Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
Thomas Dean Leask was a mountain man who lived in the tiny mountain town of Alma, Colorado.
In 1998, he was 50 years old, living in his grandmother's shack and driving a snowplow part-time. Tom was a loner. He was reclusive. And unbeknownst to his fellow townsfolk, Tom Leask was becoming increasingly paranoid and bitter. Everyone in Alma already knew who he was. Tom was that odd fella, the former addict, always wearing that gun on his belt and playing his fiddle in front of the general store. Did he have long, stringy hair? Was he unshaven?
Yeah, that's Tom alright. Mostly harmless. Just ixnay on any government talk. He has an opinion or two. That's because back in 1994, Alma's town officials had forced Tom Leask onto the town's water system, which is not something that Tom Leask wanted to do. Tom liked drinking from the spring near his cabin, and he wanted to keep using his outhouse. He could also not afford to pay the expensive tap fee the town demanded for the hookup.
In the end, Tom Lisk had no choice. He lost that battle. The government had trampled over his God-given American rights. In Tom's mind, they had extorted him. Many stewed about it for three straight years. He even sold homemade audio tapes of his voice recordings, espousing anti-government views. Tom Lisk detested bureaucracy. That much was clear.
More specifically, Tom detested Willie Morrison, a well-liked local artist who enforced that tap switch during a brief tenure as the town's mayor. One day there would be revenge, Tom promised himself. One day, that piece of shit would get what he deserved. That one day was February 26, 1998, Tom Leask had decided. That evening, he went out for a coffee and then rode his bike to the Alma Town Hall.
Inside, a small Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was being conducted by the former mayor. Leask rudely interrupted by bursting through the doors, carrying a bag of Molotov cocktails he had made at home. Tom Leask announced that he was the new master of ceremonies and nudged his gun into Willie Morrison's back. Leask demanded that Morrison read a passage from the AA handbook, which he did. Then Leask quoted the Bible and pulled the trigger. Willie Morrison was dead.
Thomas Dean Leask was just getting started. First, he threw a couple of the Molotovs into the building. Luckily, the few AA meeting attendees had already fled. Leask then hopped aboard the camouflaged front-end loader that the town had purchased from the military surplus. He proceeded to bulldoze the town hall. He also punched holes in the town's school building, the post office, the fire department, and the water treatment plant.
Thousands of gallons of water poured into the streets and froze. The phone lines went down. There was partial electricity. He basically wiped out the government here. A Park County Sheriff's Sergeant later told Colorado Central Magazine, "...it only took a couple of hours."
That night, Tom Lisk drove the front-end loader back to his property and set fire to his grandmother's house before fleeing into a nearby grove. He took with him a rifle and a .45 caliber pistol. His face was painted for war, but there would be no confrontation. When the cops arrived, a sympathetic neighbor called out their positions, but there was no escape. Tom Lisk was surrounded. He surrendered four and a half hours into his rampage, and he was completely at peace.
Leask told the deputies that he had accomplished what God had asked him to do, that he had sacrificed his life to bring attention to the state's water diversion projects and the theft of Native American lands. Leask was adamant about his guilt. During the interviews, the Sheriff's Department said Tom Leask seemed, quote, "...alert, very astute, intelligent. He gave specific answers. He was fully aware of what he had done. He had no regrets."
"I don't want no lawyers, no trial, no nothing," Leask reportedly said. "Just put me in the thing and push the button." Again, big government would get in his way. Thomas Leask was appointed a public defender and forced to undergo multiple psychiatric evaluations, even though it was never Leask's intention to plead insanity. "I don't want that," he told a reporter. "I'm not insane." The results of the evaluations were conflicting, so the proceedings continued.
Thomas Leask was tired of waiting. In March 1998, he stabbed himself in the chest with a plastic toothbrush that had sharpened against the prison wall. The suicide attempt was unsuccessful. Leask suffered only superficial wounds. Finally, two years after Tom Leask's spree of murder and destruction, the court allowed him to plead guilty to 13 charges, including first-degree murder, first-degree arson, and criminal mischief.
In June 2000, Tom Leask was sentenced to life in prison plus 27 years. "I would have liked to have heard an apology," Willie Morrison's brother Andrew told the Denver Post. "When he didn't, I gave him the finger and he saw me. It may have been a childish move, but at least I got to say something to him." This is like any other place in the mountains. People come up here to get away from government.
Most agree that Thomas Leask's violent statement was not a reasonable reaction, but the sentiment wasn't completely out of the ordinary for the area. Many have wondered if the mountains attract those types of people, or are they shaped there? Such rugged individualists do not like to be told what to do.
Certainly, Thomas Dean Lees could be characterized as such. A simple water source dispute turned deadly. But what else is someone so persecuted supposed to do? Especially with God blessing their every move. Marvin John Heemeyer was a similar self-described reasonable man. But a decade-long battle with the small-town government pushed him to the brink of madness and beyond. Out of options, Marv thought it best to tear it all down to level the playing field.
