True Crime All The Time - John Gilbert Graham

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

John Gilbert Graham was responsible for the deaths of 44 people in 1955. Graham created a bomb and hid it in his mother’s luggage before she boarded a flight from Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon. He killed his mother and everyone on board in an attempt to collect an insurance policy worth more than $30,000.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss John Gilbert Graham, a man who told FBI agents that he didn't care if there had been thousands of people on the plane. He was going to do what he had planned to do. But the question is why? There's the obvious motive of money in the form of life insurance proceeds and his mother's estate. But John and his mother, Daisie, had a complicated relationship. He worked for her but had developed a deep-seated hatred for his mother from an early age.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 32 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me as always is my partner in True Crime. Mike Gibson, give me, how are you? Hey, man, I'm doing good. How about you? I am having a very, very good week. I like that. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Amanda Batcher. Hey, Amanda. Teresa Beltran. What's going on, Beltran. Jeannie Coleman. Hey, Jeannie. Heather Audet. I appreciate that, Heather. Grant Peterson. What's going on, Peterson? Cal Cloud. Hey, Cloud. Kelsey. What's up, Kelsey? Emma, Melody Simon. Thank you, Simons. Christina Mitchell. Hey, Christina. Childish Casino. What's going on, Casino? Andrew Link.

Hey, Andrew. Sierra. Appreciate that, Sierra. Sammy Matthew. Ashley Duncan. What's happening, Ashley? Lee, Searle. Hey, Lee. Justco. Well, appreciate that, Just. Gina. Gina. Cat. Oh, there's cat. Stephen Woody. What's going on? Woody. And last but not least, Alyssa Charbonneau. Ah, Sabano, though, fine wine. And then if we go back into the vault, this week we selected Tamara Myers-White. Hey, Tamara. Yeah, appreciate the new support, to continued support. We had some great PayPal donations from Richard Amy. Hey, Richard. John Sellards gave a sizable donation. Appreciate that, John. And Jennifer Shaw. Hey, Jennifer. So thanks to everyone. Gibbs, we have a lot out right now.

Last night, Saturday night, we put a brand new Patreon-only episode out on Claude Dallas Jr. Yeah. You know, this was a strange case. The murder of two state game wardens in southwestern Idaho. Dallas was a controversial killer. Some people believed he was a man defending his right to live off the land and avoid the government.

And then others saw him simply as a. cop killer. Yeah, you just have to listen to that Patreon-only episode and determine what you think. Yeah, decide for yourself. We also have a brand-new episode out on True Crime All-Time Unsolved, where we're talking about the disappearance of Elijah Diaz. Yeah, this occurs in 2015. Very interesting case. We're kind of going down a few rabbit holes. We're also looking at another disappearance at the same time and talk about some similarities and kind of chase it down from there. All right, buddy. Are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I'm ready. We are talking about John Gilbert Graham, who was responsible for the deaths of 44 people

in 1955. Graham created a bomb and hit it in his mother's luggage before she boarded the flight from Denver, Colorado to Portland, Oregon. So he killed not only his mother, but also everyone on board this flight in an attempt to collect an insurance policy worth a little more than $30,000. I mean, I get it. Well, I don't get it. What I'm trying to say is $30,000 doesn't seem like a lot of money today to do that. But in 1955, it probably was substantially more.

It probably was. How much do you think $30,000 would be today? I'd say like $400,000. Okay. I have no clue. Yeah. But either way, a lot of money. Sure.

But to kill not only your mother, but 43 other people. Now, what I'll say is you and I have done a lot of episodes where family members have killed other family members for money, life insurance, greed, all of that. We've never done a case where someone has blown up an entire plane. Yeah, I mean, think about taking out all those innocent lives. John Gilbert Graham, commonly known as Jack, was born on January 23rd, 1932 in Denver, Colorado. His parents were William Graham and Daisy King. Daisy Walker King was born on March 9th, 1902 in Buena Vista, Colorado, according to

find a grave. Jack's father died when he was just five years old. Jack was sent to a boy school, but he wanted to live with his mother on a ranch. After she remarried, Reverend Lloyd Kellams told news outlets in January 1957, Jack hated his mother with a passion. It stemmed from the way she treated him as a child. One associate told the Daily Sentinel that Jack liked his mother, but hated his stepfather. So we have some conflicting information here. Not surprising in those old articles. Well, and not surprising that you would get two different people with two different points of view. I think you could get that today.

But I would say, you know, one of the things that jumped out at me was, you know, Jack's father dying at five years old and he sent to a boy school. Well, why is that? He still has a mother. Right. You know, it wasn't in the research why that happened. And so it did kind of make sense that maybe he did have a hatred towards his mother. We ultimately know what he's going to do to her.

Daisy King was married three times. She was first married to a man named Tom Gallagher. She, they had a daughter named Helen Ruth Gallagher, who was Jack's half-sister. She was born in 1923 and died in 2004. Daisy's next marriage was to William Graham, Jack's father, So Jack was her second child. In 1941, Daisy married John Earl King, who died in 1954.

