Escaped Convict vs. Beer Empire: The Abduction of Adolf Coors III

0:00 Later that morning as a milkman out on deliveries approached the bridge, he realized that his path was blocked by an international travel all station wagon. Pretty fancy vehicle, but the milkman had places to be. People to see, milk to deliver. Gotta get that milk. That's right, so he honestly found this kind of annoying. Yeah. Yeah, he's like, um, this is like a one lane bridge. So... He honked, but the vehicle appeared to be abandoned. Hi Cassie.

0:40 Hi Caitlyn. Hi creepy people. Hello! This is PNW Haunts and Homicides, where we chat about true crime, the paranormal, spooky things, we're heading into spooky season! We are there! And just generally all things creepy in the Pacific Northwest. PNW, if you're nasty. And you are the nastiest, you know, we didn't say that last episode, we forgot. Yeah. So bad. It sounded me forget things. It is really sad. It is really sad. It happens on the daily. Yeah, I mean, I'm forgetting things all the time.

1:22 You know what we never forget? What? To do a tarot reading at the end of the episode, which we do in every episode? For just a little deeper insight into our topic. For the list? So true. So true. How could you forget tarot? I just, I don't even know. I can't fathom. You can't forget. No. Never forget. Yes. It's a sad thing. Oh man. Yeah, please don't hashtag anything that you're tagging us in with never forget. Yeah, I feel like that's probably a very different audience. A little problematic. Potentially. I'm just saying I think that probably those, it's just a different demographic possibly.

2:02 Yeah. Kind of the misuse of that term is problematic. So we never said it. Never happens. Yeah. We cut it out of the set of soon and it's gone. Anyway. You know what I want to forget? Probably what you're about to talk about. Oh yeah, no, definitely. So about that. So let it rip so that I can forget. Does that kind of rhyme? Yeah. There you go. I like it. Well, we ended up going to October fest down in Bend. And you're not even going to believe how unintentionally perfect the two cases that I've been working on kind of worked out to be.

2:46 Oh, for heading into spooky season. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying something October festy. Yes. Oh, it is. It's actually it's the perfect marriage and the timing couldn't have been better. So I guess. No, I'm not going to say thank you, COVID. Yeah, don't do that. But yeah, no, the timing is perfect because this is I think going to be our first episode for October. It is. Yeah. Starting it off right. But we went to October fest at the McMenamins down in Bend. And I was like, oh, this is going to probably come out around that same time.

3:28 Sweet. Weird. It's oddly appropriate. Okay. Today, I'm going to tell you about a disappearance that took place in the 1960s. Okay. Which is probably going to make these next few paragraphs seem kind of confusing. But I mean, you know, you just might want some of this background as we venture down the rabbit hole. I want all the background. Yeah. You know, how we love strange things about history and true crime and, of course, synchronicities. Yeah. Adolph Herrman Kohrs. Okay.

4:08 He scared me for like a second. Yeah, it's funny because I'm going to address that shortly. Okay. Adolph Herrman Kohrs was born in Germany in 1847. Wow. Yes. That's a long time before the 60s. Sure. Sure was. Yeah. I'm going to reference the most common spelling I was able to find because it's significant in regards to this man's name for more than one reason as fate would have it. So the complete spelling of his full name, Adol L P H.

4:49 Okay. So different spelling of Adolph. Herrman - which always comes out a little bit more French or anyways, H E R R M A N. I think that's how the other guy with that name spelled it too unfortunate, but what are you going to do? Common German names. K O H R S. Okay. That makes sense for German. Yes. Yes. Remember the spelling, okay. Significant. And not just because of the other Adolf.

5:31 At just 15, he began work as an apprentice at a brewery in Germany. Ooh. That would be really cool. I know. Good German brewer. Dream internship. There he learned how to make beer, run a brewery. Presumably how to compete in beer drinking competitions such as DAS BOOT. Yeah. The training is so intense. Intense. Sounds like really a pacific Northwest too with the brewery in the beer in the drinking. It does, right? It's very on brand for us. But as was the dream of many young people striving for more the world over, Adolph immigrated to the United States at age 21.

6:21 Drinking age. Perfect. I know the US. The drinking age was like, can you reach the bar top? He stood away on a ship headed to Baltimore, Maryland. Somewhere along the way he decided to embrace his new life by changing his surname to Coors with a C. Ooh. Which we know was fairly common for many European immigrants at this time, particularly those coming from Germany because, you know, the spelling of German and for that matter, a lot of Irish names. Very...

7:02 It was a dead giveaway. Immigrants weren't always super popular even though, what a really world. Anyways, before we get lost down that hole, he spoke very little English and didn't likely have a nickel to his name as he headed west. Much like Fievel. Is that like the mouse movie? Yeah, Fievel Goes West. For a second, I was like, oh God, I'm deeply embarrassed. She says I'm like such a dork. She doesn't know who Fievel is. You're still a dork and I do know who Fievel is. Whatever my friend Fievel and I are going to head out west. I don't know why, but I feel like that movie scared me.

7:43 Yeah, I feel like I remember there may be scary parts. But like I like scary things. I don't know why. I don't know why that movie would have like scared me. I don't know. I don't know. I have to rewatch it and then... Yeah. Maybe alarming realism. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. I got that one. He was in search of new opportunities in a yet untamed land. He arrived in Denver, Colorado in 1872 where he worked multiple jobs. Nearly without rest, he basically worked like six days a week, forever and ever, amen. Oh, what's that like? I know. Weird.

