Rotten Mango - #156: Murder Of The Coors Beer Heir (Case of Adolf Coors)

Episode Date: April 17, 2022

He knew this was going to happen sooner or later. The FBI had already stopped by twice to let him know that he was on a criminal’s “kidnap wish list.” He just didn’t know - that the one being kidnapped wouldn’t be him. It would be his very own son. The heir to the Coors Beer Dynasty. He felt confident he could deal with this. It’s like a business transaction. He just had to make sure his son had no secrets. Who knew beer had so many secrets? Book Rec: “The Death of an Heir” - by Phillip Jett (amazing read I couldn’t get enough!) Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to this week's mini-sode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue, and he knew this was going to happen. It had been a fear of his for decades. Okay, you know how some people are scared of spiders. Some people have a fear of heights. This was his fear. The worst part is he felt like he knew it was gonna happen. Before it even did, sooner or later, it was gonna strike him. Let me explain, okay?

His best friend had been kidnapped and held hostage for two weeks until his family paid a big ransom. His best friend was one of the wealthiest men in all of Colorado. Thankfully, his friend was back in one piece, but the FBI. They had some devastating news. When the kidnapper was arrested, they found a list, a very scary list, of all the other potential victims the kidnapper had their eyes on, and on that list was Mr. Cours.

They let him know. And he probably sat there in shock. I mean, decades ago, another man had been arrested and the FBI had come to his office. Mr. Cours, we have bad news. This man was trying to kidnap you. He had plans to hold you in a secluded cabin for ransom. Mr. Cours did everything he could to prevent it.

But they were a well-known family. They were the founding family of Cors Beer. Cors Light. Cors Light, yes. Mr. Cors. They actually own a lot of different brands, like even Blue Moon. I think that's a famous popular one.

So the FBI, they came to him a third time to let him know what happened. It finally happens, sir. Your son? The heir to the coerce fortune to the coerce company to the coerce dynasty has been kidnapped. Now we don't know what happened behind closed doors, but we do know that Mr. Cours went on to do a couple of interviews. Maybe you imagine him crying, had in his hand begging for his son safe for turn, but instead

he told a reporter, I'm dealing with crooks who are in business. They've got something I want to buy. My son, the price is secondary. The reporter asked, so your son has definitely been kidnapped. No, but logic tells me that he's been kidnapped. It's a matter of now waiting for an offer. It's like any other business transaction at this point. You're treating the kidnapping of your son like a business deal? That is what it is. Besides, I cannot be emotional about this.

Mr. Quares went on to his other sons and said, I need you to make sure his affairs are in order. Make sure that there's no mistress hiding in a house somewhere, a separate bank account for some bastard child. Make sure nothing's gonna come out of this that's gonna embarrass the company or the family name. That's an intense reaction. Today, we are unpacking one of the most notorious kidnappings in American history, the kidnapping of one of the richest errors to the core's fortune and dynasty, and it all goes horribly

wrong. Who knew that beer had so many secrets? As always, full show notes are available at RottenMangoPodcast.com and I'm really excited to talk about this book because this case has intrigued me for so long and I I could never stumble across any proper deep dive on this case Until this book, it's called The Death of an Air, Adolf Cours the Third written by Philip Jet and I don't know where to start. Of course Mr. Jett is very meticulous with getting his facts but on top of that, he's

got this way of writing. It makes you picture everything in your head as you read. The book is fantastic. Philip even tracked down the people that were directly involved, trying to get these first hand accounts which, you know, considering what type of family you're dealing with, I'm sure that this was incredibly difficult to do. He personally traveled to the crime scenes to other pertinent locations, so please go check out his book. This podcast will pale in comparison. And with that, let's get into it. Let's start with the history of beer. I feel like to fully

understand today's crime, we have to immerse ourselves in the bubbly history of beer Apparently right behind to water and tea beer is said to be the third most popular beverage Did you know that I didn't know that yeah, but because you drink beer by bottles like coffee you drink like what to come that's true Beer you can I was gonna say I thought it was gonna be like coconut water, but that was dumb I was gonna say I thought it was gonna be like coconut water, but that was dumb. Okay, so beer is the third most popular beverage. Archaeologists from Stanford said beer has been around for about 12,000 years. The ability to brew beer has been linked to being a knowledge gifted by gods and goddesses. It was even used in religious ceremonies for ancient Egyptians.

Allegedly, even the first creation of straws were made by Sumerians for the sole purpose of drinking beer. Not giced coffees, yet it wasn't Starbucks, okay? Not even for Boba, it was for beer. So there would be a lot of grain and solid bi-products at the bottom of the beer that just were unpleasant when they entered your mouth, so they created straws. I mean, there is such a thick history of beer. Have you heard of the London Beer Flood?

This is like a part of history I never knew about. It was a brewery disaster that sent a 15-foot high tsunami of beer just gushing through the streets of London. An entire vet of beer had essentially exploded, and 1 million pints of beer were released onto the streets of London. Even just the force of the blast had bricks flying into the air, buildings were collapsing because of the force of the beer. It sent civilians smashing about. A beer like tsunami just swept everywhere and there was no drainage system in place. There was

nowhere for the beer to go, but straight into the homes of neighboring residents. There's everyone drunk. Okay, that's the crazy thing. So these innocent homeowners, they had to climb onto their tables, their kitchen counters, to save themselves as the beer flooded their house. Also, side note, the beer was hot at the time because, you know, the process of brewing and imagine how sticky it is. Just think about, think about every fraternity house that you've ever stepped foot in. It's just everything sticky and I imagine it's beer. It was bad. At least eight people died from this incident.

And you're like, okay, well, did the community come together at a time like this? Did the neighboring cities come to help out? A ton of people rushed to the scene with empty bottles and started scooping up the free beer. One person showed up with no bottle and just their mouth and started drinking as much as he could. He actually died later that day for mouth call poisoning. Oh my goodness.

Yeah, so it's or I think maybe it's like a dirty stuff in there. Yeah, people also. Yeah, right. Probably contaminated. It was really contaminated. dirty stuff in there. Yeah, people also. Yeah. Right. I'm not laughing. But it was really contaminated. This is like the 1800s, okay? Mind you.

So it was really bad. The brewery was taken to court over it and the judge ruled. It was an act of God. Meaning nobody was responsible, so they paid nothing to the victims. I mean, it was beyond horrible. And just I know that this is nothing in comparison to the actual tragedy, but imagine how sticky and smelly the entire place must have been for a long time afterwards and the types of bugs it would attract. Now enter into this crazy beer scene on the other side of the world, the Chor's family. The Chor's family is said to be one of the wealthiest families in all of America to date.

They've got over a collective network of, I believe, $5.6 billion. So, of course, let's talk about the company itself. After a series of acquisitions and mergers, Cors brewing is now known as Moulson Cors beverage company, which by the way, the Cors family still owns a hefty chunk of. I think anywhere between 10 to 16%, which is quite a bit, you know? Now, course descendants are still very active. They've got the high ranking positions in the company. It's also the fifth largest beer maker in the world,

the second largest in all of the US. Oh, and here's where it gets wilder. The course family now makes most of their money from a relatively lesser known company called CoresTech. I, my mind was blown. First of all, I didn't even know Cores was a Cores family. I thought it was just a weird name for beer.