His conversations with God only provided further justification. Or maybe Marvin Hemeyer was just looking for an excuse. A skilled welder modifies a bulldozer into an unstoppable machine of destruction to exact revenge upon a community he felt was conspiring against him on this episode of Swindled.
They bribed government officials, clear violations of federal state law, paid a plague of taxpayer dollars that were wasted, paid tens of millions of dollars, or a billion dollars, by falsifying its books and records, and in control of some kind of swindle. Support for Swindled comes from Simply Safe.
If you're like me, you're constantly thinking about the safety of the people and things you value most. After my neighbor was robbed at knife point, I knew I needed to secure my home with the best. My research led me to SimpliSafe.com.
I've trusted SimpliSafe to protect my home for five years now, and the level of security and customer care has been incredible. I sleep better every night knowing SimpliSafe's 24/7 monitoring agents are standing by to protect me if someone tries to break in and to send emergency help when I need it most.
I want you to have the same peace of mind that I and so many listeners experience every day, which is why I've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer listeners 20% off a system. Just visit simplisafe.com slash swindled. What I love most about SimpliSafe is that it just keeps getting better. With exclusive live guard protection, SimpliSafe agents can act within five seconds of receiving your alarm and can even see and speak to intruders inside your home, warning them that the police are on their way.
As a SimpliSafe user, it's no surprise that SimpliSafe has been named Best Home Security Systems by U.S. News & World Report for five years running and the Best Customer Service in Home Security by Newsweek.
I'm a huge proponent of SimpliSafe and I'm very happy with my security system. And you will be too. Protect your home this summer with 20% off any new SimpliSafe system when you sign up for fast protect monitoring. Just visit simplisafe.com slash swindled. That's simplisafe.com slash swindled. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. Hello, my name is Marvin Hemeier.
Today is, let's see here, April 13th, 2004. I am making this tape. I thought I should make it a year ago. Made part of it. Didn't like it. Really didn't think it would make any difference if I didn't make it, but a good friend of mine said I should make it. He said I should sit down in front of a videotape machine and do it. You're just going to have to take my word that this is Marv Hemeyer, serial number 503689471.
Marvin John Hemeier fell in love with Colorado when stationed at the Lowry Air Force Base in the early 70s. He was enamored with the mountains, the freedom, the fresh air. Marv knew that it was where he was supposed to be.
After receiving an honorable discharge from the military, the native South Dakotan made his way back to the Centennial State for what was supposed to be a six-month vacation. Instead, Marv ended up purchasing a piece of property and found work repairing car mufflers in Denver. His skill was unmatched, reportedly. A legendary welder, Marv could change a muffler by himself in 20 minutes. His friend Pete Mitchell told the Associated Press that skill served him well.
Throughout the 1980s, Marvin Hemeier expanded his enterprise and opened his own muffler shop in Boulder. He also bought and sold and leased property in the greater Denver area. Despite losing tens of thousands of dollars on a couple of bad real estate deals, Mr. Hemeier had done quite well for himself in a brief period of time, but not without learning some tough lessons. Everybody is looking out for themself. When it comes to money, you can't trust anyone but yourself.
In 1991, Marvin Hemeier isolated himself. He leased out his remaining muffler shop in the city and purchased 27 acres and a cabin in Grand Lake, Colorado, the so-called snowmobiling capital of the world. Coincidentally, Marv Hemeier loved to snowmobile. He loved the mechanics. He was always tinkering, making things bigger, stronger, faster.
It's what Marvin Hemeyer was born to do. And now he was in the perfect place to do it. The gateway to the Rocky Mountains. No wife, no kids, no obligations. Just 40-year-old Marv and his books, his tools, a hot tub, and a snowmobile. But getting back to me, I have had...
In 92, Marvin Hemeier found an opportunity to open a muffler shop close to his new home. Up for auction was a two-acre piece of foreclosed land with a 3,000-square-foot building in the nearby town of Granby.
Marv Heemeyer placed a bid. So finally they caught my bid, so I got a bid for $40,000. This other guy, I couldn't believe it. I didn't know who he was. He jumped up on his chair. That's how I knew where he was. And I was looking back, and of course he bid $45,000. And of course I bid $50,000. And I was waiting for him to bid, and he wouldn't bid. And so I got the property for $50,000. Ha!
And this guy, come to find out his name was Cody Docheff, he came back there and introduced himself to me about the rudest, most arrogant person. I mean, this guy's just a fucking asshole. Come back and just introduced himself, kind of, by just giving me a tongue lashing for about 10 minutes about, you know, who I thought I was and what I was going to do with the property.