8:23 Yeah, I know. Weird. Saving money in the hopes of opening his very own brewery. Oh, I was going to say did he get to work at a brewery? So I mean, it's going to actually be better than that. It's going to be a lot better. In 1873, Adolph went into business with Jacob Schuller opening Golden Brewery. So he did one better than working at a brewery. Got some golden beer. Yeah. What are you saying about? I mean, aside from the name being Golden Brewery. It was Golden. I know, but... Oh, wait. Okay. By 1880, the company's name changed to course Golden Brewery, as Adolph bought out his business partner as the venture continued to flourish.

9:13 Ooh, how much should he buy his partner out for? I don't know. Oh, I don't know. Not in the detail that's important to the story. It's important to me. It's not. No, give it up. It's hard to imagine, but these are the humble beginnings of the beer now reserved for the final rounds of beer pong. Or for day drinking floats down the river in inner tubes. Coors light, Coors, light. Isn't the same Coors? It is the same Coors. So did he start off with that spelling or did it evolve over time? So the original surname of the family was the K-O-H-R-S.

9:55 And then he changed it to C-O-O-R-S when he came to America. Oh, okay. So you just said he changed it to a C. You didn't specify that. Yes. I know. Coors. I got Tricky on ya. I was going to ask you then. I was like, nah, show cover it. Yeah, she's going to cry on me. Ooh, okay. Adolph Coors. Adolph Coors. Adolph Coors. Coo. Coo. Coo. Coo. Coo. Coors dreamed of brewing the perfect beer. The backstory of this particular light-logger is far more flavorful than the modern day brew itself.

10:35 So watery, it almost seems predestined to be pissed directly back into a body of water by drunk teens. Mm-hmm. Ah. It's hydrating. It's going to say memories, but I don't know. I don't know that it really has that many memories for me. I'll bring it out. I don't care. But I digress. I still got a little bit of background to go and some of it is actually serious. Okay. Yeah. Not too serious. Eventually, in 1879, the successful entrepreneur married and started a family. So young man, actually, pretty successful entrepreneur and I think that's kind of cool.

11:20 I mean, it's unfortunately this stereotype of the American dream and pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, like, thinks a fucking lot for that. But this is like one of those, you know, it's old timey and like, ah, yeah, and beer and beer. Why didn't you get us cans of cures for today? I, yeah, I don't know. And is he doing some things? Drop in the ball. Drop in the beer. I could order us beer. Adolph and Louisa Weber-Coors, went on to have six children together. You might think that prohibition would have put the family business into a bit of a tight spot.

12:02 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Apparently, not so though. The Coors company simply pivoted to other products, producing cement, porcelain and malted milk, whatever the fuck that is, instead of their delicious cold, brood beer. Interesting. Yeah. I feel like malted milk would be like oat milk, you know? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. But I have no idea what it is. And it was the only little side tangent that I was like, I just, I literally don't care. I just think of like milk made from the grains from the malt. Yeah, maybe. So like oat milk. Like, yeah. I don't know. I'll Google it later.

12:42 All right. Let me address the elephant in the room. Is he with me? No. The name Adolph probably doesn't have the most positive of connotations for most people. However, this particular man died in 1929. Just in case he was still confused, thinking that perhaps he was tied to that other Adolf in some way. His history can be so confusing. Also for reference, that other Adolf spelled his name with an F and had only relatively recently been released from prison.

13:27 I get this is so wild. This is so wild. I think at one point I knew this and it was fully absorbed, but I had to kind of go back and do a little bit of like a history lesson. Okay. The other Adolph, the one that he who shall not be named, had only recently been released from prison just in time for his rise to power that everyone wishes they had a time machine for by the time this Adolf, our Adolph with the pH died. Okay. Okay. Basically the timeline is 1929, he gets out of prison and then immediately is like, I am going to start shipping people off in trains and do all of the worst.

14:16 Just that's my thing. Just wanted to be clear. There's no relation there. Okay. Good. Likes. Leaving the family business in the capable hands of his three sons, eventually what began as a passion for brewing turned the course family into. M-m-m-m-m millionaires. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. That's cool. That's a lot of money back then. Yeah. Y'all. What are they now? Trasillionaires? Oh, I don't know. They're part of that like class of wealth. It just feels like it shouldn't exist. Yeah. Adolph Jr. would go on to pass the business down again to his son.

15:00 Adolph Herrman Joseph Coors III. Wow. Yeah, it's a lot of names. A lot of Adolphs. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they kept going with that too. I'm going to say. You think it would. I think they got up to the fifth. Oh. And I'm like, hey guys. But did you hear? Yeah. That sucks though. Because it's like, it's not the name. It's a family name. It's not the same name. And it's not exactly. But like, of course, anyone's going to think automatically. Right. They're like, well, the pronunciation, my ears don't know how to spell. He went by ads. What? My ear started to spell.

15:43 I was like, I was like, I don't know if I-- It got me in the funny bone. Okay. Good. It was like a late reaction with those funny-- I was like, what just happened? He went by ad rather than his whole name. Gina, what do I-- He was the heir to the Coors brewing fortune based in Golden Colorado and grandson of the original owner, son of Adolph Coors's junior born January 15, 1915. He was educated at the finest schools, including Cornell, his father's alma mater.

16:25 Wow. Oh, thanks. Yeah, I just made me think of Andy. Yes. Like-- Hey, Tuna. His staggering list of exploits included serving as the Quill and Dagger Society President. An athletic tenure as a semi-pro baseball player. And joining Kappa Alpha as a frat member in his college days-- of course he's a frat boy. Beer kind of makes sense. Actually, we're going to come back to that. Oh, because you're not even going to believe there's so many funny little factoids in this. Did he invent the beer bong?