I was like, oh, wow, that's a beer name, right? Sounds about right. No, it's a family. And they make most of their money from CoresTech. They are not entering into the tech space with a beer that's technologically advanced and tells you when to stop drinking, which I feel like would be bad for business. No, Chorz Tech is all about ceramics. It's actually one of the largest engineered ceramics manufacturers on the planet.

If you name any big American manufacturer, it probably buys Chorz Tech products. Ford, IBM, General Dynamics, General Electric, I believe Tesla is doing something with Chorz Tech. They make over 1 billion tiny little parts for cars every single year. These tiny little parts get used in brakes, airbags, mirrors, headrests. Their products are on NASA space shuttles. Their valves are used in fountain machines at McDonald's. So varying levels of importance here, I would rank McDonald's at the highest. I'm just kidding, okay? They even create bulletproof armor for US soldiers, which government contracts are something

else. At one point, Corsetek Armour and Defense Division accounted for 40% of their total sales. They even make artificial hips and knees. And guess what? It's run by the corps family. This is like a very, very intense, kind of scary family. I believe we're at the fifth generation running the all the corps businesses and dynasties and fortunes and all of that. But the fifth generation is there's something they rarely do interviews, but when they do, they're just um, they're intense. They're really intense. So how do you even build an empire like this? Not just the

beer, but how do you build it to the point where every single person is in line and they're ready to take over. It's like the show succession or whatever. Let's start with Adolf Kors. The original, I guess you could say, because the family is gonna have like a second Adolf and then the third Adolf and it gets kind of confusing. Probably more at this point. So OG Adolf Kors immigrated from Prussia,

which later becomes part of today's Germany. But at the time it was Prussia. And Adolf actually came to the US with a friend named Jacob Schuhler. The two of them, they had a ton of drive and a ton of ambition. And for immigrants, they actually had quite a bit of money. I imagine in the late 1800s, you would actually need money to immigrate to the US. And not just a dream. So they thought, why not try our hand at business? Let's open up our own brewery in Golden, Colorado. We bought this amazing beer recipe from this check emigrant.

Let's use this recipe. Make our own beer, bottle that baby up, sell it. So they put in most of the money that they had and the business did well. Three years after opening, Adolf Cours bought out his partner and became the sole owner of the brewery. And under Adolf's direction, it said that Cours just, oh, it started expanding, they were killing

it. But then boom, the prohibition, yeah, the prohibition, welcome to the 1920s, we're really going far back. The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution banned the manufacturing, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors. At first, it was because of the World War. I mean, the government was like, hello people, please stop getting drunk, we actually need to reserve

our grains of ply, thank you, but they were still getting drunk. Then we had a lot of different ideologies come into play. People wanted husbands to stop drinking and beating the kids, people wanted workers to stop drinking because they would have all these massive accidents where people would die in the factories because of a drunken mistake. So there were a lot of reasonable reasons that the prohibition took place, but overall not a good decision in American history.

So you're thinking that's weird, because you're picturing the roaring twenties like I do. Two degree. I mean you're picturing the provocative jazz music playing, the osu scandalous flappers, the boot lagging, the gangsters that are impeccably dressed in suits. The modern woman actually became a huge thing at the time. Woman were normally expected to stay at home, where they're hair long, where long dresses, girdles, corsets, well, in the 20s,

all of that was thrown out the window and women started sporting bobs wearing short dresses that showed off their knees. Nostya. They were a lot of makeup. They even started working outside the house. A lot of this was done because of the invention of the washing machine and vacuum cleaner. So women could be more efficient with working outside the house and inside the house because our life is a curse. You're like, but how does the party keep going? This doesn't sound like the 20s without any alcohol at all.

I mean, that's just not what you're picturing. What about the great Gatsby? Were they toasting and shit? Well, the 20s were, is said to be to a degree as part of a protest against the prohibition. All the prohibition did it seems, was pretty much turn alcohol-loving citizens into criminals. Gangsters ended up making much more money when they found a way to sell liquor. Business was booming. Have you heard of Al Capone?

The famous gangster, he was allegedly making $60 million a year selling alcohol and running speakeasies. Wow. So these little speakeasies started popping up where you could buy alcohol and get drunk in a secret room behind like a laundry mat type vibe. And it wasn't common until then for women and men to drink together. But in the 20s the speakeasies are like, fuck, anybody needs to come in, you know, we need to make money, you need your alcohol, just everybody come. And it was groundbreaking, so scandalous,

so equal, love it. I'm just kidding. People even distilled their own liquor and their bathtubs, I mean, you had moonshine, bathtub gin, which I heard is like freaking deadly. One sip and you won't remember what happened. You won't remember that you slapped your mom and started to fight with your uncle

and tried to make out with a mirror like it's it's incredibly strong stuff So as Adolf course business is booming the prohibition hits and obviously the brewery is under threat Adolf is freaking out the only thing that can bring him some hope in life is that he started a sister company called Kors porcelain factory Which did nothing to do with liquor? It just produced fine China and chemical crucibles and dishes and other Porcelain Factory, which did nothing to do with liquor. It just produced fine china and chemical crucibles and dishes and other porcelain products. Which I wonder, I wonder, I mean, did the Cores family get inspiration from this to start Cores tech?

You know, they don't rely on a single industry. It seems like they've always dealt with some sort of production of materials, right? So this is what he's, you know, kind of relying on. And the Cores por porcelain factory it's doing well But it's not a course light, you know I mean so the course family they don't go bankrupt, but they were struggling Adoff was an immense amount of stress. So that's why when they found 82 year old Adoff course dead on the pavement Some believed he took his own life. It was 1929 a long nine years since the prohibition

started, and Adolf was dead. There was debate, a lot of people think that he accidentally fell out of his window to his death. Some people just thought he couldn't take the reality of losing his business. There was no suicide note found, so I guess we'll never really know for sure. Four years later, the prohibition ended, which was amazing news for the course family. They probably wished Adolf was around to see his dream back up and running, but Adolf Jr. Adolf II, this is Adolf's course son,

decides to take over the business. And within no time, the business makes a full recovery and more. Adolf Jr. was just known as Mr. Course Now. And he was incredibly disciplined. I will give him that. and I don't really mean that in the nicest way. He was intense, like it made him a good businessman and a lot of aspects, but not a great father, not a great person of being around, in my opinion. I'm sure he had a lot of enemies, like that's the vibe he's giving. He wanted his kids to perform well in three areas of their lives. Education.

Okay, make sense. Physical capability. I don't know what that means. Sounds a little ablest like you want them to be sporty, you want them to withstand 14 hour work days, like what do you mean? And lastly, physical appearance. Imagine your parents' requirement to love you

is for you to look good. So Adolf Jr. had three sons that he had to work on the business with him. We have Adolf Jr. Jr. no I'm kidding. We have Adolf the third. He was the oldest son and we're just going to call him Ad. So this is the grandson of the creator of Cors beer. Then we have his younger brothers Bill and Joe. I know very different names, okay?