Cody Docheff owned Mountain Park Concrete, headquartered next door to the piece of land that Marv Heemeyer had just bought. According to Sky High News, the Docheffs used to own that lot too, but lost it to the bank after previous business plans for the area fell through. And now it seemed the Docheffs had lost the plot of land again. Their plans to build a batch plant on that site were ruined by this outsider.
Cody Docheff was not happy about it, according to Marv. He claims the short-tempered and short-statured owner of the concrete company confronted him over the purchase. But Marv didn't feel bad. If Cody Docheff wanted to win the auction, he should have brought more money. Simple as that.
I mean, 160 people, or 160 properties were sold that day, and this is the only fool that didn't come down there with enough money to buy his property. I mean, this shows you how day late and a dollar short this fool is. Marv Heemeyer tried not to take it personally. It was just business. And he knew that Cody Docheff had a flair for the dramatic. Marv had heard that Cody faked his suicide after he went bankrupt by jumping off a windmill. Marv wasn't falling for the act.
Cody Docheff, on the other hand, has denied that the confrontation with Marvin Hemeier ever occurred. Also, Gus Harris, who was at the auction with Cody, confirmed they'd never talked to the man. Not even a hello. Perhaps Marv Hemeier is an unreliable narrator. In his version of the story, Marv never mentioned that years after the auction, he agreed to sell that same lot of land to the Docheffs for $250,000.
When the family accepted the offer, according to the Docheffs, Kiemeyer promptly changed his mind and raised the price to $375,000. The Docheffs couldn't afford to pay that much, so they offered a trade of land instead. Marv agreed, but only if they built him a new building upon it for a total value of more than $1,000,000.
I just think he sets things up to the point where you have to say no. Susie Docheff, Cody's wife, later told Sky High News, He probably sets you up to say no just so he could get mad at you. The Docheff family didn't get mad. They just changed their plans. Instead of dealing with Marv Hemeier and his unreasonable costs and requests,
The Docheffs eventually purchased the land adjacent to Heemeyer's shop. And in 1999, they propositioned the town of Granby to rezone the area to industrial from residential and light commercial. The Docheffs would build a mountain park concrete batch plant next to Marv's muffler shop if the town agreed. Marv Heemeyer did not like this idea at all. First of all, he alleged the dust and noise generated by the plant would be unhealthy and unbearable for anyone living or working nearby.
Second, the plant would block access to Marv's business. People driving by would not even be able to see his shop from the road. The concrete plant would destroy his livelihood, Marv argued.
The hardened libertarian and outspoken free market capitalist was aghast that someone would inconvenience him to make a buck. He rallied neighbors, organized a petition, and spoke out in opposition at the Granby Planning Commission's public hearings. Marv Hemeyer fought the rezoning every step of the way. And he lost.
In 2001, Granby's planning commission approved the Docheff's rezoning request. But Marv Hemeier wouldn't give up that easily. The muffler man sued the town of Granby, the Docheffs, and the town's board of trustees for improperly approving the concrete plant. Most of Marv's arguments were based on legal minutia. For instance, he claimed that the lack of a mayor's signature on the rezoning plans invalidated the entire project. That's what he was pinning his hopes on.
And to make things more interesting, as the ever-expensive lawsuit progressed, Marv Heemeyer was involved in a different battle. Back in '92, just after Marv bought the land at auction, the town of Granby requested that he hook up his new property to the town's sewer and water line and that he pay for it out of pocket. Unfortunately, the new pipes were 60 feet away from Marv's property. To build a line from his place to the town's pipes would cost $85,000.
So naturally, Marv Heemeyer refused. However, there was one other way Marv could have connected to the town sanitation district. It was a far more affordable option too. Marv just needed permission from his neighbors, the Docheffs, to build an easement under part of their property. The Docheffs told Marv Heemeyer that they would allow it if he dropped a lawsuit. Again, Marv Heemeyer refused.
Instead, Marv decided to pay the fines for every day that his property was not connected. He wrote a check for $3,351 to the town of Granby. On the check's memo line, he addressed it to the Cowards and Liars Department. To add insult to injury, in April 2002, Marvin Hemeier's lawsuit against the town of Granby, et al., was dismissed.
Judge Richard Doucette ruled that Granby's board of trustees had not acted improperly during the concrete plant approval process. Marv Heemeyer loses again. He also lost tens of thousands of dollars pursuing the matter. Marv claims his lawyer milked him for everything it was worth but refused to appeal. Marv claims his lawyer told him that he did not want to upset the judge.
That same judge, according to Marv, had fought against the Docheffs' concrete plant when it was proposed to be built in his backyard. Judge Doucette's ruling ensured that the Docheffs would build the plant somewhere else. After that, it wouldn't be his problem anymore.
This whole thing had been a setup from the beginning, Marv thought. It was one big, good old boys club, and he wasn't in it. He should have known. It had taken embarrassingly too long to realize. It all started back in 92, when Mayor Dick Thompson refused to let him connect to the town's sewer line.