17:08 No. Don't hurt it. I know. If that guy gets murdered, we will cover it for sure. Does this guy get murdered? What? No. You spoiled the ending. I mean, did I, though? Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you. Did I, though? OK. It would be weird to join as a married man, because he joined a frat in college. We started chatting in between now and then, but I was going to say, because it would be weird to join a frat as a married man. It would be. In his later years. Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, that was just like a fun little thought that I had when I was writing up the notes.

17:50 Yeah. He joined in college, because that's when you do it. Yeah. Although they did make a Will Ferrell movie about that very premise in the early arts. Old school. Yeah. Also involved a lot of beer. Love that. Yeah. My boy, Blue. My boy, Blue. I'm going to die, baby. He met Mary or Cart Grant and the pair married in November of 1940 and had four children. He took over the company at 45 years old, which apparently was pretty young to be at the helm. Oh. And I'm like, didn't pay boy. I pray. I want younger back then.

18:31 That's a nice thinking. Any. I think the more surprising tidbit is a fun fact that he was allergic to beer. That is so unfortunate. No. Your father's passion passed down from your grandfather who immigrated from Germany after interning with, I can assume, only the finest of beer makers. You're allergic to beer. Shit. Yeah. I think you can only head a successful brewing company in that case if your grandpa was the one that founded it, because that seems like it should probably be an automatic disqualification of the wine.

19:21 Right. Yeah. I'm sorry. We can't let you head this beer company because you would die if you drink a product. Yeah. Good thing it was already like taste tested flavors. Yeah. Right. He didn't have to keep producing new beers and tasting them. Yeah. Yeah. That sucks, dude. Do you think he was like gluten intolerant or whatever? Like allergic to gluten? I don't know. I mean, could have been that. To make a gluten free beer. Yeah. Could be-- I mean, it could be so many things that they put in beer or-- Yeah. Yeah. Back then, they couldn't really probably test-- Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that allergy testing was super advanced.

20:03 Yeah. More existed. Or hold on, this is a funny thought. Do you think he was like, oh, this makes me feel funny and throw up. I must be allergic. He just like didn't know how-- Interesting thought. How perfect. He just was like, I don't know, I'm trying to drive this stuff. I don't feel that good. It's like, well, you're doing it too much. Yeah. Do less. How did he realize he was allergic? I don't know. That's so weird. I'm not really sure what his reaction was. It's an interesting thought. Anyway, you're probably wondering when we're going to get back to that disappearance? I was just talking about-- Yeah.

20:45 It was a while back. Or the murder thing you casually mentioned. I mean, I feel like the murder is implied oftentimes. But anyone who-- Excuse me for getting caught up in the October fest lives. I'm getting to it right now. It's a matter of five. On the day of his disappearance, ad followed his normal morning routine as he always had. With a workout, shower, and coffee with his wife. Finally, he tended to their horses before leaving for work. That's right. Even though this was a long time ago on horses where something that probably a lot more people could have, they had horse money.

21:28 Horse money, guys. They're horse money, Rich. They don't need horses for work in the land or transportation. They're just like, we just like them. We just want them. He grabbed a tan baseball cap and slipped on his favorite navy blue nylon jacket, like all the dads have worn forever. And he was out the door. The only deviation from his typical routine was that he had taken a slightly different route than usual when he left his house in Morrison, Colorado, at around 8 a.m. that morning. They placed him on a rural gravel road as his regular route was undergoing some repair work.

22:15 Oh, yeah. Always that construction going on. So much fucking construction. Next, and up your commute. Couldn't have done any of that when we were in lockdown, though, huh? [LAUGHS] That's fine. It was that same day, February 9, 1960, on a single lane bridge over Turkey Creek near his home, the ad suddenly went missing. Later that morning, as a milkman out on deliveries approached the bridge, he realized that his path was blocked by an international travel all station wagon. Oh, OK.

22:55 It's cool with the car. I'll show you the picture of it. I have it saved on me. That's top. I love station wagons. Really? I do. I want one. That's really weird. They look like herses. We've gone over this. Oh, yeah. I guess I have some vague look. I don't know what that is. OK. That makes sense. I feel like I have the same reaction back then. Like, what? Why do you want a mommy mobile? You-- where at all? Because you could put a battery in the back. Oh, well, but don't. Yeah, I mean, don't. Yeah, but maybe don't. I was speaking in terms of herses worth OK for the body to be like the body is supposed to be there.

23:40 Here's consent. It's so cool. I want one. Pretty fancy vehicle. But the milkman had place to be. People to see. Milk to deliver. Gotta get that meal. That's right. So he honestly found this kind of annoying. Yeah. He's like, um, this is like a one lane bridge. And so-- he honked, but the vehicle appeared to be abandoned. So the milkman moved the car. Noting a few things as he took in the scene. How did he move the car? Well, I'm going to explain. OK. Turns out he wasn't just seeing red. OK.

24:20 He was still a little bit-- he was a little annoyed. He also noticed there was a hat on the riverbank below, probably cursing it as he tried to hurry on. Still, he thought it was odd that the radio in the car had been left on and strangest of all. There were some chestnut colored stains on the bridge. OK. Sure a shit. You know, this was later confirmed to be blood. I-- yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's probably not cool. It's probably not cool. Nope. But put a pin in that for now. As his family, law enforcement and the public at large became aware that ad was missing, the manhunt that ensued became the largest up to that point in history.

25:11 Wow. Yeah. I mean, pretty famous guy, I assume. Exactly. Yeah. But I mean, now you see, it's like, OK, that's weird. Dude just leaves his car in the middle of this one lane road, leaves the keys in it. The radio's still on. There's a hat down below. OK. It's not good. Not just a look at it. Doesn't seem great. No. And that's exactly what the FBI thought, because they were officially on the case. Dang. That was fast. I know they were like, what's that, girl? And then they were there. They're just like teleported. Anyways, code name, core nap.