We got Bill and Joe. They actually had another younger sibling, May Cors, but their dad was just always super easy on her. She was the kind of, the exception to all of his rules. Even the one where he was crazy about education, May Louise Cors was like, hey dad, can I drop out of college and get married and move all the way to Connecticut

with my new husband that you don't really like? He's like, okay, yeah, why the hell not? Not necessarily out of love for his daughter, but more like, okay, yeah, why the hell not? Not necessarily out of love for his daughter, but more so, a woman could never run the brewery. So why does it even matter? Sender away. So he was a dad. Not a good dad, but just a dad.

All he really cared about was work. Nothing else. He worked 12 to 14 hour days, six and a half days of the week. He was such a workaholic that he was six feet tall and only 110 pounds. His wife would get so frustrated because it was the same excuse every time. I was so busy with work I forgot to eat. Capitalism doesn't care about lunch breaks, like get out of here. So working with Mr. Corps sounds, if I'm being honest, kind of scary I feel like he'd make

me cry. He was really particular about everything. None of his employees were allowed to leave even the smallest of misplaced papers on their desk. It had to be clean, it had to be orderly, they weren't even allowed to have their sweaters hanging on the back of their chairs. You don't want to see it. Every little thing had to be perfect.

Mr. Cours himself even showed up to the brewery every single day in a pristine, crisp, dark, blue suit with a vest high-button goat-skinned shoes. His dress shirt was always starch white and accompanied with a bow tie, perfectly tied every single time. So his three sons, you know, they're growing up, they're seeing this, they eventually want to dress like their dad. Because I'm sure that they believe that their dad wanted that. But you would tell them, no, no, no, please don't dress like me, please dress casually.

We don't want the locals to think we're too arrogant. Meanwhile, the chorus joined every country club in Denver, Colorado, that all the rich people joined to Gossip and do rich people things. They joined Rolling Hills Country Club, which right now if you want to join, you will be wait listed, and then if approved, and only if approved, you will pay them $70,000 in just initiation fees alone to join. Of course, there's annual fees that are not included. Then we have the Lakewood Country Club. They don't even have their prices listed on their website. By the way, it looks fancy. It looks like I'd love a spot A there, as long as I'm not paying. The Denver Country Club. You want to join?

Sorry, you can't. It's invitation only. It's one of the most exclusive clubs in all of Colorado. The University Club, Cherry Creek Country Club, which says on their website, Cherry Creek Country Club is accepting limited applicants within House Referrals only. Membership prospects must be sponsored by an existing member. The club will consider all properly introduced and sponsored candidates for membership in the Cherry Creek Country Club. I don't get these. I don't understand the country club at all. I don't know either. I don't understand these. $70,000 for what?

Exactly. Then we have the Garden of the Gods Club. Garden of the Gods Club Garden of the Gods Yeah, $30,000 initiation fee as well as the Denver Club So yeah very rich people but even among some the course probably stood out as incredibly wealthy at this point So you would think the course brothers add Joe and Bill their roll up in their little for our eyes with their roll Lex says ready to show all the kind of rich people What beer money is all about you ever seen that bubbly money? No, you didn't But actually no I wouldn't say that they were good people because I don't really know that much about them

But they were super down to earth guys According to everybody that knew them they said that they didn't take their drops for granted. They were pretty scared of their dad Like the three of them they shared a pretty dingy office. It wasn't lavish. It was, it was barely big enough for them. So I guess it really depends who you're comparing them to. Like, if I'm working in their factory, I wouldn't say, oh, like the course of others are so nice.

They weren't that great of bosses. But I guess if you're comparing them to other billionaire sons, you know, they were working for their living. Like their office, they didn't have those big oak tables and marble. It was just a regular office. They really didn't try to flaunt their wealth. Employees liked the brothers to a degree.

Specifically, the other two brothers, they were incredibly conservative and had some interesting thoughts about employee boss dynamics. So Bill and Joe were under the impression that, hey, you don't like your job? Then quit. Yeah, they're like, I didn't see one of your ancestors as a founding member of this company. Then quit. Yeah, that was kind of their vibe. Why would you break into these apartments?

For money, for drugs, whatever was in there. Aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No, who's gonna catch us? What a police. It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them. I would suit up in my uniform and we're going to rob some drug dealers.

And I know how to do it really well. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100%. I saved my soul just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set, an Odyssey Originals documentary podcast series,

available now in the Odyssey app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. I'm not a big guy, man, but I love being that 30 motherf***er. So the three of them, the three brothers, they're working hard well into their 40s and their father, the three brothers, they're working hard, well into their 40s, and their father, Adolf Jr. still has granted them zero official control over the burrow. So they were just technically regular employees. They just had huge salaries. But, you know, compared to other billionaire sons, it said that they had kiddie allowances for all the work that

they did. Bill remembers his dad like this. My father believed if he showed affection, it would spoil me and my brothers. There was no levity in the house, no idle chatter at the dinner table. If you didn't have something worth saying, my father felt you shouldn't say it. Wow, okay. The three of them called their father, sir, growing up, like not dad, I mean what what and all of them worked super closely together so Adolf Jr. and his three sons were just four strongwilled people in one room I mean you're just asking for conflict but their dad Adolf Jr. would not tolerate dissension if there was a difference in opinion he would insist

that they sit there and argue things out until they reached a unanimous decision they were bound by that decision by the way. So once you said, OK, I agree. That's it. You can't go back on your word. Bill also said, it was up to me and my brothers to preserve and improve what he had given us. I never got a word of approval nor did my brothers.

A perfect job was expected of you, and anything less was under performance. As the oldest, I'd probably had the most pressure on him at all times. It was kind of an understood tradition that the oldest son would be the chairman of the board and will be next in line for CEO of everything course. He would be overseeing the company of all course operations which sounds amazing, sign me up, but it wasn't that nice at all. Adwork day in, day out, and his dad still hated him.

Why? Because he had a stutter. His dad hated it. He felt like having a speech impediment was a choice. And he would constantly remind him, you can't talk like that. What if I put you in day to day operations? How are you going to run the meetings? What will the workers think?

What if you have to make a statement to the press? What about then? You're going to embarrass the company. But to add off Junior, that wasn't even the worst part about his eldest son. It was the fact that ad was allergic to beer I'm not gonna lie that part is kind of wild That part I can kind of understand that one the other one is disgusting and despicable, but this one I'm like How would I feel if I was drinking a beer and the CEO of that beer company was allergic?

How would I feel, I don't know. Yeah, but that's fine. Yeah, it's okay, right? Ironic. So I imagine him coldly saying, no set of mind that's allergic to beer and has a stutter can run the family brewery. Like, that's the vibe he is. And Ad also had very, very bad eyesight. He was so

near sighted to the point where he couldn't see his hands without his glasses. This kind of worked in ad's favor later because he would not be drafted to World War II or to the Korean War. So a little bit about the next CEO of course brewery. He follows in his father's footsteps ad. He goes to the prestigious Exeter Academy, which is one of the most prestigious high schools to exist. Have you guys heard of it? It's a new Hampshire, and I believe the current tuition, yeah, it's a private school, is about $60,000 a year. Exeter has one of the largest endowments of any New England boarding school, which is set in 2018 to be $1.3 billion. The acceptance rate for this high school is around 10%, and about 30% of all the students from Exeter

will go on to attend an Ivy League University. It's fascinating. Each class is said to have no more than 12 to 13 kids. They sit around at an oval table, and it's all about discussion. Minimal teacher intervention. The students are encouraged to treat it like a seminar. Okay. Yeah, most of the students live on campus. They board there. Notable alumni

include 19 senators in counting, two tech founders. We've got the tech founder of Kora, you know, the... Yeah. Yeah, and then also Mark Zuckerberg. Oh, really? Yeah, in a US president, Franklin Pierce. But we don't talk about Franklin Pierce. He signed an act that would let settlers decide if slavery was allowed or not within their own territory.

