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When Amole asked him why he confessed, he said the FBI had threatened to point out inconsistencies in statements made by his wife Gloria. "I was not about to let them touch her in any way, shape or form," he said. None of the Denver TV stations would agree to air the film at the time, though it was eventually aired on one of Denver's local PBS stations as part of a documentary.
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reassembling fragments of the plane, the FBI determined that certain items of luggage in the baggage compartment had contained explosives. Based on that evidence, as well as his contradictory statements, physical evidence found at Graham's house, and finally a confession, Graham was charged with sabotage, then later murder.
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on
January 11, 1957. One source has his final words being "Thanks, Warden", after Warden Tinsley patted him on the shoulder. TIME magazine quoted a lengthier statement, "As far as feeling remorse for those people, I don’t. I can’t help it. Everybody pays their way and takes their chances. That’s just
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at the time made it a crime to blow up an airplane. Therefore, on the day after Graham's confession, the
Colorado district attorney moved to prosecute Graham via the simplest possible route: premeditated murder of a single victim – his mother, Daisie King. Graham recanted his confession, but at his
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prison. King's restaurant had been severely damaged by "a suspicious explosion" earlier that year, and Graham had received the insurance settlement. Locals also suspected Graham of deliberately causing his new pick-up truck to be struck by a train that year, in order to collect the insurance. After
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Graham's confessions gave details about the bomb that matched the evidence from the plane's wreckage. He also told prison doctors that he "realized that there were about 50 or 60 people carried on a DC6, but the number of people to be killed made no difference to me; it could have been a thousand.
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photographer Morey Engle surreptitiously brought a camera into the jail for an interview of Graham during a reunion with his wife Gloria. "I loved my mother very much", Graham told Amole. "She meant a lot to me. It's very hard for me to tell exactly how I feel. She left so much of herself behind."
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Graham married Gloria A. Elson, with whom he had two children, Allen and
Suzanne, who were just infants at the time of the notable events. After Graham's execution, Gloria and the two children began using her maiden name. Allen Earl Elson married Denise Marie in 1976 before both went missing on
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due to their poverty. In 1941, Daisie was married for the third time to Earl King, who died shortly after their marriage. Using her inheritance from King's death, Daisie became a successful businesswoman, but despite her newfound wealth, Daisie did not collect Graham from the orphanage. The two
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Graham's apparent motive for the bombing was to claim $ 37,500 (equivalent to $ 430,000 in 2023) worth of life insurance money from policies he had purchased in the airport terminal just moments before the aircraft's departure.
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In 1955, shortly before the aircraft bombing, King's restaurant was destroyed in a suspicious gas explosion, believed to have been deliberately caused by Graham. Graham had insured the restaurant and collected on the
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Walker) Graham and her second husband, William Graham. Nicknamed "Jack," Graham was Daisie's second child, as she already had a daughter from her first marriage. Graham was born during the height of the
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to visit her daughter, Graham's half-sister. At the time, flight insurance could be routinely purchased in vending machines at airports, until changes to the system in the 1980s.
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until 1954, when Graham was 22 years old, and Daisie King was running a successful restaurant. After their reunion, King and Graham had a poor relationship, and often argued.
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money from policies he purchased in the airport terminal just before the flight departure. Graham was convicted of murdering his mother. He was sentenced to
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271:. Graham planted the bomb in his mother's suitcase in an apparent move to murder her and claim $ 37,500 (equivalent to $ 430,000 in 2023) worth of
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1956 trial his defense was unable to counter the massive amount of evidence presented by the prosecution. In
February 1956, he
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becoming the first state to officially sanction the broadcast of criminal trials on television. No
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by Andrew J. Field (Johnson Books, 2005) was published on the 50th anniversary of the bombing.
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Justice Story: Son plants bomb in mom's suitcase, killing her and 43 others during flight
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veteran Lee Hall on the evening of
November 1, 1955. The flight had originated at
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The case was the basis for the 1959 "Flight 169--Mass Murder" episode of
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Graham's mother had been a passenger on Flight 629, and was traveling to
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The case is the subject of the episode titled "Time Bomb" of the 2013
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After Graham's arrest, Denver radio station KDEN owner Gene Amole and
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The case was the basis for the 1960 "Fire in the Sky" episode of
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When their time comes, there is nothing they can do about it."
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695:. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Archived from
252:(January 23, 1932 – January 11, 1957) was an American
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John
Gilbert Graham was born on January 23, 1932, in
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728:. Discovery Communications. 2013. Archived from
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312:, causing Daisie to send the young Jack to an
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818:; Last Words website; accessed November 2023
833:Mainliner Denver: The Bombing of Flight 629
652:"Family moved on, but tragedy struck again"
533:Mainliner Denver: The Bombing of Flight 629
407:Investigators discovered that Graham had a
905:People executed by Colorado by gas chamber
870:20th-century executions of American people
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836:by Andrew J. Field (Johnson Books, 2005)
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768:"Sabotage: The Downing of Flight 629"
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27:American mass murderer (1932–1957)
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860:1955 murders in the United States
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789:Amole, Gene (October 29, 1995).
880:American murderers of children
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462:attempted suicide in his cell
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421:illegal transport of whiskey
496:in the 1959 motion picture
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388:. There were no survivors.
333:October 16, 1981, while in
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108:Execution by gas chamber
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451:Graham's trial led to
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603:"Jack Gilbert Graham"
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732:on December 15, 2013
722:"No. 004: Time Bomb"
699:on February 15, 2015
487:Fictional portrayals
138:Life insurance money
96:Cañon City, Colorado
797:Rocky Mountain News
726:A Crime to Remember
547:A Crime to Remember
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364:, making a stop in
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104:Cause of death
55:John Gilbert Graham
18:John Gilbert Graham
910:People from Denver
753:from NY Daily News
658:. October 30, 2005
565:Sinister Slaughter
483:the way it goes."
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386:Longmont, Colorado
374:Stapleton Airfield
327:property insurance
262:Longmont, Colorado
207:Longmont, Colorado
778:on March 1, 2004.
627:"Missing Persons"
362:LaGuardia Airport
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855:1957 deaths
850:1932 births
815:Jack Graham
736:December 3,
703:January 30,
578:Albert Guay
480:gas chamber
471:Graham was
202:Location(s)
36:Jack Graham
895:Matricides
844:Categories
799:. Denver,
589:References
543:miniseries
508:Vera Miles
494:Nick Adams
291:Background
264:, using a
61:1932-01-23
531:The book
502:starring
319:estranged
317:remained
314:orphanage
310:pneumonia
269:time bomb
214:Target(s)
186:7:02 p.m.
613:Archived
572:See also
473:executed
453:Colorado
285:Colorado
281:executed
279:and was
266:dynamite
229:Dynamite
122:Children
73:Colorado
568:album.
560:Macabre
516:M Squad
475:in the
382:Seattle
366:Chicago
341:Bombing
224:Weapons
191:Country
173:Victims
168:Details
419:, and
393:Alaska
134:Motive
114:Spouse
98:, U.S.
75:, U.S.
69:Denver
555:Music
466:death
425:Texas
277:death
260:near
162:Death
738:2013
705:2015
664:2023
638:2023
506:and
411:for
246:Jack
242:John
231:bomb
181:Date
81:Died
51:Born
608:FBI
415:by
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