25:51 Really? Yeah. Did you name it that? No. It didn't. Dang. Core nap. What have? I'm going to take a core nap here in a minute. Right. A ransom note addressed to Mary postmarked February 9th at 3 p.m. arrived with a demand of $500,000. Wow. As it's typical of ransom letters, it laid out very specific instructions for the exchange of the ransom. Now, this is a little disjointed. And I think that I typed this out for myself without the things in it that made it very difficult to read.

26:34 But just the way that it's worded, everything about this, the way that it's worded, all of the mistakes and just awkward phrasing makes me want to punch my own face. But why can no one ever type ransom notes? I don't. They're always insane. Yeah. They're literally insane. Maybe because no sane person would make a ransom note. Yeah. And I feel like also, I don't know, maybe going after a grown man, like it's one thing to try to kidnap a kid because it's somebody you can very clearly overpower, I guess.

27:16 But like, I don't know. Just doesn't seem, I don't know. I don't know. OK, so, quote, "Bills used, non-consecative/unrecorded/unmarked, 200,000 intends and 300,000 in 20s." OK. It's interesting because they always have specific demands for the denominations of the bills. They want the small bills because large bills are conspicuous. Exactly. Z-Eckly.

27:56 You got a 50? You must have stole that. You must have stole that. $50 is basically like, you can't even go out for dinner for $50 anymore. Yeah. How do you? Back to this. Let's forget the capitalistic hellscape that we're living in. I'd love to. This was the common practice for kidnapper communications. And ad was to be placed in the paper, the Denver Post. It's always with the ads. I know, dude. That's just how it was done. Is there a class on how to kidnap?

28:37 No, I think sometimes it's like somebody just comes up with an idea and everybody else that does it afterwards is kind of like the way they did that. It's not worked out well because so many of these kidnappings that we've talked about have just ended so well. And I guess the warehouse are kidnapping. Yeah. That one. As kidnappings go, that one ended well. Not for the neighbors, but I mean, not for a lot of people. Yeah. Not not great. Okay. Of course, it also instructed the reader that they would know if the police were called. How would they know? Because they are the police.

29:18 Oh, plot twist. I know, right? They're gonna know. How would they know? They were like, we're gonna know. So further, the ransom note stated, understand this. Adolf's life is in your hands. We have no desire to commit murder. All we want is that money. If you follow the instructions, he will be released, unharmed within 48 hours after the money is received. Which is what everybody would hope for. Of course. Yeah. Tips quickly came into the FBI and local law enforcement, including multiple descriptions of a vehicle that had been seen numerous times, notably by that very bridge.

30:07 Almost like they were like testing things out. One in the whole flim flam, the scheme. Ooh. Ooh. I'm like kind of seeing what could have happened now. Yeah. It was a yellow mercury. That's very conspicuous. That's bright yellow. Exactly. Thanks to one particularly vigilant witness, they even had a partial plate. He stated it was a 1960 Colorado style plate. It read, "AT62." It may have been, "AT6205."

30:50 I'm not 100% sure about the last two numbers. But like, pretty good. If you can get somewhere between four and six digits of, I mean, I'll take it. Yeah. I'll take it. Yellow mercurys are there in, right? In even the whole state of Colorado. Hopefully not many, but I would think not many. Yeah. It is, what is it, the 60s, 70s? In the 60s, yeah. The leading alpha character, A, was the county designation for Denver. So, some license plate facts. The license plate sequence, "AT62 narrowed their field to four vehicles."

31:36 Wow. Yeah. And all were assessed as potential leads in the case. It was the vehicle that had been purchased just about a month prior to the disappearance that drew their attention, which was like, "Huh, interesting. The person who, you know, why don't you just throw up a yellow flag and be like, "That's me!" You guys, we have something really exciting to share with you. Let's hear a few words from our new pod besties. Hey guys, I'm Jamie D.B. And I'm Jake Debtula. We're the host of the True Crime Podcasts, Strickly Stalking. We're at T from Podcast One.

32:18 Each week, Strickly Stalking gives stocking survivors the platform to share their stories in their own words. Do you know why survivors refer to stalking as murder and slow motion? Have you ever felt like you were being hunted by a stranger? Would you know where to turn if a stocker was living in your house? And you didn't know? We're bringing you these stories to raise awareness about stalking and give you the resources to know what to do if you or someone you know is being stocked. So tune in to strictly stocking each week as we dive into the largely unknown crime of stalking. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite True Crime Podcasts. Check them out, creepy people.

32:59 Their info is in our show notes. As they went to track down the owner, it further seemed suspicious that he, Walter Osborne and Alias, had quickly moved. He quickly moved out of his apartment following the incident. No. He got caught the car like a month before the disappearance and then all of a sudden like, huh. So wait a second. You're telling me that this Adolph guy, he got kidnapped and then this guy moves out in like less than a week. He was going to move out anyway. Oh yeah. Planned in it for years. Totally. But say it for years.

33:42 The Prince found in this man's rental property matched Joseph Corbett Jr. who was already a convicted killer prior to his escape from a California prison. Holy shit. Yeah. He escaped. Uh huh. Y'all. And he'd get caught. Not right away. He had abruptly stopped showing up to work at Benjamin Moore following the kidnapping attempt as well. So like, buy the car a month before the kidnapping. As soon as the kidnapping happens, he moves. He's like, fuck it. I don't want to work here anymore, but he doesn't tell anyone.

34:22 Just stop showing up. I have questions. Yeah. How does an escaped convict murderer person get a job in an apartment and buy a car? Brosef. He's going by an Alias. It's the 1960s. Did they do not like check? I mean, what's there to check? He's presenting them with another identity. No. Okay. Well, that wouldn't help if he's giving a fake name. I don't know what to tell you, bro. Walter or Joseph, whatever it is you want to call him, left town the day after the kidnapping. He had also recently purchased a typewriter.