So we don't like Franklin Pierce. Members of the Kennedy family, Abraham Lincoln's son, the author of the DaVinci code, and serial killer H.H. Holmes. They all went to Exeter. So, ad finds himself at Exeter just like his dad. Then, at Cornell University, just like his dad, he even served as president of the mysterious Quillandagger Society.

This is kind of, some people say it's not as good as Skolen bones from Yale, but it's very pretentious, everything. It just sounds like one of those movies. The Quillandagger Society was founded in 1893, and you have to be invited in. It's like aentious, everything. It just sounds like one of those movies. The Quillandagger Society was founded in 1893, and you have to be invited in. It's like a Cornell student thing. It's super secretive.

Nobody really knows what they do, what goes on in their meetings. Nothing. It's creepy now. They just sit there and pretend to be mysterious. Yeah, I think so. No. I think so.

But it's said, from 1913 to 1984, Quillandagger had at least one member in the US Congress every single year. They have a strong presence in the US State Department with two national security advisors, two members of policy planning and numerous assistant secretaries and senior advisors. Two members served as recent World Bank presidents and many served on the Council of Foreign Relations. Fascinating. I feel like there's just so many lives to be lived. bank presidents and many served on the council of foreign relations. Fascinating.

I feel like there's just so many lives to be lived. So they're what, trying to help each other out, like control the country. It seems like a big, just like a connection thing, right? Like a very uppity, stick up my butt, or I guess they're a butt, and don't stick a stick up my butt. You know, and they have these connections, and maybe you're part of the society, and you're like, hey, can I get a hook up with that congressman over there? What kind of life is that? It's kind of wild so impressive despite this

Add was still not really well liked by his father adds employees liked him though They thought that he was a very hard worker. He was very level headed No one at the company remembered him ever losing his temper or lashing out, no matter how much pressure he felt, which sounds like the bare minimum and it kind of makes you wonder, what were the other course brothers doing? Like, what was Mr. Coral's doing? They said that ad always had time to speak and give you a smile. A lot of people that would come in fellow business partners or potential investors, they

would actually mistake ad as just a regular employee. He was that casual in that down to Earth it seems. Ad secretary said he had a large volume of daily personal work every single day, but he was never overbearing. He would always tell me now you don't have to rush with this. It sounds like a nice guy. Yeah. So these all sound like really good leadership skills. But just a side note, the employees really hated Adolf Jr. They hated Mr. Cours. For decades, employees complained about poor work conditions, low wages, long work hours, insufficient vacation days, and since the brewery was located in this tiny, well, at the time, tiny, tiny little town of Golden Colorado, they employed most of Golden's residents.

So Mr. Cors was virtually at war with an entire town. There were continuous strikes, boycotts that would follow the company. It seemed like ad could not necessarily stand up for the employees, but he would always say, we got to take these strikes seriously. At the end of the day, the brewery is nothing without its workers. But Mr. Cors just kept on training the employees the way that he did. The strikes kept going. Some of them even turned violent. Workers rallied in front of the factory and smashed windows slash tires. The Kors family received threatening phone calls. Add felt a lot

of pressure to make it right, but adds brothers Bill and Joe. They were younger, but they were a lot more vocal. They were aggressive. They all felt like the employees were being ungrateful. So add becomes the chairman of the company, and the strikes continue. It seems like he was so shy, he just kind of silently sat there and went with his brothers and his dad's opinion. He just wanted to avoid a family fight.

He just did his job, and he did it well, and then he would go home to his family to his dream ranch house. That was his sacred routine. But you know what they say about routines. There is stalker's favorite. Add had no idea he was being followed. His 16 year old daughter pointed it out to him actually. They were spending a day with ranch horses and Cecil she loved them and she said, look dad, that's the car again. He looked up and inside was a man wearing a brown hat and dark room to glasses. Dad I saw him earlier at the living room window.

He's been there for like an hour, brook saw him too. Normally I wouldn't worry too much but his wife had told him recently about the maid. The maid said, oh man I've been seeing this random car parked outside the house. It was strange. I mean, they live on a quiet country road, they live on a ranch. There was nothing to see but their house. So, ad did not take it lightly, it was suspicious. It could only mean one thing, they're looking to steal something, cause some sort of trouble,

maybe they're spying on them, maybe it's a beer, maybe Bud Light sent them. So he's like, okay, let me see what I can go do for him. Ad walks over to the car, the driver noticed and booked it out of there. Strange, but maybe he's just not in the mood for conversation. Ad did not know that the man in this car, the man with the brown fedora, had been watching him for a while now. Had been stalking the family since their last house, and he had big, big, big plans for ads very very big big wallet.

The morning of February 9th 1960 add woke up at 5.30 in the morning like he did every other day. He liked to wake he liked to work out before the sun came up. He would do push-ups sit-ups squats jumping jacks his wife would wake up around the time he's already hitting the shower. She would always hear him whistling. He was so content, you know, he loved the ranch. Lifeless, peaceful, they spent a lot of time with their kids. Once he was done with the shower though, she knew it's go time. He would have a cup of coffee, slub on his rubber boots, check on the horses feet, them half breakfast, fix some things around the ranch, go run downstairs to the basement office, and his wife would just laugh. This guy was always on the move. He's either always working out, working on the ranch, working in the basement office, or would be in the office or the brewery working, he would just never sit still for a second.

He would run up, gotta go honey, kiss her on the cheek, run out the door. It's like a little whirlwind of a tornado. So she said, okay, have a nice day. You two, if they didn't have their evening ritual to catch up and bond, adds wife might have felt a little neglected, but they honestly had a really healthy relationship. So he jumps in the car, and the first two miles of his journey to work, they're rough.

Literally, it's all gravel roads. The roads are so tight that you have to pull over into the grass if another car is coming. There's only space for one car. It's not like a one lane. It's, doesn't matter which direction you're going. Yeah. Add jumped in this car.

And the first two miles of the journey to work were rough. Literally, it was all gravel roads. I mean, the roads were so tight that you would have to pull over into the grass if another car was coming. Like, it was just one car on the road. That's it. That's the only space you get. And there was this bridge that he really didn't like.

He would have to cross it. It's called Turkey Creek Bridge. And it's got this creek underneath it that's flowing. Typically, it's a pretty empty bridge. But if there is another car, he's got a pullover, wait. Then he has to get on to the bridge and hope that there's another, not another car coming at him really quick, because it's just this pullover, wait. Then he has to get on to the bridge and hope that there's another, not another car coming at him really quick because it's just this whole song and dance.

