DENVER – Wednesday marks 30 years since a man robbed the United Bank Tower in Denver, killing four bank guards and making off with an estimated $200,000 in a heist that remains unsolved.
The so-called “Father’s Day Bank Massacre” was covered widely in Denver and across the country. The robbery happened on the morning of June 16, 1991, with the gunman killing four unarmed security guards as he made his way through the bank.
He took evidence of his intrusion, then moved on to the vault, where he made employees cover their eyes while the vault manager filled a bag with cash. He locked other employees in a room and made his escape.
Three weeks after the robbery and murders, on July 4, a retired police officer, James King, was arrested for the crime. Inside his home, investigators found a map of the building’s interior and some fake IDs, but no physical evidence connected to the robbery.
King would be acquitted by a jury at trial and go on to live out the rest of his days in Golden, though he was surveilled by the FBI for years before he died in May 2013.
KMGH’s Julie Hayden and other reporters covered much of the case, from the initial days following the robbery and murder all the way through the trial. We jumped back into the KMGH archives to take a look at how the case developed.
You can also watch all of these stories on the free Denver7+ app on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Android TV.
Inside the investigation into the Colorado Father’s Day bank massacre
The search for a killer after Colorado bank massacre
Arrest made in Father’s Day bank killings
DA considers death penalty in Father’s Day bank massacre
Charges filed against bank massacre suspect
‘The presumption of innocence means the garb of innocence’
Jim King’s defense claims prosecution is ‘Trying the case in the media’
The aliases used by then-bank massacre suspect Jim King
Jury mulls verdict in bank massacre trial
Jim King acquitted in Father’s Day bank massacre
Colorado Father’s Day bank massacre: Defense in famous trial says case will remain unsolved
