The murder of a kidnapped Colorado state trooper has never been solved, and the case is "considered closed" as the two prime suspects died in violent confrontations, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
Thomas Carpenter, 31, of Lafayette, was found dead in his patrol car in a parking lot in Denver's Montbello district on Dec 27, 1973, officials said.
He had been shot four times in the back of his head with his service weapon, seated upright. His stolen revolver was discovered two years later in a highway ditch in New Mexico, reports said.
This much is known:
Carpenter stopped a 1964 Chevrolet on the westbound ramp from Broadway onto Colorado 36. A fight ensued between Carpenter and the occupants of the Chevrolet - and he was taken hostage. He may have stopped to help them.
At 10 a.m., he radioed he was at I-70 and Havana Street, eight miles out of his assigned district. That was the last time he was heard from alive. He normally patrolled I-25 north of Denver.
Police canvassed the area, joined by an aircraft and helicopter, and developed profiles of the killers, a white man and a black man, ages 18-23. Investigators questioned more than 500 people, the Rocky Mountain News said.
"No one was charged with the murder, and the case is considered closed," the state patrol said. "The two prime suspects were killed in unrelated violent altercations."
The Rocky Mountain News reported one of the suspects was shot and killed during a scuffle with an off-duty Denver police officer on Jan. 4, 1977. His name was Herbert Dixon, 22, a career criminal from Denver. "You'll have to kill me," he told the officer.
[Photos: Denver Police Department]
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