But today, less than five minutes into his commute, he gets to the bridge and there is a car blocking him. It looks like the car is having some sort of problems. The driver is out of the car, trying to fix something. The hood of the car is popped open. Now, like I said, out is very much, go, is very much go go go go go type of guy. He's thinking alright let me get out help this guy with his engine. At worst case scenario I can help him push his car back so I can get through the bridge. I mean I gotta go to

work. I gotta meeting. I need to be on time for this should take me a second. So he leaves his car in park. He leaves his key in the engine. His music is on, his windows are down. Hey, sir, can I help you? A tall, thin man in a dark suit. Because this was the normal attire back then. Ty, brown Fedora, turned around. And he was wearing dark-rimmed glasses. And he was staring at Ad. Ad had seen this man before, but he didn't realize it.

There was no way to know that this man that he was face to face with now was 31-year-old Joseph Corbat Jr. Joseph had handcuffs and leg irons in his backseat, a ransom note in his glove box, and a pistol in his coat pocket, and he had been waiting for ad. So what's the trouble? Oh, my engine won't start. So add rushes over to help Joe, and Joe steps forward, takes out his pistol, and add cores was face to face with a kidnapper. Add was late to work. There were a very important meetings that day, and I won't say that add was never late,

but he usually called ahead. His secretary thought it was a little bit strange. He's usually a much more courteous person. So she rang for ads' wife and this is in the 60s where manners were everything. So she starts with, hello Mrs. Quares, this is Joanne at the brewery. How are you? I'm fine, thank you. How are you? Fine, thank you. The reason I'm calling is because Ad hasn't gotten here yet and Bill asked me to call and see if he's still at home. Uh, no, no, he's not here. Oh, well, do you know where he's at? He was supposed to be here right now for the executive community meeting?

Well, I don't know, he left out about eight. I thought he was headed straight there, he should be there. Well, maybe he had a few stops to make, I don't think so. Okay, well, thank you, Mrs. Corris, I'll check on the course portion in factory, maybe. Thank you. Joanne called. He wasn't there. She starts getting worried. She just had this heightened breathing for a reason she couldn't really explain. It just wasn't like him. She called practically everyone that had new doctors, hospitals, and as she's making these calls an incoming call.

Hello, this is Joanne. A state patrol officer wanted to talk to Bill Cors. Adds Carr had been found abandoned on Turkey Creek Bridge. Bill and Jo rush on over the get out of the car anxious. The constant sound of the creek rushing under the bridge probably doesn't help with that anxiety. An officer met them there. Are you sure this is your brother's car? Yes, yes we're sure. We happen to find these two hats in the creek. Oh my God,

that that's ads baseball cap. It's his lucky hat. That's what he calls it. The Fedora, we've never seen that one before. We can we see them? The brothers, they're smart. They see that the Fedora and the baseball cap are not the same size. This isn't ads. That means it's somebody's else. Another detail they noticed is that neither of the hats were soaking wet, so they hadn't been in the creek for that long. The police pointed out the tired marks on the bridge. Looks like someone was in a hurry. The chorus brothers started helping the patrolman look around for some clues. Maybe he went to use the restroom, he couldn't hold it in, maybe he got lost in the woods or something. But then they saw blood. It wasn't

a lot, it was hardly visible actually. It was just few droplets here and there, rather than like a paddle. There were droplets near the railing, droplets near the ground, near the dirt, and the choirs brothers, they remained optimistic. Maybe ad got into a fist fight. Maybe it was road rage, you know how he is. Maybe someone picked him up and took him to the hospital. You know what? Who was to even say that's ads blood? Could be somebody else's.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department tried to remain calm, but they now declared ad cores officially a missing persons. Deputy showed up to sweep the scene once more, and they caught a few things that the other officers failed to find, such as a puddle of blood, a big puddle of blood, which wasn't looking good for anyone involved. They found ads prescription glasses that were cracked, the eye doctor confirmed it belonged to ad. Some of these deputies they had even gone to middle school with ad, I mean this is a small town, so they knew who ad was. They knew that he wasn't the type of kid or a type of man now, to back down from a fight.

Sure, he was a bit more reserved with his brothers and his dad, but he was not the one to mess with. So the theory is, okay, he probably got on the bridge, got into a fight. Over, what, a road rage, over a woman? That doesn't make sense, but he gets into a fight, a scuffle happens, blood, blood splatters, but then what? Nobody thought of a kidnapping? They did. But they didn't know how to say it. I mean, the reason that he got into a fight was probably clear. The reason that ad is gone is because he's

been kidnapped for ransom. So let's take a step back and talk about ad. Did he have enemies? Did someone have something against him? Did he have a mistress hiding away somewhere? Was he targeted for the sole fact that he was a corps error? Ad was married after college to a woman named Mary Grant. Mary came from an influential family. Her

grandfather was Colorado's third governor. He also made a fortune in mining. Her grandmother was known as a socialite before that word even really existed. Everyone said Mary's grandmother was a pioneer in Denver's cultural and social life. So the woman knew how to host a dinner party. Mary's grandmother was a pioneer in Denver's cultural and social life. So the woman knew how to host a dinner party. Mary's dad was a prominent Denver attorney. He went to Yale, then graduated Harvard Law School.

Almost everyone in Mary's family was prominent, successful, and a revered member of society. A lot of them had street names, park names, and even schools named after them. The two of them, they get married, and they go on their honeymoon to Bermuda. They originally wanted to go to Europe, but, you know, World War II was a thing at the time, so. Which sounds like the biggest first world-rich people problems. Love that? Mary was a driving force for AdCourse.

There was just something about Mary. She was independent, intellectual. She was very naturally sociable. She was educated, she volunteered, joined clubs, supported charities, but she was fun. She loved a good cocktail, she could go for an occasional smoke and she even played golf. Which sounds so normal and tame now, but back then it was not common at all. In fact, Mr. Quars had another problem with that.

Other than his speech impediment, his vision problems, and you Quartz had another problem with that. Other than his speech and pediment, his vision problems, and you know, the list, oh that he was allergic to beer, he had another problem. Was his wife? He felt like Mary just wasn't obeying her husband enough, he did not appreciate it. Her sole job was to sit at home and pop out babies, don't speak quiet, hello, so easy, but she wasn't doing it. The two, I don't know why I expected them to hate each other. I just, I guess that's the rich people trope, but they were in love.

Mary told everyone she was sure, she was positive that Ad was the love of her life. He was kind and caring and romantic, and even after 20 years of marriage, he would still tell her, you know, I don't say this often, I really should, but you know, I couldn't be happier, Mary. We've got each other, the kids are doing great.

I'm such a lucky man. But there was just this one thing that he wanted. A ranch house. That was his dream. I mean, they've got four kids, imagine all the space. They could get a few horses. Soon it became the only thing that I had talked about. Finally, Mary's like, okay, okay.

Well, we'll leave our beautiful Denver house and buy 480 acres, 15 miles south of Denver. Yeah, 480 acres. Wow, okay, so he wants, in eight. He wants a country. He wants his own country, yeah. Yeah, I know you were thinking like

Ranch House style house, no, they're all like okay. Like a whole town. Insane. It was 15 miles south of Denver, close to Denver, and only 12 miles away from the brewery. It was kind of right in the middle. They designed their home from scratch, and it was beautiful.