He might have harbored hate for that family ever since. In fact, after Dick Thompson died, Marv asked one of the Thompson sons to compensate him $300,000 of the inheritance. That's the amount Marv estimated Dick Thompson's decision had cost him over the years. And he basically confirmed in my mind right there that he knew what I was talking about. And he knew what had been done. Because he had one thing to say. He screamed it at me as I'm about five truck lengths away.
He screamed, you can suck my dick! That's all the confirmation Marv Heemeyer needed. This whole thing was an elaborate scheme against him. Just because the Granby Town elite were pissed off that he bought that plot of land all those years ago, Marv Heemeyer felt that he had done everything he could to accommodate their demands. He even drove to California to buy a bulldozer to build his own road. And after all these years, Marv Heemeyer couldn't let it go.
He couldn't let it go because they never let it go. The board of commissioners, the Docheffs, the Thompsons, they were all corrupt, Marvad decided. It seemed like everyone in town was intent on screwing him over. And guess what? They did. They won. The concrete plant was being built. So, congratulations everybody.
Marvin Heemeyer was defeated in the end. They think that I should have to stay down there in Granby. I should have kept my muffler shop going. I should have put up with all the dust, all the snickers. You know, the town council, I'd pass them in the post office and they'd snicker at me after they knew I lost.
In 2003, Marv Hemeyer suddenly closed his muffler business in Granby and organized an auction of his own. Everything must go. The jet skis, the land, the bulldozer, the backhoe. If the people of Granby really wanted to rid themselves of Marv and Hemeyer, here was their chance. Everything sold. Everything. Except the land and the bulldozer.
If they would have bought it at that auction for $450,000, I would have walked away. But there wasn't one bit. It was a sign from God, Marv decided. A sign that maybe he shouldn't just walk away from this. Maybe he should stick it out in Granby just a little while longer to get even for what had been lost. Maybe he should give the town of Granby and everyone in it a taste of their own medicine for once.
There used to be a time when I could withstand these types of losses. I could never afford them. You can never afford to lose money. You can withstand it and you can recover sometimes. Most of the time I looked at it that way it was because I was young and I was strong and I could go out and physically do the work.
I'm 52 now. I can't do it. I can't withstand it. I can't recover. We're talking about losing $300,000, which, along with the sale of the property, would have been my retirement, would have let me go on to do other things to make more wealth.
But when you take 10 years of my life away and just piss it down the drain and are happy about it and ecstatic about it, no. I've taken all I can take. How I react, yes, it's a reaction. That's how it's supposed to be. That's how God built me, you know. It is not my fault. What that one guy say, those...
who made me your enemies or enemy those who made me your enemy they are the guilty ones the Thompsons are guilty the Dochefs are guilty the Granby town board is guilty the Granby planning commission is guilty my neighbors are guilty it took all of you 10 years
to get me and you got me no doubt about it I got screwed big time we talked today about it to Dave Patner he knows I got fucked and he knows that they do it and they get away with it there's nothing you can do about it he says well I'm going to do something about it it may only change people for a generation maybe two may not change them at all maybe make them worse that's the way it's supposed to be and that's the way it will be
God's will be done through me. Support for Swindled comes from Rocket Money. Most Americans think they spend about $62 per month on subscriptions. That's very specific, but get this, the real number is closer to $300. That is literally thousands of dollars a year, half of which we've probably forgotten about.
I know I'm guilty, but thankfully, I started using Rocket Money. They found a bunch of subscriptions I'd forgotten all about and then helped me cancel the ones I didn't want anymore. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so that you can grow your savings. With Rocket Money, I have full control over my subscriptions and a clear view of my expenses.
I can see all of my subscriptions in one place. And if I see something I don't want, Rocket Money can help me cancel it with a few taps. Rocket Money will even try to negotiate lower bills for you by up to 20%. All you have to do is submit a picture of your bill and Rocket Money takes care of the rest. They'll deal with customer service for you. It's a dream.
Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's features. Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash swindled. That's rocketmoney.com slash swindled. rocketmoney.com slash swindled.
I mean, I wept at times trying to understand why this was happening to me. And to do what I had to do to make these people listen, to learn, was just above me. And when I realized that one day when I was sitting in the hot tub and I mean, I was I was weeping.
In the summer of 2003, Marvin Heemeyer had an epiphany while sitting in the hot tub at his home in Grand Lake, 16 miles north of Granby.
Suddenly everything made sense. The reason he hadn't ever gotten married. The reason he never had kids. The reason his father had recently died. The reason his girlfriend left him. The reason he found himself alone again. Why did Marv Hemeyer spend his life acquiring and honing these mechanical skills? How come no one bought the bulldozer or the land where it sat?
