Episode Notes
AI TRUE CRIME: KILLDOZER
On June 4, 2004, Marvin Heemeyer entered an armored Komatsu bulldozer and began systematically destroying buildings in Granby, Colorado. The attack was the culmination of years of property disputes, failed negotiations, code violations, lawsuits, and increasingly obsessive grievances. Although Heemeyer fired at people and struck buildings that had been occupied moments earlier, nobody else died.
In this episode, AI True Crime examines the disputes that preceded the attack, the secret construction of the machine, Heemeyer’s recorded claims of divine approval, the two-hour rampage, and the internet mythology that transformed an attempted mass-casualty attack into a story about a working-class folk hero.
Twenty years after the attack, Denver7 reconstructs the rampage through interviews with residents, law-enforcement officers, and people whose buildings were targeted.
Patrick Brower, former publisher of the Sky-Hi News and one of Heemeyer’s intended targets, discusses the attack and his book, Killdozer: The True Story of the Colorado Bulldozer Rampage.
Patrick Brower’s official Killdozer book site contains background material, photographs, interviews, and articles about the attack and its mythology.
Route Fifty examines the dispute, Heemeyer’s refusal to connect his property to an approved sewage system, and the lessons the case holds for local government.
https://www.route-fifty.com/management/2018/02/colorado-bulldozer-rampage-marvin-heemeyer/145747/
KUNC interviews Patrick Brower about the attack and the documentary Tread.
Tread, directed by Paul Solet, uses interviews, archival footage, dramatic recreations, and portions of Heemeyer’s recordings to recount the events leading to the rampage.
https://www.netflix.com/title/81206411
CBS Colorado interviews Brower about the release of his book and the continuing disagreement over whether Heemeyer should be remembered as a victim or an attacker.
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/new-killdozer-book-granby/
The Colorado government made up to $600,000 available to help Granby rebuild its town hall, library, and other public facilities after the attack.
https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2004/06/11/43069.htm
9News reports on the dismantling of the armored bulldozer. Its pieces were dispersed to prevent the machine from becoming a monument or source of souvenirs.
https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/infamous-granby-bulldozer-being-demolished/73-344748210
Patrick Brower examines how Killdozer imagery moved beyond internet folklore and became an anti-government and extremist symbol.
https://www.skyhinews.com/news/meme-inspired-by-heemeyer-becomes-extremist-rallying-cry/
HowStuffWorks provides an overview of the property dispute, the construction of the machine, the attack, and the competing stories that developed afterward.
https://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/killdozer.htm
Next time on AI True Crime: The Jessica Lal Murder.
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