It wasn't even considered luxury by upper class standards, is what people said. Like very humble? Yeah, so the house itself was really humble, but they loved it. They actually thought it was, they were like cosplaying, they found the humbleness of the house charming and homey.

So he finally gets to be a rancher. And every morning he would wake up, try to stay fit. He was 43 years old, but he looked and felt a lot younger than that. I mean, in the winters, he would go skiing up and down Colorado. He was in an amazing shape. In comparison, I'd had the life that Joseph Corbett could only dream of.

In fact, it kind of made Joe angry. At the mere thought that there were guys out there that lived such a life for what, for the sole reason that they were born to a specific set of parents, Joseph Joe Corbett was born in Seattle. And I think from the get-go, his birth was an odd one. A little over a year before he was born, his older brother, six-year-old Joseph Corbett Jr. ran into the street to chase his ball and was hit by a car. He died. His parents were devastated.

They decided to have another kid to fill that void to help with the grief, and some people thought it was odd because they named him Joseph Corbett Jr. After the brother? Yeah. I maybe I would understand if there was a bigger time between the death of their first son and the birth of their second, but it almost feels like they're just replacing that first son. So that's why people thought it was odd, right?

Growing up, Joe was a nice kid. He was painfully shy. He got along with kids though. Like, he wasn't weird. He was just shy. He just didn't like his parents. He felt like his mom was weird. He used the word strange.

He said, my mom is strange. His dad was a gambler and an alcoholic. He would eventually leave the family and marry a bunch of other women. A lot of them were like 15 years younger than him, which was quite scandalous back in the day. Nevertheless, Joe's parents were actually really smart. His dad was an editor for the Seattle Post, and he was on the board of trustees of the Seattle Press Club. They raised Joe with a strong emphasis on education.

And the guy was smart. He got good grades, he was in debate team, German club, science club, he played soccer, softball, he worked after school, he won writing contests with his short stories and essays. He graduated top 20% of his high school. But even then, everyone, his teachers believed he would have ranked higher if he was just more interested in the schoolwork. Joe was later admitted to the University of Washington,

where he scored a 91 out of 99 on his admittance exams, which the average score for University of Washington attendees at the time? 50. He was a bit of an entrepreneur too. So his story kind of gives a bit of that cringy tech CEO, backstory vibe. He loved college, he loved physics, he joined a club called the Quantum Club. Oh yeah, he liked it, but his real passion was money.

He started this typing company. He could type real fast. This was when computers weren't like the norm. So not every 13-year-old could type up an essay in point two seconds. Like, nobody really knew how to type. It was a learned skill. His fingers were super speed.

So he starts a business, typing other students' business documents, papers, essays, and even letters. He had a very business-oriented brain and a high IQ, and he had a lot going for him. But he just, as college went on, he would pull more and more away from people. Maybe he had immense social anxiety, maybe he just hated people. It's hard to say, we'll never know. He avoided even the smallest hello on campus, he hated it.

He also never had a girlfriend, but not because he was socially anxious. He had this to say about women. Women aren't to be trusted. They're dirty, disagreeable, expensive, and worst of all, can't keep confidential information to themselves. It sounds like a girl must have told her best friend that Joe sucked in bed, and now he's butt-heart.

The last part was a little too telling. I tell you, Joe, a little too telling. And then over the summer, a very traumatic thing happened. Okay, which is a really weird transition, but here we are. I'm sorry. Joe's mother passed away, and it was a bizarre accident. So I'm called it a freak accident. His mom fell from the kitchen balcony onto an iron well grate. So she just fell from her kitchen balcony. But nobody saw her fall. She was just found on the ground by Joe. Rush to the hospital. She never regained consciousness and after five days, she passed away.

Everyone that knew Joe said something about her passing changed Joe, not in the typical way. I mean, he's 21. It's understandable that he's devastated, but it seems like something just snapped. He was a year away from graduating college, but he didn't go back. He didn't go back. He even had plans to go to Berkeley for pre-med, but he did not go back. He moved to San Francisco, started working these odd jobs here and there, and then he murdered a man. Whoa.

So Joe's life is interesting in the sense, I don't know if it's the lack of information that we have, but it's like everything was set up for success. Yeah. I mean, his parents, yes, they were weird, they were strange, his dad was a bit of an alcoholic and liked to date questionable people, but at the same time, they made good money, they were weird, they were strange. His dad was a bit of an alcoholic and liked to date questionable people, but at the same time, they made good money.

They provided for him. He had everything that you could ever ask for. I mean, to most people, Joe is privileged, as well as that. But here's Joe, making sure to commit all the crimes, make all the wrong decisions. So four days before Christmas, Joe said he was trying to find a good place for target practice.

He loved his guns. And as he's driving, he stumbles on a hitchhiker. He's like, well, Christmas is in four days. I'm feeling generous. Hey, Hoppin, I can give you a ride. Where are you going? Now, the man that gets into the passenger side is like, well, you know what? Maybe we can just start heading downtown.

So they start driving. They start talking and he's like, you know what? You're kind of fun. What's your name again? Joe, I'm Alan. You're so much fun. You're, what's your name again? Joe, I'm Alan. You're so much fun. We should be drinking buddies. It's almost Christmas.

Go to the nearest bar and I'll buy you drinks. I mean, you're so awesome for even picking me up. Joe was not interested. He would much rather read a book or shoot a gun. And at one point, according to Joe, I don't know how this transition happened. He was very vague. The hit-tryker, Alan, grabbed for Joe's gun. And Joe had no choice but to grab it back and shoot him,

twice in the head. Joe alleges it was self-defense. But afterwards, he does not turn himself in. Instead, he dumps his car with all the blood inside, and the body of Alan Lee read just a few miles away. He was arrested a month later in Beverly Hills. Yeah, I know. At first he denied it. He was like, who's that guy? I don't know that guy. What? But then the police

found a bloody hat in his boarding house room, maybe another fedora. So then Joe changed his story to self-defense. The evidence honestly pointed to a robbery gone bad because Alan's watch in his wallet were missing. Alan was shot twice in the back of the head. I just don't, none of that sounds like self-defense to me But the court believes it. They offer him a plea deal plead guilty to second-degree murder for 10 years in prison There would be no trial. He agreed. Yeah, he would later tell an FBI agent It was a terrible thing. I mean we got into a fight and I shot him but I pled guilty and it was due to my guilt Complex then I became a you know, I got into a fight and I shot him, but I pled guilty. And it was due to my guilt complex,

then I became a, you know, I got into punishment complex. So he's like saying, oh, I'm just like so guilty. I just feel so guilty over the smallest things. Anyway, my mother was a very strange person, and I feel partly responsible for her death. I procrastinated in repairing the railing around the second story porch, where she fell from and she was killed.

Anyway, I mean, it's only natural for children to have a desire to kill their parents. And to be honest, from time to time, I've had that desire, but I did not kill my mother. He's just, the FBI agent did not ask. I just want to let that, you know, he didn't ask. Okay. Okay, yeah.