Why had that Komatsu D-335A dozer fit so perfectly into his building? To Marv, these weren't insignificant coincidences. It fit through that door so tight you almost had to grease it to get it in there. Why did that particular dozer fit in the building? Why had I not bought one of the D-9s?
at that Fresno auction. It doesn't make any sense. You know, a D9's got more horsepower. It's probably more dependable than a Komatsu. If I'd have bought one of them, I'd have never gotten in that building because they were much taller than the Komatsu was.
So I'm thinking, well, this is good. I get it inside. Now I can build it. Must be what I'm supposed to do. What Marvin Hemeyer was supposed to do, he concluded, was modify his Kamatso bulldozer into an 85-ton killing machine and then use that machine to repay everyone in Granby that had done him wrong.
I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable, Hemeier wrote in a note. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things. The Thompsons, the Dochefs, everyone who sat on the Granby planning board, the Catholic Church, they were all on Marv Hemeier's handwritten list of targets. So was Patrick Brower, the editor and publisher at the local paper, the Sky High News.
Marv Hemeyer thought Mr. Brower was a big, liberal, pothead army brat who had everything in life handed to him. Ever since they disagreed about the legalized gambling proposition in the early 90s, Hemeyer felt Brower had it out for him. The sky-high news had covered the Granby rezoning issue and Hemeyer's opposition to the concrete plant in thorough detail. Of course, Marv blamed a wider conspiracy for why the newspaper treated his position so unfavorably.
But none of that mattered anymore. There was no time left for reflection or reconciliation. God wanted this to be done. So it would be done. Marvin Hemeyer was merely a vessel for his will. I think God will bless me to get the machine done, to drive it, to do the stuff that I have to do up to a point. And then the machine will do one or two or three times. You're either going to blow me right off the fucking streets or...
I'm going to have a heart attack and die because I'm all pumped up. The machine's going to break. Or maybe, maybe it'll go all day and I'll run out of fuel. I don't know. I got a lot of fuel in that thing, let me tell you.
For the next year and a half, Marv essentially lived in his shop. He set up a cot, a television, an air conditioner, a refrigerator, and a stove. He left his truck in Omaha and rented a van so the neighbors wouldn't recognize his comings and goings. He slept during the day and worked through the night. No one had a clue.
Marv used a homemade lift to elevate and weld together sheets of half-inch thick reinforced steel. Homemade concrete was sandwiched between those plates to create an impenetrable suit of armor. All the vital mechanisms of the bulldozer were protected. Marv Heemeyer made sure that nothing short of a missile would be able to stop his homemade tank. Heemeyer also gutted the inside of the dozer to install storage compartments, fans to keep him cool, and a wooden desk that served as a control center.
Mounted to the desk were a set of video monitors that were connected to four cameras attached to the outside. Hiemeyer planned to use the video feed for visibility, since all the windows and doors would be covered with steel. The cameras were protected by 3-inch shields of bulletproof polycarbonate. They were also outfitted with compressed air nozzles to blow away any dust, debris, or blood that might obstruct the operator's view.
The final touches of Marv Hemeyer's MK tank, as he called it, included three gun ports that housed three rifles, one for the front, one for the back, and one on the right side. The guns would be used to shoot anything that tried to stop his progress. It was a shame it had come to this, because it's not what Marv and Hemeyer wanted to do, it's just what he had to do. It's what they had been doing to him for years.
All the lies, the secrecy. You never truly know what's going on behind closed doors. Two can play that game. People ask me, what am I doing? Oh, I'm not doing anything. I spent the whole summer of 2003 in that friggin' building. Lived there without a shower for as much as four days at a time. Working on that dozer. Getting it prepared to do what I have to do.
If Marvin Hemeyer got caught building the dozer, he would have accepted it. Things only happen if they are supposed to happen, Marv believed. In fact, when he sold his shop and the land in November 2003, Marv's plan was nearly discovered. The new owners and their insurance agent toured the facility but didn't notice the massive armor-plated bulldozer hidden behind a tarp.
The fact that he wasn't caught only made Marv more steadfast in his plans. This was supposed to happen. All systems go. All signs pointed to the same road. Main Street, USA. Granby, Colorado. I couldn't believe it when they walked out the door. I'm safe. How come they didn't catch me? It was right there under their nose. Well, I wasn't supposed to get caught.
Not yet. Maybe I will. Maybe this whole thing will come to stop early. That's the way it's supposed to be. I will accept that. They took away my life. They took away my future. They took away my hope. They took away any desires that I had. I cannot operate in a community of people that does that to their neighbors. I wasted
13 years of my life down there because the Thompsons were pissed off that I bought that property. You put yourself in my shoes and tell me how you would feel at 50 years old realizing that you've wasted 10 years of your life because of someone's malice
Because of their jealousy, because of their greed, because of their hate. Marvin Hemeyer kept notes of his progress and astonishment that all the figurative planets had aligned to make it possible. After roughly 18 months, he completed the build. On April 13, 2004, Marvin Hemeyer spent hours speaking his manifesto into a tape recorder. Less than 60 days later, the deed would be done. I am the co-captain of my life.