From 1941 to 1948, Daisy and John lived on a ranch in Colorado. The ranch was sold in 1948. They then lived in Yampa, Colorado, until Earl died on October 16, 1954. According to the FBI, Jack lived with relatives. as a boy and left home when he was 16. So again, his mother's out there, but doesn't appear to want really much to do with him. What it sounds like to me.

She's left him in the care of relatives, and then at 16, he leaves home. Could you see why maybe he developed some hatred or animosity towards her over the years? Well, yeah, I mean, she chose not to have a life with him, is what it appears to be. Yeah, no, I'm not saying that's reason to do what he's ultimately going to do. Jack finished the ninth grade and was granted at a high school diploma when he passed the entrance exams at Denver University and was admitted as a student.

Is that how you did it? Sort of, just a few years earlier. So you finished the sixth grade, but passed the test and they gave you a high school diploma and then you went right on to Harvard? Pretty much, exactly. Okay. Jack served in the Coast Guard from April 1948 to January 1949. And according to the FBI website was honorably discharged on the basis of minority. I really don't understand what that means.

But that's what the FBI website said. There was a note in his records that he was AWOL for 63 days. That's a long period of time to go AWOL. That's what I thought. You know, the military takes that kind of seriously. And they typically go looking for you after so many days. They don't like that. Records from the Denver County Probation Department showed that Jack were as a payroll clerk

at a manufacturing place in Denver in March of 1951. He stole blank checks and used a company check protector to fill out 42 checks for $100 each. So what he did was he forged the company owner's name and he cashed the checks at different businesses in Denver. He got $4,200 in cash, and he spent $2,000 of it to buy a convertible, which he used to leave Denver. Kind of a smart guy. You know what that really reminds me of is the Catch Me If You Can guy. Yeah, with Leo. With Leo, I met that guy in real life. Yeah, I met him at a conference one time. But hey, $4,200 bucks, a lot of money. It was. If you can buy a convertible for $2,000. Yeah, you're doing okay with that forgery stuff.

So he leaves Denver. Then he was arrested on September 11th, 1951 in Lubbock, Texas for hauling whiskey in violation of Texas laws. Whiskey runner. He ran through a roadblock and officers fired shots into his car. They also found a gun inside the car. Man, they took that whiskey running seriously down there. I guess, but this is 1951.

And this is not prohibition. So I'm not really sure what's going on unless maybe it's a little moonshine type of deal or something like that. Maybe or maybe just a dry county or something. Oh, that could be. That could be. Jack spent 60 days in the county jail and was released to Denver County to face the forgery charges. He was convicted of forgery on November 3rd, 1951, but received a suspended sentence with five years, probation, he made a cash restitution of $2,500.

Part of his probation required payment of a little bit over $1,800 in restitution. He made restitution payments from January, 195 to November, 1955. So he had to make payments, right? It's not like he had all this money left over. It was said that he had spent most of the money on drinking parties and women. They bought a fast car and then went out, drinking and partying with women. Yep.

Okay. According to the FBI website, probation report showed that Jack didn't realize the seriousness of the offense at the time of his arrest. The records also showed that Jack's mother was overprotective. So I'm really having a tough time getting a read on Jack's mother. Right. Yeah. She wants him.

She doesn't want him. She's overprotective. Yet he lives with relatives. it's hard to kind of figure out how the relationship really went. Jack reported to the probation department every month, and he worked as a heavy-duty equipment mechanic from January 53 to December 54. In 1953, Jack married Gloria Elson, later Gloria Graham. They had two children together.

The Daily Sentinel reported that Jack once lived in Grand Junction and worked as a mechanic, Ray Boggs from Hallam and Boggs, truck and implement company, described Jack as a quiet guy with an explosive temperament. Well, those are the scary ones. The quiet people that can explode. I agree with you. And I think we've talked about that before, right? Just people that bottle it in, bottle it in until at some point,

it cannot be contained. And that's where you better watch out. Yeah. So he worked for bogs from June to October of 1953, but he was fired after he threatened to get even with bogs and some others at the company. Apparently Jack had damaged an engine and his wages were garnished to pay for part of the damage. He was told to get out and stay out, something that I know you've been told many times. You told me every time I come over here. Oh, yeah, myself included, but at a lot of places that, you know, you've been told you.

you've been. However, Boggs did say about Jack. He wasn't really a bad sort of fellow. He just blew his top. But this wasn't the only report of Jack's temper. His sister, Helen, told the FBI that she had never felt at ease with her brother in the years leading up to, you know, what's ultimately going to happen. She knew that he had what she called pent up violence and she really didn't like being around him. She said in the past he had made statements that he thought were funny, but she thought were violent and warped. You know,

we had a voicemail last week where, you know, someone was talking about kind of our dry sense of humor. Right. And someone reached out to me and said that they kind of have, they think they have like a warped, twisted sense of humor that a lot of people don't get. And, you know,

Maybe that's what this guy had, but, you know, I don't know. Violent and Warped is kind of a rough description. It is. It's a different classification. I also think when your sister says that she doesn't want to be around you, she's not comfortable being around you. That says a lot. It really does.