35:03 Hmm. Handcuffs. And a gun. Wow. Weird. Weird. So weird. Why the typewriter? You know, I wonder, wonder, maybe he's working on a research paper. Yeah. Totally. He's going to become a journalist. He's writing up his findings from his miraculous escape from prison. Yeah. Obviously. Writing a book. He is in it for the science. Okay. He disappeared leaving no trace of his whereabouts or that of Adolf. The kidnapper or kidnapper or kidnapper?

35:46 I'm sorry to say. You should know. You would think. The kidnapper or kidnappers never contacted the Coors family again following the ransom note. I only say that just because they had no idea who was responsible at the time, right? Yeah. So like, I know because obviously what would come to light about the kidnapper was cause for serious concern. I mean, other than the kidnapping. Yeah. You know, cause that's cause for concern.

36:26 But and major media hubbub because they're like, I'm sorry. Did you see this guy escaped? He has scoffed from a California prison and now he kidnapped someone in color. I don't know. Cool. That's intense, man. Very intense. Okay. So we're going to go back in time a little bit. Back in time. On January 13th, 1951, Corbet had been a student at the University of California. That was until his arrest when he was charged with the December 22nd, 1950 shooting death in a robbery of Air Force Sergeant Allen Lee Reed.

37:10 Wow. I don't know if you know this or not, but like if you kill people that are servicemen, law enforcement or in the military, they don't show waste. It's not good. No, they take it for a service. They take it pretty personally. Yeah. Sure do. Go figure. Corbet was arrested while driving a stolen car with a gun in his possession that matched the type used in the killing of the sergeant. Dude, you throw that in a creek. I mean, yeah, because they did have fingerprinting technology back then. So I listen. He is a, he is a, he's a whole boatload, a busload of red flags and bad decisions.

37:59 Not great over here. But his initial plea was not guilty. That's not my gun. No, I mean, I guess that's the move. He's just trying, you know, to not get in trouble. I was just driving with it in my lap. But it's not mine. It's not even mine. I'm not there. Yeah. He doesn't even go here. But Corbet eventually pled guilty to second degree murder. So this crime, Corbet had been sentenced to five years to life, which feels like a wildly broad range. But do you judge? I mean, for me to tell a judge what to do, which was to be served in San Quentin State prison.

38:47 Corbet was later transferred to a lower security section of California institution for men in Chino. Hmm. And she escaped along with another prisoner in August of 1955. Probably shouldn't have moved him. Yeah. That's what I was thinking. It's like, man, I mean, San Quentin isn't exactly like Alcatraz, but like, I don't think he heard like a ton of people escaping from there. Hmm. The southern one though. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Low security. All right. I wonder what would get you transferred to a low security. Like, do you just suck everyone's dick every day?

39:29 I'm like, I'm so nice and good. I don't know. So let's talk about the ransom notes more. That happened to be a source of some leads. The type written note had a unique watermark and unusual typewriter font. Hmm. Yeah. The typist also left two spaces in between sentences, as was the common practice back then. Also, maybe these days too, for those of us that are complete mouth-breathing savages. I literally don't know where you're talking about. In between sentences, you like leave two spaces instead of one. I've never been done that my whole life.

40:12 Why would you do that? Why would you hit a button more than you need to? But it's easier to read stuff. It's more profish. Or it that was the common practice. I am writing a book. I'm trying to write a book. So this guy is like, educated is what you're trying to say. Well, and also just like he is like familiar with typing, which doesn't seem significant, but also like nobody had computer classes back then. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And we took typing classes throughout like going to grade school and stuff. That wasn't a thing back then. And people had to learn how to use a typewriter.

40:55 Once they identified the particular model of typewriter used in the ransom note, a royal light, portable typewriter, they went to the two retailers in the area that sold it. So they're slowly due. And still you're thinking like, oh no. You know, this is the era of the typewriter. Like they're probably selling a few. Yeah. But a clerk at one of the stores actually recognized Joseph Corbett. The man was positive. He'd sold him that very make and model of typewriter. And it was a memorable purchase as he'd paid with cash. Oh. Did people? Which I feel like wasn't that remarkable back then, but I think typewriters were very expensive.

41:40 Oh. And I think it would have maybe been. This is also in an era where just grocery stores and large retailers, they took checks. Right. Yeah. What's a check? Stupid. Yeah. Anywho. But they didn't have plastic back then, right? Exactly. Yeah. I don't think credit cards were a common thing at that point. So the FBI publicized Joseph Corbett, Jr.'s description. X1 to 6'2 with brown hair, 160 to 170 pounds, thin and left handed. Hmm.

42:20 Literally, it could just be probably like 50% of the dudes in Colorado or anywhere else in the country for that matter. He had worked in paint manufacturing, was competent in typing, and dressed neatly for the most part. He was originally from Seattle, Washington, born October 25th, 1928. Now the man that had come up in the Seattle school system and even studied physics at the University of Washington had been placed on the top 10 most wanted list. Damn. How do you go from that to that? I know.

43:00 It's funny that you say that. I don't know, maybe we'll cut this, but with my next sentence, which to be clear, in case this is your first foray into true crime, this doesn't anything like the Forbes 30 under 30. It's not like that at all. Maybe you got them confused. Yeah. He was like, oh, wait, which list did I want to be on? Sh*t. Right. The athlete. On September 11th, Higers in Pikes Peak found trousers and a pen knife with the initials AC inscribed. Then Adolf Sh*t was found with multiple holes in it four days later.