God is first, I am second. Okay? This is where He's taken me. This is where you have tried to control my life. You have tried to be the captain of my life. You do not run my life. You do not determine my income. You do not determine what I desire, what I want, what I deserve. I determine that, and my God determines that. Not you people. No people do that. If they do...
then you're a slave to them. I am not a slave to man. I am a slave to God. And I am a slave to what God tells me I should have. And that's why we are where we are. Let's stop here.
This is tape three. It's about 9:10 or 5:00 on the 13th of April 2004. I want to say that I believe that I am an American patriot. I believe in the free enterprise system. I believe in a level playing field of competition. If you want to change that level playing field of competition to your advantage, basically you give me license
to do that also when my opportunity comes around. You have given me license through your example to do what I need to do. That, when I do this, that levels the playing field in my favor. So now we've got a lopsided playing field because when I come back at you, I'm going to destroy your side of the playing field. I'm going to destroy you.
I'm going to take you on by myself. It's the only way I know how to do it. I'll be dead when it's over, but that's my conviction. And for the people that are out there that hear this, that can stand listening to it, please pray for me, pray for my soul. I believe that I'm doing the right thing. I know I shouldn't have given you the benefit of the doubt. I should have learned that people are ultimately corrupt.
I didn't, I guess. I'm going to have to die with it. Because I'm telling you, I will not live with it. Anyway, hey, I hope you all have a great time, a good life. I've had a great life. And it's Saturday morning, 22nd of May, 2004. And I'm going to put this tape recorder in a plastic bag with somebody else and try to figure it out.
We'll see you later. On the wet and gray morning of Friday, June 4th, 2003, Marvin Hemeyer stuffed his audio manifesto cassette tape collection into an envelope and mailed it to his brother back in South Dakota. Then he returned to his shop and climbed aboard the bulldozer. Once inside, Marv used the homemade lift to lower the carefully crafted armored shell. There was no way out. There was no way in.
Regardless of what happened next, the Killdozer would serve as Marvin Hemeier's tomb. You know, the ignition didn't always work properly. What if the Dozer failed to start? There Marv would be, stuck in the shop, unable to move, starved to death in a matter of weeks.
They'd probably find him eventually, Marv reckoned. They would force their way in somehow, and there he would be, surrounded by the empty cans of Slimfast he had packed for the trip, sitting in his own feces. Could this be Marv and He-Meyer's destiny? He turned the key to find out. He knew it. This was supposed to happen.
A little after 3 p.m., Marvin Hemeier crashed his bulldozer through the east side of the shop where he had modified it and headed straight towards his neighbor's property, Mountain Parks Concrete. Marv rammed the administrative building repeatedly until the roof collapsed in on itself. Not a second thought was given as to who was inside.
The company's owner, Cody Docheff, reportedly fought back courageously. He got behind the wheel of a front-end loader and tried to block Marv's path, but Docheff's machine was no match for Heemeyer's tank. And when Marv started shooting at him through the portholes, Cody aborted mission and watched his business get systematically torn apart. Something is taking place here.
Heemeyer had moved on to the Mountain Park's concrete batch plant about 200 yards away when Grand County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene. They opened fire on the dozer with high-powered rifles. The attack was completely ineffective.
The ricocheting bullets did grab Marv Hemeyer's attention though. He pointed the killdozer at a concrete barrier where the state troopers shooting at him had taken cover. Luckily those troopers were able to escape before Hemeyer plowed through it.
Marv Hemeyer crashed through another concrete barrier en route to Highway 40, and he crushed several police vehicles on his way out for good measure. Bravely, Grand County Undersheriff Glenn Treanor climbed the 13-foot tall dozer as it trudged through a grocery store parking lot. Hemeyer had preemptively covered the armor in grease to prevent something like this from happening, but it didn't work. Treanor clung to the top of the tank as it slowly made its way towards downtown Granby.
Atop the tank, Glenn Traynor desperately searched for a way to stop the machine. He emptied rounds into every piece of exterior equipment that looked important. He also dropped a flashbang grenade in the dozer's exhaust pipe. Nothing happened. The killdozer continued on its way.
As many as 40 law enforcement officers arrived at the scene. Some walked alongside the tank, others drove behind it. Media outlets were set up across the street and in the sky to get a shot of the destructive parade. But yeah, I can see it now. You know what? It looks like a locomotive. He's got so much stuff on it. He's got a stack on the front for the exhaust to come out. He's got gun turrets. He's even got the tracks covered up. I mean, this guy...
