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not fit through it. Peters' wife, who had been in the hospital recuperating from a broken hip during and prior to Coneys' occupation of the attic, returned to live in the house with a housekeeper. Both women would often hear strange sounds in the house. The housekeeper quit after becoming convinced the house was haunted and Mrs. Peters moved to western
Colorado to live with her son. Mabel Berke and her five children lived next door to the house and would consistently see lights going on and off, once even arming herself with a baseball bat and knocking on the door.
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Peters' body was discovered later the same day after a neighbor, concerned Peters had not come by for dinner, called the police. The police found all of the home's doors and windows locked, and there was no other sign of forced entry. They noted the trapdoor but believed a normal-sized person could
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cubbyhole and decided to occupy the small space without Peters' knowledge. Coneys lived in the house undiscovered for about five weeks. On
October 17, 1941, Peters discovered Coneys at the refrigerator. Peters struck at Coneys with a cane he carried, but Coneys clubbed him with an old pistol he had
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Coneys remained in the vacant house with the occasional signs of his occupation written off as an apparition or local pranksters. Police continued to make routine checks, when on July 30, 1942, one of them heard a lock click on the second floor. Running upstairs, the police caught the sight of
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Local newspapers dubbed him "The Sneaky Sneaky Spider-Man of Denver" after police detective Fred Zarnow remarked "A man would have to be a spider to stand it long up there." Coneys was tried and convicted, then sentenced to life imprisonment at the
Colorado State Penitentiary in
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Theodore Coneys suffered from poor health and had been told by doctors not to expect to see his 18th birthday, so he did not finish high school. As an adult, he worked as a bookkeeper at the Denver Brass Works in advertising and sales, yet spent much of his adult life
142:, to Thomas H. Coneys (November 18, 1844 – July 1, 1888), a Canadian immigrant who owned a hardware store in Petersburg, and his wife, Isabella Elam (March 1, 1851 – April 14, 1911). After the elder Coneys died in 1888, Mrs. Coneys and her son moved to a farm near
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found in the house. After the gun broke apart, Coneys continued the battery with a heavy iron stove shaker and bludgeoned the 73-year-old Peters to death. Coneys then returned to the attic cubbyhole.
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In
September 1941, 59-year-old Theodore Coneys intended to ask former acquaintance Philip Peters for a handout at his home on 3335 West Moncrieff Place in
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Theodore Coneys died on May 16, 1967, at the
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Coneys' legs as he was going through the trapdoor and pulled him down. He was taken into police custody and confessed to the crime.
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Two episodes of popular
American television shows appear to have been inspired by the Denver Spiderman story, the
458:"85 - Live at the Boulder Theater – My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark – Podcast"
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Melrose, Frances (1992-08-16). "Denver's 'Spider Man' Murderer Hit Out In Victim's Attic".
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A stove shaker is a tool used to restoke the fire and/or remove the ashes in a wood stove.
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The case was also featured on episode 85 of the popular true crime podcast
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442:"Rookie Cop Assigned To The Case Has Vivid Memory Of 'Spider Man'".
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Melrose, Frances (1992-09-30). "'Spider Man' And A Web Of Tales".
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Lowall, Gene (1946). "1942: the spider man". In Casey, Lee (ed.).
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365:"City Was Birthplace of Confessed Denver Slayer of Aged Friend".
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drew the story of the case for volume 15 of the comics anthology
118:(November 10, 1882 – May 16, 1967), also known by the nickname
427:"'Spider Man' Murder Made Attics A Spooky Place To Be".
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Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by
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128:occupied the attic of the victim's home
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262:. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce.
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279:The Encyclopedia of American Crime
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510:People from Petersburg, Illinois
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319:"Theodore Coneys". Entry in
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283:. New York: Facts on File.
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126:in 1941 and subsequently
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275:Sifakis, Carl (1982).
116:Theodore Edward Coneys
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43:Petersburg, Illinois
460:. 7 September 2017.
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429:Rocky Mountain News
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323:. SSN 523-72-8252.
236:My Favorite Murder
120:"Denver Spiderman"
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248:in 2009.
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