Yeah, later one of Joe's childhood friends said, Joe was not the sweet innocent little boy that everyone is portraying. He was a amazing at shoplifting at the age of eight. He would steal from stores. When he went to the University of Washington, he would come back home with lab equipment from the Chem Lab that he had stolen and he was so proud of it. When he was just 12 years old, he scared me because he asked our group of friends.

Well, he didn't ask, he wondered out loud. What would it be like to kill someone? He told us that he was always interested in trying new things, so. After three years in prison for murder, Joe was transferred to a minimum security prison. It wasn't a really minimum security prison, more so like a rehab.

The guards were supervisors wardens, were superintendents, there was no twisted razor wire there was no towers with guards there were no guards on every court it was like really relax it's like my house so Joe sneaks out and escapes it was listen the escape is anti-climactic if i'm being honest with you and i love a good prison escape but he might as well just have walked out of there so he makes a tele and he starts working whatever job he can find under the table and he starts going by the name Walter Osborne This was the name of a stepdad who was later so confused. Wait, why did he use my name and run around the country? Can upping people? That's weird. Joe was working minimum wage jobs

Just trying to make ends meet which was annoying He hated these dead-end jobs. He was mentally under- stimulated and he would say, oh God, look at that coworker over there. I about the hardest thing he's read was a porn magazine. No, literally the hardest thing. Meanwhile, I read books on chemistry and physics and math. I'm an island to eminent intellectual. I should be living better than them. I should be. So he starts thinking of ways to get ahead. At first it started off kind of small. What kind of? He stole $700 from a supermarket. Then he thought, okay, maybe I can rob a liquor store.

No, I don't even drink. Maybe a bank. Ah, it's too risky. I mean, think about it. That's not worth it. He even talked to his coworkers about it during work. A bank iced? A good one.

What would that get me? Huh? Max 100K, which is a lot, but I can't retire on 100k. I can't live the life that I want on 100k. I'm too young. Now I need to get in the millions somehow. That's the only way. With that kind of cash, with millions, I can go to Mexico. Australia, you ever been there? Or maybe a country without an extradition treaty to the US? I can just disappear.

A coworker said Joe started bragging about how he was planning the biggest score of his life, which is odd considering the fact that Joe hates people and he doesn't socialize but he doesn't shut up about his plan to commit the crime of the century. It's like, okay Joe, what's going on? After about two years of that, Joe buys a typewriter and he starts stalking his victim, his biggest score. He orders four pairs of leg irons, four pairs of handcuffs, and a revolver. He took out library books on foreign countries, he starts learning Spanish Portuguese, even

started reading up on criminology and methods of detection. His plan was to block out on the way to work, kidnap him, and demand a $4 million ransom from the Corps Dynasty. The ransom letter was sent to a distraught Mary Cores and it said, Mrs. Cores, your husband has been kidnapped. His car is by Turkey Creek, call the police or FBI and he dies, cooperate and he lives. Ransom, this is what I want. Two million dollars and tens, three million dollars and twenty.

There will be no negotiating. I want the bills used non-consecative serial numbers, unrecorded and unmarked. Warning, we will know if you call the police or record the serial numbers. He left details on how she was going to send a signal after she got the money together, and he ended it with, understand this. Add-all's life is in your hands. We have no desire to commit murder. All we want is money.

If you follow the instructions, he will be released unharmed within 48 hours after the money is received. Mary was distraught. It was too late to not involve the FBI. She kind of wanted them gone. All she cared about was she wanted her husband back. She didn't care about the FBI. She didn't care about catching the guy. She just wants her husband back. She had a dilemma. Does she turn in this ransom note to the police? And the end, she gave it to the FBI and they got to work. They were able to track down the envelope and paper that was used, the two stores that sell it in the Denver area, and they even found the tie-biter brand

that was used to write the letter. Because in the 60s, this is the investigation work. This is what you got to do. That was something. In the meantime, Mary was withdrawing money for the ransom, and she saw the FBI record some serial numbers and even marked several of the bills, which she was not pleased with. They explained to her, here's what's probably happening. One kidnapper stays with the hostage. Your husband. The other one secures the money. The one with the money, when they're safely away, they'll send a signal to the one with

the hostage. Your husband. And when they're not caught, your husband will be released. The two kidnappers will meet up at a pre-arranged destination to divvy up the loot. We're hoping to track the one with the money until he meets with his accomplice. But don't worry, we will not arrest either of them until your husband is safely released. That's usually how it plays out. Mary was taking sedatives, she was physically ill from this, this was the love of her life. Even after decades together, they felt like time was too short for them. Mary was also pissed. The kidnappers might be watching the house, so why the hell are the deputies

just hanging outside, standing, shouting, sitting on police cars, somewhere huddled near the house, smoking cigarettes and f***ing laughing? No wonder the kidnappers won't contact us. I already got the money together. I sent out the notice in the newspaper. We are doing everything that they asked. Look at them. I want them gone. So she releases a statement in the newspaper demanding the sheriff's office back down, not

get involved. And they complied. The FBI did not. They stayed. They continued to tap her phone and listen to any phone calls that might come to the house. They were waiting for further directions from the kidnapper. On where to drop off the money, you get it. The phone rings. Hello? Is this Mrs. Chorse of Adolf Chorse the third? Yes, yes it is.

Don't say anything. Just listen. I've got your husband. Don't try to find him. Only I know where he is. He's hidden. If you ever want to see him again, do what I say Okay, is he hurt? Is he hurt? Can I talk to him? I said don't talk your husband is fine But listen, I need $500,000 in all old bills all 20s put the money in a briefcase Leave it on the back porch of the old sawmill a half a mile out of town Tuesday midnight. Don't tell anyone understand you want 500k but yes, that's what I said all in use 20 dollar bills But you said 4 million the agents disconnected the line Mrs. Course. We're sorry. That wasn't the real kidnapper We'll be getting a lot of these people just trying to get money out of you during this time. I'm so sorry

What are you? Yeah, so this happens a lot in high profile kidnappings. Prank calls, fake leads, and people demanding money. I wonder what kind of consequences do those people get if they get caught, right? Yeah, but probably it's delayed because everyone's looking for ad cores right now. But I wonder, yeah, I wonder how big the cost is. Is that part you contributing to the kidnapping? Because you're asking for

ransom and I know it's just but like even beyond that because I don't know the answer to that, but just the fact that people do that is in say no. And Mary had to answer every single call because truly no one knew which one was the real kidnapper. She was shocked to see how sick people can be. How many monsters? You're really out there. Adds life was at stake and she was getting prank calls. People trying to get money out of her. It was disgusting. She felt like she was falling apart, but the worst came on Valentine's Day. A note, a car arrived. Happy Valentine's Day sweetheart. You are and always will be my Valentine. Love forever, add.

This wasn't a prank. I don't know maybe it would have been better if it had been, but so that Mary could tap into that anger, channel her frustration, and it was from add. He always set up these cute little things for her foreign advance so he never missed a holiday or a chance to tell her that he loved her. So Mary was crushed. Meanwhile, the FBI, they're making some progress. They were able to narrow down the car making model, partial license plate to about four cars in the area. One of them was registered to a Walter Osborne.