Like I said, somebody spent months and months and months to make this vehicle to do exactly what he's doing. It was one of the most high-tech things I've ever seen. I wasn't expecting to see pretty much a tank driving down the streets of Granby. When Marv Hemire reached Granby Town Hall, which housed the Granby Town Library, he did not know that a children's program was in progress behind those walls, nor did he care.
Heemeyer tore into the west side of the building and worked his way around the back, destroying everything he touched, including a playground. At this point, undersheriff Traynor had abandoned his position atop the dozer. The debris falling from Heemeyer's carnage proved too dangerous. The machine was unstoppable. The county sent out a reverse 911 call to all residents in the area with orders to evacuate.
After completely destroying the town hall, Marv Heemeyer returned to the highway with cinder blocks and rubble decorating his dozer's roof. He made a beeline for the Mountain Park's electric building where two former town board members worked. Marv drove the bulldozer through the main entrance just to say hello. Heemeyer proceeded to Agate Avenue, Granby's main street, with slight detours to demolish a builder's office, a bank, and multiple automobiles along the way.
The police tried using armor-piercing ammunition to disable the machine. No luck. Next, Hemeier tore through the sky-high news building. Editor Patrick Brower and a colleague Harry Williamson were still inside. Fortunately, the two men were able to exit in time through the back door. They watched from afar as Marvin Hemeier, who had not yet been publicly identified, maneuvered the giant dozer in and out of the newsroom. There wasn't much left of it when he was done.
T. Myers' next stop was Thompson and Sons Excavating, the family business of former Granby Mayor Dick Thompson.
Next door to their shop was the family residence where Dick's 82-year-old widow still lived. Marvin Hemeyer bulldozed everything they owned. To this moment, can you give us an idea of the damage that this man has caused so far in the town? Yeah, it looks like he drove through the cement plant, drove through a concrete form plant, completely wiped out town hall, and then took out the newspaper office. And now he's attacking Xcel Energy's gas office.
Marv then turned his attention to the XO Energy headquarters nearby while he reorganized the exterior of that building. The emergency response team positioned an industrial scraper in front of Marv's only exit to try to block him in.
Marvin Hemeyer's monster pushed the piece of equipment aside easily. Go ahead. Yeah, we've got a scraper at the candy shops and I've got one down here if you want to try to box him in. Well, I asked for him to get him up here two minutes ago. Let's go. Okay. Next, the Grand Lake Fire Chief sprayed propane into the killdozer's air intake. The hope was that the engine would overheat and blow up, but there was no reaction at all.
Marvin Hemeyer then traveled down a dirt service road and descends to the hill to position himself in front of the propane tanks at the Independent Gas Facility.
He aimed his .50 caliber rifle through the porthole and pulled the trigger, but missed every shot he took. He might have changed plans and directions and headed back into town, but with a noticeable limp.
Black smoke was now billowing out of the killdozer's exhaust pipe. It was a welcome sight for the local law enforcement agencies who had just tried to request assistance from the American military.
Hey, if you're just joining us, it's now 5 o'clock. This is News 4 at 5. This story's been developing since about 3 o'clock. This is file tape of a man who's got into some bulldozer that he's made into a makeshift armored covered bulldozer, and he's damaged or destroyed half a dozen buildings in Granby, a town of about 1,500, about 50 miles west of Denver in Grand County. So far, we're hearing no one's been injured, but that has not been confirmed. The next target on Marvin Hemeyer's list was the Gamble's Hardware Store.
The owner of the store said on the Granby Town board, Marvin Hemeyer wasn't a fan. So he crushed into the west side of the Gambles building, leaving a trail of hydraulic fluid and antifreeze behind. What Marv Hemeyer didn't realize was that the Gamble store had a basement, in which the Killdozer's treads were now stuck. Then the engine failed, trying to power it out. After 2 hours and 17 minutes, the rampage was over.
Marvin Hemeyer reached for his gun and shot himself through the roof of his mouth. The authorities surrounding the dozer heard the muffled pop but didn't want to get too close. Anybody who could pull off this kind of stunt was certainly capable of a booby-trapped encore. They needed to take precautions. After hours of waiting, around 10.40 p.m. that night, a SWAT team attached explosive charges to one of the dozer's tracks.
The goal was to make it immobile, just in case the man inside was still alive. 15 minutes later, another explosive was detonated against the left side of the bulldozer, but it was unable to penetrate the armor. An hour later, they tried again with no success. Then finally, at 2 a.m., authorities breached the cabin using a cutting torch. They found Marvin Hemire dead inside. He was wearing a button-up Hawaiian shirt.
From Colorado's News Leader, this is 9 News Saturday Morning. Officials in Grand County say the man who was behind the wheel in a bulldozer rampage is dead. Sheriff in Granby says that Marvin Hemeier was behind the wheel during a 90-minute rampage in that fortified bulldozer.
