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Disappearance of Adolph Coors II

It was a brisk fall day in Morrison, Colorado, on February 9th, 1960. A local milkman had been out on his morning run when he pulled up to a single-lane bridge crossing Turkey Creek, only to find it was blocked by another vehicle. After several hoots of his horn got no response, the man hopped out of his van to investigate. The vehicle’s engine was still running, and the radio had been left on, but there was no sign of the driver.

Unable to stick around and wait for the owner to return, the milkman got into the vehicle and moved it out of the way – giving himself space to get past. But when he did so, he noticed something strange. There was a large brownish-red stain on the bridge, and when he peered at the river below, the milkman saw a hat perched on the river bank. This sparked enough concern for him to stop by the local police station and inform them what he had seen.

They soon discovered the car belonged to Adolph Coors III, the 45-year-old heir to the Coors Brewing Company enterprise. The company began in 1873 when Adolph’s grandfather immigrated to America. With the help of Jacob Schueler, Adolph’s grandfather purchased a recipe for a Pilsner-style beer from a Czech immigrant and established a brewery. 7 years later, Adolph’s grandfather bought Jacob out of his share and became the sole owner of Coors Brewing Company. A business that is still successful to this day.

That morning in 1960, Adolph was supposed to be driving to work, where he was the company’s CEO. His home wasn’t far from the bridge where the vehicle had been abandoned, so what could have happened to him?

Investigation and Arrest

An official search began, and the first place the authorities wanted to comb over was the area surrounding the bridge. Not far from where Adolph’s hat was discovered, his eyeglasses were also found. But there was still no indication of where he could be.

As the next day rolled around, there was still no word on Adolph’s whereabouts. Then, a disturbing development came through. Adolph’s wife, Mary, had received a typewritten ransom note demanding a healthy sum of money for her husband’s safe return.

It read: “Mrs. Coors: Your husband has been kidnapped. His car is by Turkey Creek,” the note read. It continued, ‘Call the police or FBI he dies. Cooperate: he lives. Ransom: $200,000 in tens and $300,000 in twenties. There will be no negotiating. Warning: we will know if you call the police or record the serial numbers.”

Now that they knew this was a kidnapping case, the FBI’s Denver Division sent reinforcements to assist the Colorado authorities. Mary was guided by the detectives on how to respond and told to follow the instructions outlined in the ransom note. However, she never heard back from the supposed kidnapper again.

Officers on the ground were trying to interview as many people as possible in the Morrison area, hoping that someone might have seen something of interest.

Before long, a witness came forward with an instrumental piece of information. They had seen a bright yellow Mercury near the bridge on the day Adolph was kidnapped.

Additionally, the witness had seen the vehicle several other times in the days prior – all in the same area. The witness told them that the number plate included the number “62” and the letters “AT.”

As the authorities continued to try to follow up on leads and track down the Adolph, months began to pass. Then, in September, the search came to a tragic end. A human skull and shirt, along with a pair of trousers and a pocket knife, were found by hikers in the Rocky Mountains. The pocket knife was engraved with the initials ‘ACIII’. It was Adolph Coors III. He had been shot twice in the back, and the case was officially a murder investigation.

The car proved to be crucial as it was subsequently found torched and dumped in Atlantic City. Authorities linked it back to a Colorado man named Walter Osborne, a man who happened to disappear right when Adolph was kidnapped.

After trying to find out more about this Walter guy, the authorities discovered his real name was Joseph Corbett Junior. Walter had been an alias.

Corbett had killed a man during a robbery in December 1950. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 5 years to life, but he escaped from prison in August 1955.

As news continued to spread about the murder, newspapers started to publish Joseph’s face in their papers.

The publicity proved crucial as he had fled the country and was found living 1,500 miles away in Vancouver, British Columbia, and arrested.

As the prosecution turned their attention to finalizing their case against Joseph, they were looking at a whole lot of circumstantial evidence. The question was, would that be enough for a conviction? Before they proceeded with the trial, some hard forensic evidence was needed and it ended up being dirt.

When the torched yellow Mercury was discovered, traces of soil were found trapped in the undercarriage.

The forensic team was able to conclusively link to the minerals from the area where Adolph’s body was found.

Conviction and Parole

On March 29th, 1961, Joseph Corbett was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping. He was given a life sentence but, strangely, was paroled in 1980.

In 1996, he gave an interview and maintained his innocence.

He spent time driving a truck for the Salvation Army before he retired. However, Joseph Corbett was a troubled man. At the age of 80, in 2009, Joseph deleted himself.