So they tracked down the first three. They were not the kidnapper. Walter was a promising lead. They went to his address on file and the land lady said, oh, sorry, you just missed him. He just moved out last Wednesday. Wednesday. Wednesday morning?

That's the day after ad disappeared. Yeah he told me you some last minute decision to go back to school or something. So where the hell is this Walter guy? The FBI would soon learn that he was a new jersey. Joe was taking his car cross country essentially. He didn't have money to rent motels so he slept in the car. In the Lanark city he lit his car on fire. The car exploded.

The stupid part, other than the fact that he lit a match and was running away from a taking time bomb, was that Jody and Hyde the car. So the police found it the next day and they were able to salvage the license plate that belonged to Walter Osborne. So Joe starts freaking out. This drew attention to the fact that he was now on the East Coast because of this He flew it he fled to Toronto where he tried to blend in and then eventually he made the FBI's top 10 most wanted list So he left town. How is he gonna get the money? Oh, yeah, let me explain this list was distributed nationwide and in the bordering countries of Mexico and Canada

So Joe finds out and he finds out in the bordering countries of Mexico and Canada. So Joe finds out and he finds out in the weirdest way he was headed to work in Toronto, picked up a newspaper and guess whose face was on the front cover. He's, it looked just like him. He did nothing to try and change his appearance and it just said, have you seen this man? Because this is ad cores we're talking about. We're not talking about a random American that was kidnapped. We're talking about the core's family. So Joe Skips' work fled town with a stolen car and headed for Vancouver. You're probably wondering where Ad is and all of this. Was he moving

from city to city with Joe, or are they on the run together? Ad was found seven months after his disappearance. Well his body was. So what happened on that bridge? There was one thing Joe didn't plan for. He had his ransom note, he had planned this for months, he had his leg irons, his handcuffs, but he didn't know that ad, even though ad was shy at times, was not the type of person to just let himself be handcuffed and pushed into a car. He was a strong man, he was in his 40s,

he felt and looked younger, he did pushups at 5.30 in the morning, he was over six feet tall, close to 200. So, Ad, when pointed with a gun to his face, grabbed the gun, tried to wrestle it out of Joe's hand. Joe fell back, pulled Ad with him, both of them slammed into the bridge railing, and Ad's beloved baseball cap and Joe's fedora both flew into the creek under the bridge. Ad's glasses, they fell too. Remember, he can't see his hands in front of him without his glasses. Ad managed to push Joe away and started making a wrong for it. Joe in that moment had two choices.

Let ad cores tell the police what just happened. And you think the police are gonna idly sit by and look over at an attempted kidnapping of a cores error? Or Joe would try to protect his freedom with the very thing that would potentially land him in prison for the rest of his life. He had to shoot. He raised his gun, fired two shots, both hit, and the back.

Blood sprayed everywhere. His chest cavity was punctured. His right lung was punctured. Blood sprayed just all over the place on the railing on the ground. And Joe was stunned. He was the one that fired the shots but he was acting shocked. I guess he didn't plan on this. He knelt down near Adds' body and he realized that Adds was breathing fast, coughing, and Blood was coming out of his mouth. He was losing consciousness. Even with immediate medical care, it'd be a miracle if Adds arrived. So Joe acted quick.

He got the blanket from his car, rolled adds body into it, placed him on the floorboard. At this point, ad was either dead or minutes away from death. Joe closed the door, hopped and sped off. The whole thing lasted less than four minutes. Meanwhile, Joe was freaking out. He didn't want to kill ad cores. I mean, he had killed before it wasn't great.

He just wanted $4 million. He panics and drives to the best dump site he remembers, which is Devil's Head Peak. He drove up through Ad's body on the ground, wrapped in the blanket. Rummaged through his pockets, but he was disappointed. Ad never carried cash. Maybe he had $50 in his wallet. He had a paddock-fulip watch watch, which is very expensive, and a silver-tie clasp. But both of them had his initials engraved on it. He could not take either of those. They literally had his victim's names on it. So discouraged, Joe drives back home, and he cleans the gun, gets rid of the typewriter, he used to type the ransom note. Yeah, that's how they get you, the typewriter you use.

But he still mailed the ransom note. By some miracle's how they get you, the tie-biter you use. But he still mailed the ransom note. By some miracle, he thought maybe I could still walk away from this whole thing rich. By that evening, all the news could talk about was ad cores being kidnapped. And it made Joe twitchy. It made him sweaty. It made him. He was glancing out his window every two seconds. He had to leave. So he packed his things and told the land lady, I got to go. I'm going to college, sorry, bye. Meanwhile, the FBI are gearing up for an intense search, the search for ad cores. It was intense, I mean, nobody knew how many people were even involved in the kidnapping,

it could have been a whole crew of people. So the FBI, they talked to as many potential witnesses as they could, they find some people who had seen like a yellow mercury parked near the bridge. So they get a partial license plate and that's how we're led to Walter Osborne. They had tips coming in from Winnipeg after he was listed on the top 10 most wanted list and finally working with the Canadian police, they arrested him in Vancouver. He was calm, he looked them in the eye and Joe said, I'm your man, I'm not armed, I give up. He was extra-dited and tried, and there's not much else I can say to the trial,

the defense didn't even call any witnesses, it was a pretty tame trial. Joe was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. He was imprisoned in a Colorado prison called Old Max, and it was not a pleasant place, Joe would not be escaping, but he would get out. Colorado later changed the law to require a parole hearing after 10 years for those serving life sentences. He was a model and mate and they wanted to let him go. There was public outcry, but he was like, go. He only served 18 and a half years for murdering ad cores. He was released at

the age of 52. And he said this really bizarre thing in an interview. He said, I just take it in stride. It's one of those bizarre things that happened, and I've put it behind me. It's a gruesome memory. What? Yeah. And they're like, that's, yeah, that sounds about right. Insane.

In 2009, 82-year-old Jill Corbat died. He was suffering from terminal cancer, and he shot himself in the head to take his life. As for Mary Cores, she sold the ranch and her life became a string of deaths. She was 44 when Ad died. Her mom died when she was 50 and then nine years later her dad died, but the worst was when her oldest daughter died at 26 years old. What happened? Cancer. Mary herself died at the age of 60 and she never remarried and she never stopped grieving

ad. The chorus family, they're pretty private wealthy family so you could look it up but they don't really do a lot of interviews like they don't do like an architectural digest home tour but you can you know keep up with them if you want online. So they're all living their lives running a bunch of multi-billion dollar companies. But there's a question that still lingers. Did Joe do it alone? Some workers of ads house remembered at times there would be two people in the car,

not just one. Another witness swears by the fact that they saw a dodge near the bridge the day of the disappearance. The FBI said that he worked alone, but there's always that suspicion in the air. And that is the story of one of the most notorious kidnappings in American history. How one of these sons, the errors of the rich, one of the richest families, has been kidnapped and murdered. I hope you guys enjoyed this week's mini-suit and make sure to stay tuned on Wednesday for the main episode.

Bye! guys enjoyed this week's mini-suit and make sure to stay tuned on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye!