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Because we've all dreamed of it...
The Wrath of the Killdozer
Marvin Heemeyer of Granby, Colorado was a profoundly frustrated muffler repair man. In the late 1990s--after years of protests, petitions, and town meetings--it became obvious to the 52-year-old that he was entwined in a gross miscarriage of justice. His business was ruined by some shady zoning changes, and Heemeyer contended that mayor and city council were corrupt. Even as he was forced to give up his legal fight and sell his land, he hatched one last plan to secretly retool his muffler shop to serve a single malevolent purpose: to construct a machine that would allow him to exact his revenge upon those who had wronged him.
Heemeyer first became enamored with the state of Colorado when he was stationed there in the Air Force. After his service ended, he moved to Grand Lake, Colorado and opened a small chain of muffler shops in the surrounding cities. After a while he began to lease some of the shops out to other operators, but kept one, Mountain View Muffler in Granby, to operate himself.
Heemeyer became involved with politics almost immediately upon establishing his home in Colorado. He was generally well-liked among his friends and neighbors, being described as an "enjoyable person," and as someone who would "bend over backwards for anyone". There were some, however, who were more familiar with his volatile temperament. He was a strong proponent of legalizing gambling, and he published at least two newsletters to disseminate his views. When a reporter for a local paper interviewed Heemeyer for an editorial opposed to gambling, he reported that Heemeyer was so enraged by the opposition that the interview nearly came to fisticuffs. In one particularly extreme instance, Heemeyer threatened to kill a customer's husband when she refused to pay for a faulty muffler repair. "If Marv was your friend, he was your best friend," said one of Heemeyer's close associates, "but if he decided that he was your enemy, then he was your worst and most dangerous enemy."
In the late 1990s the Docheff family approached Heemeyer to buy his one remaining muffler shop in order to build a concrete batch plant on the land. It was a matter of public record that Heemeyer had bought the land for $42,000. Docheff reported that they agreed to buy the land for $250,000, but the deal fell apart when Heemeyer raised the price to $375,000 and reportedly once even mentioned a million. Having grown weary of Heemeyer's indecisiveness, the Docheffs went to the Granby City Council and sought to re-zone the land surrounding Heemeyer's muffler shop.
Heemeyer was involved in the re-zoning process from the outset, attending town meetings to ensure that his interests were protected. Nevertheless, in 2001 the town zoning commission and trustees approved the rezoning request. Adding apparent insult to injury, the plan for the concrete plant cut off the only route to his muffler shop. The city also fined Heemeyer $2,500 for "junk cars" on his property, and for failing to have his shop hooked up to the sewer line.
Hindered but not yet defeated, Heemeyer set out to remedy the situation using community action, legal maneuvering, and elbow grease. He appealed the zoning commission's decision, and gathered signatures from the townsfolk to petition against the plant. He attempted to obtain permission to install a sewer line under eight feet of land owned by Mountain Park Concrete, but the new owners refused. He even went so far as to buy a bulldozer to build a new road that would allow customer access to his muffler shop, but the city council declined to approve his plan. Many people suspected there were some shady dealings between the concrete plant and the members of the city council, but no actual evidence of such illegal goings-on has ever been found.
Having no recourse, Heemeyer sent the city a $2,500 check to cover the fines, with the word "cowards" written ominously on the memo line. He then sold the muffler shop property to a trash company, and was given six months to vacate.
Heemeyer set to work on his new project almost immediately. The Komatsu D335A bulldozer that was meant to save his business was instead moved into the muffler shop, and Heemeyer began to make some modifications. He started by adding home-made composite armor--cement sandwiched between thick sheets of steel--to protect the cab, engine, and parts of the tracks. He installed front and rear cameras to feed images to monitors in the cab, and several gun ports were set around the control center. A stockpile of food and water was stored inside, as well as an air tank to help provide air circulation.
Throughout the one-and-a-half years of construction, Heemeyer documented his progress though notes and audio tapes. "Because of your anger, because of your malice, because of your hate, you would not work with me," he stated in his tape recordings. "I am going to sacrifice my life, my miserable future that you gave me, to show you that what you did is wrong." He received several visitors at his shop while working on his armored vehicle of vengeance, and none of them seemed alarmed at the weaponized armor shell atop his earth-mover. In his notes Heemeyer credited a higher power with "clouding their vision." On one occasion he wrote, "I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."
2004 was a tough year for Heemeyer. His father passed away in March, and he broke off his engagement when he caught his betrothed with another man. The morning of Friday, the 4th of June was gray and drizzly. Heemeyer mailed his audio tapes to his brother, went to his shop, and climbed into his bulldozer with a handwritten list of targets. He used the winch controls to lower the concrete and steel shell onto the top of his vehicle. Nothing short of a crane would be able to lift the thirty-ton armor shell off the vehicle once it was in place. With that fateful metal clap, Heemeyer was sealed in a concrete and steel box that he could never escape.
Marvin Heemeyer of Granby, Colorado was a profoundly frustrated muffler repair man. In the late 1990s--after years of protests, petitions, and town meetings--it became obvious to the 52-year-old that he was entwined in a gross miscarriage of justice. His business was ruined by some shady zoning changes, and Heemeyer contended that mayor and city council were corrupt. Even as he was forced to give up his legal fight and sell his land, he hatched one last plan to secretly retool his muffler shop to serve a single malevolent purpose: to construct a machine that would allow him to exact his revenge upon those who had wronged him.
Heemeyer first became enamored with the state of Colorado when he was stationed there in the Air Force. After his service ended, he moved to Grand Lake, Colorado and opened a small chain of muffler shops in the surrounding cities. After a while he began to lease some of the shops out to other operators, but kept one, Mountain View Muffler in Granby, to operate himself.
Heemeyer became involved with politics almost immediately upon establishing his home in Colorado. He was generally well-liked among his friends and neighbors, being described as an "enjoyable person," and as someone who would "bend over backwards for anyone". There were some, however, who were more familiar with his volatile temperament. He was a strong proponent of legalizing gambling, and he published at least two newsletters to disseminate his views. When a reporter for a local paper interviewed Heemeyer for an editorial opposed to gambling, he reported that Heemeyer was so enraged by the opposition that the interview nearly came to fisticuffs. In one particularly extreme instance, Heemeyer threatened to kill a customer's husband when she refused to pay for a faulty muffler repair. "If Marv was your friend, he was your best friend," said one of Heemeyer's close associates, "but if he decided that he was your enemy, then he was your worst and most dangerous enemy."
In the late 1990s the Docheff family approached Heemeyer to buy his one remaining muffler shop in order to build a concrete batch plant on the land. It was a matter of public record that Heemeyer had bought the land for $42,000. Docheff reported that they agreed to buy the land for $250,000, but the deal fell apart when Heemeyer raised the price to $375,000 and reportedly once even mentioned a million. Having grown weary of Heemeyer's indecisiveness, the Docheffs went to the Granby City Council and sought to re-zone the land surrounding Heemeyer's muffler shop.
Heemeyer was involved in the re-zoning process from the outset, attending town meetings to ensure that his interests were protected. Nevertheless, in 2001 the town zoning commission and trustees approved the rezoning request. Adding apparent insult to injury, the plan for the concrete plant cut off the only route to his muffler shop. The city also fined Heemeyer $2,500 for "junk cars" on his property, and for failing to have his shop hooked up to the sewer line.
Hindered but not yet defeated, Heemeyer set out to remedy the situation using community action, legal maneuvering, and elbow grease. He appealed the zoning commission's decision, and gathered signatures from the townsfolk to petition against the plant. He attempted to obtain permission to install a sewer line under eight feet of land owned by Mountain Park Concrete, but the new owners refused. He even went so far as to buy a bulldozer to build a new road that would allow customer access to his muffler shop, but the city council declined to approve his plan. Many people suspected there were some shady dealings between the concrete plant and the members of the city council, but no actual evidence of such illegal goings-on has ever been found.
Having no recourse, Heemeyer sent the city a $2,500 check to cover the fines, with the word "cowards" written ominously on the memo line. He then sold the muffler shop property to a trash company, and was given six months to vacate.
Heemeyer set to work on his new project almost immediately. The Komatsu D335A bulldozer that was meant to save his business was instead moved into the muffler shop, and Heemeyer began to make some modifications. He started by adding home-made composite armor--cement sandwiched between thick sheets of steel--to protect the cab, engine, and parts of the tracks. He installed front and rear cameras to feed images to monitors in the cab, and several gun ports were set around the control center. A stockpile of food and water was stored inside, as well as an air tank to help provide air circulation.
Throughout the one-and-a-half years of construction, Heemeyer documented his progress though notes and audio tapes. "Because of your anger, because of your malice, because of your hate, you would not work with me," he stated in his tape recordings. "I am going to sacrifice my life, my miserable future that you gave me, to show you that what you did is wrong." He received several visitors at his shop while working on his armored vehicle of vengeance, and none of them seemed alarmed at the weaponized armor shell atop his earth-mover. In his notes Heemeyer credited a higher power with "clouding their vision." On one occasion he wrote, "I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."
2004 was a tough year for Heemeyer. His father passed away in March, and he broke off his engagement when he caught his betrothed with another man. The morning of Friday, the 4th of June was gray and drizzly. Heemeyer mailed his audio tapes to his brother, went to his shop, and climbed into his bulldozer with a handwritten list of targets. He used the winch controls to lower the concrete and steel shell onto the top of his vehicle. Nothing short of a crane would be able to lift the thirty-ton armor shell off the vehicle once it was in place. With that fateful metal clap, Heemeyer was sealed in a concrete and steel box that he could never escape.
He didn't kill anyone.
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