43:47 Oh no. They were pretty sure they were bullet holes. He had been shot twice in the back based on their findings analyzing the Sh*t. The skeletal remains of Adolph were later located. The holes in the shoulder bones were examined by a pathologist and believed to be from a high speed projectile. But they also matched up with the two holes found in the clothing belonging to ad cores. So they just like took it and it was like a, like they were trying to trace, so you know, like when you're trying to trace something and you, yeah.

44:30 Not good. Oh, I didn't like it. Okay. It's really weird though that at the beginning of this, we were like, never forget and then 9/11, it presents itself in the case. I didn't even remember that, oh my God. Is that all weird? It's not all weird. Kind of weird. That's really weird. Never forget ad cores. Yeah. The school allowed the victim to be identified and confirmed through dental records. Elsewhere, the yellow mercury was going up in literal smoke. Literal. Was on fire? It was torched when it was found in Atlantic City near a scrap yard shortly after the remains were found.

45:16 So he was probably like, this car is hot. Oh. Really so hot. I'm going to light it on fire. Because they were on to him. Right. And that's a pretty distinctive vehicle. Yeah. He should have got something less yellow. Yeah. It's not going to get better. Though the mercury had been badly burned, the serial number remained and confirmed that the vehicle belonged to Walter, Osborne or Joseph Corbett. I'm really going to have to pick a lane with this guy's name at some point. Call Walter Joe. Walter Joe. Walter Joe. Little Walter Joe. Walter Joe. Okay.

45:57 No. Fucker. But for now, let's get forensic. There were four layers of soil or shale. I don't know why I might I want to say shell. I want to say shall. It is shale. Shale. I've never heard of this. Uh-huh. The hail is a shale. Yeah, this is shale. So there were four layers of soil or shale. Let's just say detritus of some form or fashion in the samples taken from the undercarriage of the vehicle. So it's soil.

46:38 Okay. What's a detritus? Detritus is like debris. You see what she does to me? I'm sorry. The first layer was sand likely from the New Jersey coast because that's where the vehicle was found, which makes sense seeing as it was recovered in Atlantic City. The second layer was unremarkable. However, another was consistent with shale at the kidnapping site. So shale is like a it's technically like if you talk to a geologist, they're going to tell you it's not just soil. I, however, I'm not going to.

47:20 It's soil, okay? Moving on. Uh, it's just not that interesting until we get to something very specific about one of the layers on the shale. Let me come back to that. Meanwhile, Joseph was in Winnipeg, Canada when two of his neighbors recognized him from his description in Reader's Digest, which was like a big deal back then. Does anyone, do people even know what that is anymore? I subscribe to it. You do? No. Oh, I was like, what? It's like, I am learning so much about you today. I don't know. Okay. Though he fled before he could be arrested, he was said to be driving.

48:04 Cassie, I just, I simply can't. Is it red? A bright red Pontiac. What? Dude just cannot help himself with the flamboyant vehicles, apparently. I mean, maybe he's like, well, they'll never suspect. I'll get an even louder car. Maybe. I don't know. That's kind of what I thought, but I don't know. But they always get caught by some stupid mistake. Okay. Often a minor vehicle infraction. Like, this has happened with so many prolific serial killers that I'm just like, oh, yeah, buddy. Keep driving that bright red Pontiac.

48:45 Yeah. I can't wait. Although I would argue. I always right now. What? I think you don't use the loud car. Although I would argue always driving a primary colored vehicle is a major infraction when you're attempting to lie low. You're not one, but two homicides. Only technically that's not the law you brought on this. There's no log against red or yellow cars, whatever you get it. Anyway, he got away that time somehow. But a rooming house manager placed another call to law enforcement.

49:29 This guy must be carrying a lucky rabbit's foot holding a full leaf clover and constantly throwing salt over his shoulder because he dodged them again. Oh my goodness. But he didn't make it far. The Mounties spotted his car because of fucking horse they did. Parked at a local hotel. No he literally didn't even go that far. When they knocked on the door he said, I give up. I'm the man you want. Huh? No. No, Walti Jo. You're not. You're not the man I want.

50:11 Very easy. I know. At the time of his arrest, the case against him was fairly solid. Remember all of the dirt and the other manner of detritus I mentioned before? Yeah. You're like, yeah. Detritus. Well, they more specifically found rare pink held spar minerals and fragments of granite in the undercarriage of the yellow mercury that they already knew belonged to none other than this dude, Walti Jo. That sounds pretty. Yeah, it does, right? Pink granite? Yeah. It linked him to the remains of ad course.

50:53 So really pretty. In the courtroom, that went along nicely with statements he'd made to co-workers about a get rich quick plan. Maybe don't tell people. Hey, I'm going to. He didn't say specifically kidnap, but he literally said a get rich quick plan. It didn't even work. He didn't get me money. No. No. No, this plan was so fucked from jump street and I'm going to explain a little bit more. It's. It's like calling it a plan. It's very generous. It actually was a plan. It just was a really bad plan.

51:35 Yeah. Okay. So reenactment time. It was believed that when ad approached the bridge, his would be kidnapper was already lying in weight on the narrow one lane bridge. When ad approached him, it's believed that Joseph drew his gun. Were it not for the addition of firearms to their physical encounter, the pair were pretty evenly matched. So I don't know. Who's two boxers that are like real equal? That's this. I don't know. And I didn't care to look. But unlikely the ad would have been scared into submission easily given his athletic build.

52:20 He may have turned to run back to his vehicle in order to thwart the gunman at which point he was then fired upon landing two shots in his back. So remember how I said, fucked from jump street and do his careful. So carefully thought out plan foiled in an instant following ad and learning his routine was all for not. Because he already, he, he fucking blew it. He fumbled right there on the bridge. He's like, looks. It's gonna be real hard to turn him over. Oh no. Yeah, you shot him. Uh huh. Twice in the bag. He was like, no, he's getting away and then didn't think about the consequence.

