jury filled in filed
into the courtroom expecting to hear more testimony on behalf of the defense and were surprised when Vigil announced
that the defense had rested. They had nothing else to say. In fact, the defense wasn't just resting their case.
They also submitted motions demanding a ruling on the matter of his client's sanity and a motion for dismissal.
Given that six of the state's psychiatrists had already testified that Jack Graham did not meet the criteria
for insanity, the first motion was baboom denied pretty quick. >> Like what the hell?
>> The judge also denied the second motion as it wasn't supported by literally any
evidence or facts. Right. >> Instead, the case was sent to the jury for verdict.
>> It's about time. On May 5th, Deputy District Attorney Greg Mueller gave his closing statements in which he reminded
the jury, quote, "Under the laws of Colorado and the laws of God, there's a place where a person who has planned a
crime can turn back. It has a Latin name." Or the place of repentance. It was available to Graham. He could have
turned back at any point. The death he decreed for his mother when he sent her a loft to be hurdled out of the air and
have her body ripped open and driven into the ground is the same death his murderer deserves. And I said, "Whoa." I
said, "I don't know how you recreate that." The jurors were led out of the courtroom for deliberation at 9:49 p.m.
and they came back by 10:58 p.m. for a verdict. When asked to prevent present the verdict, the foreman rose from his
seat, handed the note over to Judge McDonald, and he read, "We, the jury, find the defendant, John Gilbert Graham,
guilty of murder in the first degree, and find he acted with premeditation and a specific intent to take life as
charged in the information herein and fix the penalty at death." >> Yeah. >> When the verdict was read, Jack showed
no emotion. The verdict was devastating to Gloria Graham. >> Yeah. Two children.
>> Yeah. and Jack's sister, Helen. >> Right. >> But everyone else in the courtroom
seemed pretty resigned to Graham's fate, if not pretty pleased with the outcome.
Later that afternoon, Charles Vigil insisted they would appeal it, citing at least 39 errors in the conduct of Judge
Joseph McDonald's, but even Graham was overheard telling his lawyer, "I don't want to appeal. I don't want a damned
thing." >> Oh, wow. I think he's just like a broken human. >> I think so, too. >> In all ways, can be broken. Like it's
[ __ ] up what he did, but this case is sad through and through. >> It's sad all the way to the end.
>> It's a tragedy and his life was a tragedy. >> Now whether he wanted it or not, an
appeal was filed on Graham's behalf, citing a number of errors, mostly related to the frequency where with
which the defense was overruled by the judge. In their summary statement, the Supreme Court wrote, "Although the
defendant, as indicated by the record, has stated that he desires to wave his appeal, if the Supreme Court of the Col
of Colorado feels that a defendant can wave such an appeal, then of course there is nothing further to argue since
the matter can be determined on that issue alone. But there are many points that could justify reversal uh in the
>> Oh, wow. >> the case. The justices may have believed in the strength of Jack's appeal in
theory, but in the end they upheld the lower court's ruling and sentence ordered the sentence of death to be
carried out during the week ending January 12th, 1957. >> And was it because he didn't want the
appeal? >> I think it was just they they looked into it and were like, "No." >> Okay.
>> They upheld it. So, it was on January 11th, 1957 that Jack Graham was sealed in the gas chamber at the Colorado State
Penitentiary at 7:57 p.m. And 10 minutes later, the prison physician and pronounced that John Gilbert Graham was
dead at the age of 24. >> That's chilling. The next day, he was cremated and his ashes were buried next
to his mother's in Denver's Fairmount Cemetery. >> Oh. In an interview many years later,
one of Graham's evaluating psychiatrists, Dr. James McDonald, said, "I've never seen anyone since who killed
so many people. It was an extremely unusual crime. He didn't give a damn, but that's because he was a psychopath.
He didn't care." >> Yeah, there was something absolutely off about him. Like absolutely mentally off
about him. Very scary. just the lack of compassion and the lack of empathy and >> and what that lawyer said, what the
prosecutor said, at any point he could have gone back. This was a days long, at least potentially weeksl long process of
him deciding this and following through with the plan >> and especially to kill that many innocent people
>> when you just hate one of them. >> Thought came into your mind, what the [ __ ] am I doing? Even as like obviously
you can't stop at them, but even when you watch that plane take off. >> Yeah. And it's like did you watch people
get on that plane? >> He had to. >> You watched all those people get on that you watched that baby get on that plane.
>> Oh. >> And then you think of all of the times he could have stopped it like I just
said, but that final moment where they were checking her baggage, >> that should have been your message from