In the cabin with Hemeyer, police found a back brace, a box of band-aids, and two plastic jugs of water. There were also paper towels, a pair of pliers, a gas mask, unopened cans of milk chocolate Slim Fast, and a gun on the floor. A crane was used to remove Marvin Hemeyer's body out of his creation at 10:30 a.m. that morning. Later that afternoon, the killdozer was loaded onto a trailer and hauled away.
There was a traffic jam of cars trying to get a glimpse. The machine was eventually dismantled at the Grand County Road and Bridge facility in Fraser, Colorado. Granby officials wanted to avoid making it a tourist attraction or have parts of it circulated as souvenirs.
Almost immediately, defenders of Marv Heemeyer had come out of the woodwork. Zero people were killed in the incident, which some pointed to as an example of Marv and Heemeyer's good intentions. Ian Daughtry, a bakery owner in Granby, said that Heemeyer, quote, "...went out of his way not to harm anyone. He was just trying to teach the town a lesson, and many agreed with his sentiment."
But those in Marv Heemeyer's path of destruction knew there was no mercy in his acts. Heemeyer fired bullets at police officers, at Cody Docheff, at propane tanks in hopes that they would explode. He demolished houses and buildings without warning. Marvin Heemeyer certainly tried to kill people. He had just failed to do so. But in total, 13 buildings had been destroyed. $7 million in estimated damages.
Property owners chose their words carefully when describing the attack in public. It was a criminal act, they said, not terrorism. Otherwise, insurance wouldn't cover the repairs. Other businesses discovered that they were underinsured. A few people were now unemployed.
But the town of Granby came together to help out. A community relief fund generated more than $200,000 from selling t-shirts with the crossed out illustration of the killdozer and from selling calendars featuring local women in the nude.
The state of Colorado also contributed $600,000 to rebuild the town hall and library. The town's going to come back better and stronger than it was before Hemeyer took his drive, said Granby Mayor Ed Wing. That's going to be the sweetest revenge of all.
By the summer of 2006, the town of Granby had rebuilt almost everything destroyed in the rampage. However, the Gamble's hardware store did not return to its original location until 2017. Casey Farrell, the owner of the store, said Marvin Hemeier changed the town forever. People are not as trusting, he told the Boston Globe. It tended to harden people. It has also inspired people.
Marvin Hemeyer's memory is kept alive by far-right groups who've deemed him a martyr. To them, Hemeyer is the prime example of a man who stood up for his rights, a true American patriot, goatee and all. You can buy t-shirts with Marv Hemeyer quotes on them. You can join a dozen different Facebook fan club groups. The spirit of Marvin Hemeyer is alive and well in the United States of America.
Who knows? One day it might even arrive at your front door. It still looks like a tornado tore through Swiegel's Port Angeles neighborhood. Houses ripped from their foundation, a truck crushed, debris everywhere. Police say Swiegel aimed his bulldozer at the house of a neighbor while she was still inside, angry over a property line dispute.
Swindled is written, researched, produced, and hosted by me, a concerned citizen, with original music by Trevor Howard, a.k.a. The Former, a.k.a. Hot Tub Epiphany. For more information about Swindled, you can visit swindledpodcast.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at swindledpodcast. Or you can send us a postcard at P.O. Box 6044, Austin, Texas 78762. But please, no packages. We do not trust you.
Swindled is a completely independent production, which means no network, no investors, no bosses, no shadowy money men, no slim fast. And we plan to keep it that way. But we need your support. Become a valued listener at patreon.com slash swindled or on Apple Podcasts.
For as little as $5 a month, you will receive early access to new episodes and exclusive access to bonus episodes that you can't find anywhere else. And everything is 100% commercial free. Become a valued listener on patreon.com slash swindled or on Apple Podcasts. Or if you want to support the show and need something to wear well...
riding your snowmobile. Consider buying something you don't need at swindledpodcast.com slash shop. There are t-shirts, patches, hats, hoodies, posters, coffee mugs, and more. swindledpodcast.com slash shop. And remember to use coupon code CAPITALISM to receive 10% off your order. If you don't want anything in return for your support, you can always simply donate using the form on the homepage. Don't forget to check out swindledvideo.com. That's it. Thanks for listening.
My name is Raina from British Columbia, Canada. My name is Stephanie Amandarez from Houston, Texas. My name is Perry James from Charlotte, North Carolina. And I am a concerned citizen and a valued listener. Oh my gosh, I messed it up! Well, I guess I'm just going to have this one on there. But I'm a concerned citizen and a valued listener. ♪
Thanks to SimpliSafe for sponsoring the show. Protect your home this summer with 20% off any new SimpliSafe system when you sign up for Fast Protect Monitoring. Just visit simplisafe.com slash swindled. That's simplisafe.com slash swindled. There's no safe like SimpliSafe.