53:05 Did you think he was just gonna come with you willingly? Like, exactly. That's what I'm saying. I'm like, okay. How did you see this playing out? Like, he just thought, having a gun would just be enough to subdue him. But I'm like, um, this is like kind of a man's man. Like, he's healthy. He's in shape. You guys are equally matched physically. Like, he probably figures that he can either run away real quick or like, he could overpower you. You should be concerned about that. Yeah. Man, I wish he just made it to his car and ran him the fuck over.

53:47 No. So it hadn't gone unnoticed probably because he was driving a mother fucking neon colored transformer. Oh my god. This fucking idiot. So many people saw him like practicing basically. He was like, my god. I'm over here just practicing a kid. Nothing good. Nothing good. Nothing. Wait, didn't he go a different route that day? Add did. But he knew he would be going that way because he was following him and learning his routine and stuff. Hmm. Yeah. It just happened to be that that was one of the days where, yeah, he's going a different way because of the road work.

54:32 Did he plan the road work? I know. I was like, was this like a fake construction crew? Like, he really went deep. I went like full tin, like tin hat. At trial, his defense tried to argue that the kidnapping should not be admissible in courtroom discussion since the federal charge wasn't brought. I mean, he technically didn't kidnap anybody. I mean, attempted for sure. Yeah. The prosecution argued that the botched kidnapping was what established the motive for murder. I think they have the stronger argument. Yeah. Ultimately, the judge sided with the prosecution because he's like, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

55:17 Sorry about your luck. Nice bright red and yellow vehicles. Sorry about your dad. Okay. Joseph Corvette, Jr. was convicted of first-degree murder in March of 1961. He was sentenced to life in prison, though 19 years later, he would be released for good behavior. Following his release, he found work as a truck driver for the Salvation Army. He died by suicide in August 2009 at 80 years of age, having previously received a cancer diagnosis.

55:59 Good. I wish he was still in prison. Yeah. He escaped already. Yeah, he has scoffed. He don't let him go. Doesn't seem like a great Canada for parole. What with the multiple murders and then like the scoffay, but whatever. He'd been a full bright scholar. And now he was reduced to this. Meanwhile, ad cores was posthumously inducted into the Colorado ski and snowboard Hall of Fame in 1998. Oh, I know. Isn't that cute? Do he even smell boarded? I guess so. Yeah. He seemed like a super cool dude.

56:44 But we may revisit some other problematic shit with this family that happened like outside of his whole situation. Just say. But you didn't have anything to do with it. No. No. I mean, not when it happened. Not ad. I know. Not. Not ad. I know. I know. Yeah, we may talk about the course family again. I don't know. I'm kind of on the fence about it, but I do. I've been mullin' it over. Did any of them invent the beer pong? I not that I'm aware of. I have no idea who invented it. I don't think it was the course family. Someone go look it up and present us with an episode on who invented the beer pong. Beer pong.

57:25 Beer pong and beer pong, both. Well, that's about all I have to say about that. I may share with you one other quote when we do the tarot. I have another quote that I thought was kind of cute. All right. So, should we do some tarot? Let's do it. Let's do it. Do it. I hardly know. What? Okay. So we got the ace of cups. Wow. Yeah. I was just thinking, though, and I was trying to say that I literally wasn't anywhere near my microphone.

58:06 What are the odds that I went to add this blue mountain? Yeah. And that was just like a little last minute thing that I threw in there. And then it's a big blue hydrangea. Interesting. Yeah. I don't know. Interesting. Oh, and it's on page 88. What a wonderful number. Okay. Ace of cups. Interesting. It's not like coming through for me. Well, I guess cups. Yeah. The only thing that would be the cups. Yeah. Cups kind of make sense no matter what, because it's like, hello, cheers then. Okay. Keywords are new love, beginning a creative activity, enjoy.

58:52 A single large cellist appears on the Ace of Cups. Sometimes water flows out of it, fountain like beer like beer or the cups. It's in water like how they make their beer with a cold mountain water. Oh, yeah. Was it he like, he was on a bridge, right? Was there water under the bridge? Well, and I was thinking about that actually, like right before we started up for tarot and I'm assuming yes. Yeah. As I'm starting to say, I'm assuming yes. I'm like, nope, there definitely was. Yeah. Yep. Yep.

59:32 Okay. In the writer wait Smith deck, a hand emerging from a cloud offers the cup as a gift to you. This represents a gift of love, either of a personal or divine nature. Okay. The spiritual stuff is maybe that maybe is coming through to me in a way. Maybe I will read you that quote. Oh, okay. So maybe that's making more sense than I thought. Okay. This ace reminds us of the holy grail, the most famous chalice of all. Chalice is. Does boot, does boot. Which some people believe now lies in the chalice well in Glastonbury, England.

1:00:18 Oh, this is interesting too. The wicking blessing is the extra excerpt for this. Sharing a beverage in a chalice is a popular practice in wicking rituals. Sometimes the chalice is offered with the blessing, may you never thirst. May you never thirst because you have beer unless you're allergic to it. In that case, like, because the chalice is passed from one person to another, oh, interesting kind of like generational passing of the chalice with this. So okay, I'm actually like, I'm feeling some connections more than I thought I would.

1:01:03 It may feature a long stem that makes it easier to handle. Okay, which makes sense because he probably would have been more of a wine guy. The upright ace denotes a burst of joy, the kind that comes with falling in love. Oh, you have to talk about him and his wifey. Yeah. Often it's appearance heralds a new romance, but it can also represent the start of a creative project about which you feel happy. Oh. Or maybe one that just was so poorly executed. Oh, I was just thinking of like his life and his, when did he get to be the head of the beer company?