the universe like turn back. >> Turn back. You don't need to do this. >> And he forged forward. And that's so sad
that it was that close to being the plan being completely >> foiled and those lives being saved.
>> It it kills me. >> And that's the bombing of United Airflight 629. >> What a tragic story through and through.
>> From beginning to end. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Truly. >> Wow. That's a that's a heavy one. And
>> I just really feel for all those people's families who like also really didn't ever get justice because
>> obviously like he he got the death penalty in the end, but he was never held responsible for doing what he did
to any of those people like those other passengers >> cuz they didn't even have a law on the
books. And it's like in that they all lost people because of one man's vendetta.
>> Yes. >> Against one person. >> Yeah. on that plane and their loved ones happened to get on the same plane as
Daisy. >> And then just the fact obviously they had a crazy relationship and a really
volatile relationship it sounds like. But the fact that he was okay and planning to let his mom take the wrap
for that. >> Yeah. >> What if he had never been discovered? He was just going to like his whole plan
had never been unfolded. he was just going to live the rest of his life with his mom having that turn.
>> He would have been happy because to him I think he was so deeply >> angry and he had such deepseated hate
and rage for her >> and such deep-seated issues from the abandonment and the treatment which was
not okay treatment in any way. Oh, >> by him like by her >> but that's not the outcome.
>> But I think he would have looked at that as he >> he won in the scenario which which
points to even more >> how evil some part of him was. >> Yeah. >> To do this to pull this off you have to
be to put that many people >> to kill that many innocent people because you are mad at one person you
have to be fully evil. >> Yeah. The way he went about this is just unbelievable to me.
>> There's a there's a level of >> something broken. >> There's a level of emotion.
>> Yeah. >> Em lack of emotion there that is just >> cuz then you just watched it. You
watched the people get announced in that press conference. You watched all the You probably saw pictures of them, you
know, in the paper. >> Yeah. And their family members were just going to go on >> knowing you did it.
>> I think the worst part of all, and I've said it a couple times, but the worst
part of all for me is the fact that he let his son Yeah. stand there next to him and watch that plane take off
knowing full well what was going to happen. >> That gets me. >> That's dark. That's again a level of
just like >> Mhm. >> I'm not armchair diagnosing, but like that's just a level of psychopathy.
That's wild. >> Yeah. That's a level of like you're not a human that you're a monster.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> I hope that his wife and his kids did okay afterwards. >> I feel awful for them.
>> So sad. >> I really do feel awful for them. >> Wow. Yeah. I had never >> And Helen
>> and his sister. I know. cuz she lost her whole family. >> Yeah. And she was living in Alaska
>> and she was gonna go visit her, right? >> And they're trying to, you know, she's
probably trying to rebuild a relationship as well. And it's like everybody deals with that differently.
>> And that opportunity got taken away from her. It's like >> And then she also lost her brother.
>> Yeah. And she's gone through she went through the same kind of [ __ ] you know what I mean? That he went through.
She was abandoned by obviously he got put in an orphanage, so that's a whole different set of trauma. But she also
went through a [ __ ] ton of trauma. That's the thing. And you can't compare whose trauma that you can't be like this
one's worse. Trauma is different. It was all trauma. It's just different. Like it's just different kind of trauma
>> and sad. It's just sad. >> It really does. I just feel awful. >> I hope that like her and Gloria somehow
were able to >> connect and that like the kids got to know Helen, you know? >> I just hope there was some happiness or
>> Exactly. >> that came out of, you know, away from this. >> Exactly. >> Wow. What a Yeah, what a tragic tale.
It's a rough one. >> Um, well, we did a spooky episode before this. So, if you haven't listened to
that for some reason and you need a palette cleanser, >> go listen to it. Have it
>> cuz that one we're we're joking, we're laughing. It's a fun one. Yeah. >> So, that'll get you a little more on the
>> Yeah, we're not super serious on that one. >> Um, so with that being said, we hope you
keep listening >> and we hope you >> keep it weird, but not so weird that you let a year'sl long vendetta allow you to
kill a bunch of innocent people. >> Yeah, that's wild. >> You don't want to do that. You really
don't. And just love each other and take care of each other, please. >> That part, you know, and take care of
yourself. >> Yeah. >> Cuz like Rupaul says, if you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you going
to love somebody else? Can I get an amen? >> Amen. [Music] [Music]

On November 1, 1955, United Airlines flight 629 from Denver, Colorado to Seattle, Washington took off from Denver’s Stapleton Airfield at 6:52 pm, carrying thirty-nine passengers and five crew members. Roughly ten minutes later, the aircraft exploded in the air, killing all forty-four people onboard and scattering fiery debris across several miles of Colorado’s landscape.

By the early 1950s, air travel had become a popular means of travel for more and more Americans and, while air disasters weren’t unheard of, they nonetheless called into question the safety of traveling on a passenger flight. This time, however, investigators quickly determined that the explosion of flight 629 hadn’t been an accident; someone had intentionally sabotaged the flight with a suitcase bomb.

The explosion of United Airlines flight 629 marked the first time a passenger plane had been bombed in the United States, something few if any authorities ever thought would happen. In the event of an act of terror, an individual or group typically comes forward quickly to claim credit; however, in the case of flight 629, no one came forward and investigators were left to wonder, what possible reason could someone have for killing forty-four people with no obvious connection between them?

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References Anastasio, Jeff. 2024. A worst act of terror. August 2. Accessed August 6, 2024. https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/a-worst-act-of-terror-the-mission-to-build-a-memorial-to-remember-the-bombing-of-flight-629-in-colorado.

Associated Press. 1955. "Arraignment for Graham postponed." Daily Sentinel, November 17: 1.

—. 1955. "Charge of murder planned in Denver on mother's death." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 15: 1.

—. 1955. "FBI begins investgation of Longmont air crash." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 8: 1.

—. 1955. "Graham denies plane bombing." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 18: 1.

—. 1955. "Graham linked to dynamite." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 21: 1.

—. 1955. "Judge orders hospital check." Fort Collins Coloradoan, December 9: 1.

—. 1955. "Paper says bomb evidence found in UAL plane crash." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 7: 1.

—. 1955. "Probe is started by bomb expert." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 3: 1.

—. 1955. "Victim's son bought insurance policy before flight, FBI says." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 14: 1.

2013. A Crime to Remember. Directed by Christine Connor. Performed by Christine Connor.

Field, Andrew. 2005. Mainliner Denver: The Bombing of Flight 629. Denver, CO: Bower House Publishing.

Garner, Joe. 2005. "Terror in the Colorado sky John Graham's legacy: The mass murder of 44 people in Nov. '55." Rocky Mountain News, October 14.

Gauss, Gordon. 1955. "44 die in crash near Longmont." Daily Sentinel, November 2: 1.

John Gilbert Graham v. People of the State of Colorado. 1956. 18058 (Supreme Court of Colorado, October 22).

Pitman, Frank. 1956. "Graham reportedly resigned to death, overheard telling lawyer 'don't want to appeal'." Daily Sentinel, May 6: 1.

United Press. 1955. "44 on plane die in crash in west." New York Times, November 2: 1.

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the bombing of United Airlines Flight 629, focusing on Jack Graham's motives and the tragic impact on victims' families.

Key points

Stomach Bug Woes. The hosts discuss dealing with a stomach bug in the house.
Fear of Flying. The hosts share their fears and experiences related to flying.
Flight 629 Takes Off. Flight 629 finally took off after delays, only to face a tragic fate shortly after.
The Aftermath of the Crash. The explosion resulted in a massive crash site, scattering debris across the area.
Investigation Begins. Initial investigations into the explosion reveal signs of sabotage and a bomb.
Daisy King's Troubled Life. Daisy's history of mental health issues and family struggles come to light.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

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