1:01:46 When he was about 45 and when did he pass? I'm not sure. Like did he get like a good amount of time leading the beer company? I think so. Oh, I don't. Yeah, I don't. I don't have to go back and look at like the dates and numbers, the like no, I don't know exactly off the top of my head how many years he was in charge. Still just makes me sad. That was like his family's dream. And yeah. Huh. And this beautiful card shows up, it indicates you're on an emotional high and enjoying life. Sometimes it indicates the birth of a child or idea. In a reading about money, the a suggests the beginning of a creative endeavor, the promises to be profitable.

1:02:32 I don't think that's correct with the crime that happened, but listen to the second part. But carefully and the seeds will bear fruit, so like he just kind of, he, he done did fuck it up. Yeah. If the reading is about your work, you may be starting a new job and feel enthusiastic about it. Perhaps this position will allow you to express your creativity or fulfill a dream, even though it might take some time. Huh. This all totally just reminds me because you did talk about the very beginning with his dad, his dad, his grandpa. His, yeah, it was his grandfather that started the course brewing company.

1:03:14 That was like a really big part of this episode. So I feel like it's just picking up like that energy and that was very fruitful. Yeah. Well, and I think there's some other connections to I think that it's, I mean, the fact that we drew like the ace of cops when it's, you know, a real beer story for, I mean, to label, to totally mislabel it. In a reading about love, the ace symbolizes the first stages of a romantic relationship, nurture it. So your love will blossom. Sometimes it represents awakening to divine love. Okay. That, that still, that kind of harkens back to the quote that I was thinking.

1:03:58 Yeah, read the quote. Okay. There's a saying that he who dies with the most toys wins. Mr. Course says that's the psychology of materialism. If we can surround ourselves with enough toys, our lives are going to be complete and happy. But Mr. Course, a member of a family whose company shares were recently worth around 400 million says materialism won't do it. So this is like a more modern, Mr. Course.

1:04:38 But there, there were just a number of different kind of quotes and sort of things that I picked up from articles about his family now has sort of, I don't know how religious they were or weren't prior to his kidnapping, but it does seem like they have sort of found their own spiritual path. So I felt like to me that kind of tied in, it was talking about like, you know, divinity and that. I don't maybe love their specific religious path. I don't know for sure. I don't know them enough in their beliefs and everything.

1:05:20 But concerning when you have conservative wealthy people that are potentially ultra-religious. But no, I just think that maybe their faith, assuming that it's not unhealthy or unreasonable, maybe that's kind of helped them to find some peace in this situation. I've burned a bear being wealthy. I know. Although, I mean, I say that jokingly, obviously, but in this case where, you know, they've lost a family member in such a horrible way.

1:06:02 And I, the worst part about it is I feel like the ransom letter we know it was postmarked at like 3 p.m. I don't know if that, he could have put it in the mailbox before he even went to go and confront it all from the bridge. But to me, the fact that he sent that letter and it says, you know, I don't want to hurt this person. And he's saying, we, you know, I'll return him unharmed as long as we get the money. Knowing full well that no, you won't, that just really messes with me.

1:06:47 Like, yeah, fucking sucks. I know. And it was all for money too. Like if money didn't exist, this probably wouldn't have happened. Yeah. Which a lot of crimes, I'm sure, might exist. I didn't exist. Yeah. It was all a lot of crimes. The root of all evil, right? Yeah. I think that's how that. I think that's one of those quotes where it's often miscited and, I think that's the right version of it. I don't know. Anyhow, I believe you. Cheers. Cheers. May you never thirst. So you said you had something super important. Yes. It was really important. I can't believe you didn't pick up on it.

1:07:28 Well, I kind of can't. You said he left wearing a blue jacket. Yeah. You got a big old blue card. That's yellow on it too. A little bit of yellow. It's a yellow chalice. So yeah. Wow. A lot of primary color action up in here. Yeah. Yeah. No red though. There's no red anywhere. We got the pink. Yeah. It's in the felt's bar. I was like, I don't know what it actually looks like. I assume it's probably not like metallic looks just like that. Yeah. Um, you are welcome for this beautiful altar. It's booty fall.

1:08:09 It's booty fall. Yeah. Should we go like stuff our beautiful faces or something? I'm very hungry. I know I probably should have ordered something already like 30 minutes ago. Uh oh. I'm hungry an hour ago. Have a creepy ass day. Well, see you next Tuesday. See you next Tuesday. Bye. Unless you're in your bright yellow. Car to incline and then we'll literally see you from a mile away. Then we saw you yesterday. Uh Oh, Spaghetti-o. Uh Oh, Spaghetti-o.

1:08:52 Oh, Spaghetti-os! Spaghetti-os. Fish buttholes. Why does that sound so good? And then you ruined it. Honestly, you think it sounds good and then you try it again as an adult and you're like, what the fuck is this shit? Really? It tastes like it's tomato, piggettio juice with like straight corn sugar syrup in it. It's disgusting. It's like really sweet. Yeah, I don't remember what Spaghetti is. Are really all about that. Don't try it again. Well, we'll see. I love doing things that I'm told not to. We'll just wait acidic to it.

1:09:32 Give me really about a heartburn. Really? It's like don't. Yeah. It's those night shades, baby. You're like, I don't even know if there's any actual tomato in it. Right. I don't. I don't know. They just extracted the acid from the tomato and mixed it with sugar and that is Spaghetti O. It's delicious. I don't know. Oh, my goodness. Let's do it. Pnwhauntsandhomicides.com