Once when Jack was living with her and her husband in Alaska, he explained that he had trouble loosening a bolt at work. So he used dynamite. to blow the bolt off. He also made an insensitive joke to Helen and Gloria after the plane crash, saying, can't you just see those shotgun shells going off in the plane every which way? And the pilots, passengers, and grandma jumping around.

Talk about a way to get a bolt loose. Yeah, I might go WD 40 first. Right. Before I bring out the dynamite. But, you know, depending on what setting you're in, basically any setting where anybody else is around, I don't think people are going to be too happy. No.

When you're, when you're setting off dynamite. But, you know, it's really this joke about the plane crash. And obviously, we haven't talked about the plane crash all that much yet. Okay.

That's violent and warped. It is. You're talking about, number one, your mother. And you're talking to people about their grandmother. And basically, making light of what happened.

Pretty insensitive. Yeah, it's insensitive. I don't even know if that's a rough enough word for it, but you're right. It's very insensitive. I think it would be insensitive for a stranger. But for a family member, man,

it's, it's pretty rough. For many years, Helen thought her brother was not mentally sad. On two occasions, Jack apparently had injured her, had threatened her, He once knocked her down and need her in the chest, hard enough to hurt her ribs.

He had also threatened to hit her with a hammer. Helen ran away and locked herself in a room. One day Jack woke up and noticed that Gloria was gone. She was playing cards with Helen and Daisy. He got angry and cuffed and backhanded Gloria several times. Daisy was afraid Jack might hit her too. Jack Graham eventually moved to Denver. in early 1955, he worked for his mother as a manager of her drive-in restaurant.

So, I mean, there's a few things to break down here. I think now that we've given more information, it's pretty easy to see why his sister, Helen, didn't really want to be around him. Oh, for sure. He was violent. Violent towards her, you know, to the point of really being a criminal. And then there's talk of, you know, his wife, Gloria. being afraid or being hurt by him, his mother's afraid that he's going to hit her too.

But then he ends up working for his mother. So again, a strange relationship. Very strange. Between Jack and his mother, Daisy. Jack said that his mother purchased a house for him in December 1954 and considered it her home. Gloria told the FBI that Daisy had lived with them periodically from. December 1954 until her death, but she traveled often and spent a good part of the summer of 55 supervising her drive-in restaurant in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. So it sounds like she was doing pretty

good. Yeah, sounds like she was. I mean, she bought them a house conditionally, right? Like, hey, buying you this house, but I get the one bedroom. And I'll be there sometimes. Yeah. is what it sounds like, but she's got this drive-in restaurant, which were huge, we know, back in the 50s. According to the FBI, Daisy and her daughter moved to Goodland, Florida, where Daisy owned a house. She stayed there until February 1955, when she came back to Denver to help out Jack's wife after she had her second child. Daisy lived with Jack except for periods of time, where she stayed in Steamboat Springs or other locations in Colorado to supervise her business interest.

Sounds like his mom was doing really well. Yeah. No, it really does. One business associate of Daisy and Jack told the FBI that the two had troubles over how to operate the restaurant and that they fought like cats and dogs. This person also said that the restaurant was once damaged by an explosion. And they said Jack may have been taking money from the business receipts. Maybe Jack needed to get a bolt loose on again.

And decided to use dynamite. They also mentioned that Jack had recently bought a new truck and wrecked it possibly to get insurance money. So, you know, some of this is foreshadowing when you're talking about somebody doing something for insurance money. you're talking about he's working for his mom, may have been skimming. Yeah. And they were fighting all of the time. I knew somebody had wrecked their vehicle to get insurance money back in the day.

Mm-hmm. How did it work out for you? It wasn't me, but it was somebody I knew. People always do that. They tell a story as if it was a friend. Yeah. But it's really them. Yeah, they did the whole put a helmet on and,

put something in their mouth and went into a, drove their vehicle right into a tree. That's usually kind of a dead giveaway. Yeah. And you have a helmet and a mouth guard and, you know, stuff like that. So we mentioned, right, Daisy's got these driving restaurants.

Jack was managing one of them. He later told the FBI that the business was not a financial success, but it was successful when he was operating things. I've heard that before from various people that I've worked with. Was that wrong? No. No, I won't say you were wrong. Jack said that in May 1955,

some unknown vandals damaged a window. And in September of that year, an explosion in fire damaged the restaurant. It was discovered that someone disconnected a gas line, and the gas reached a pilot light on a water heater, which caused the explosion. The total damage was $1,200. Who do we need?

know that is kind of into explosives and explosions. Yeah, that that someone probably was Jack. Yeah, I don't know that there's any evidence, but I think the thought by many, you know, probably is that he had something to do with it. Right. I think what's important in analyzing all these statements is that there's no doubt that Jack and Daisy had tensions in their relationship, that Jack had problems managing his temper. One important thing to note is that Daisy King's estate was estimated to be worth $150,000. It's a lot of money back then. That is a boatload in 1955.

And Jack was eligible for a quarter of her estate, according to the Daily Sentinel, if she were to pass away. On November 1st, 1955, Daisy King, boarded United Airlines flight 629, which was heading to Portland, Oregon, leaving from the Denver Stapleton airport. The flight took off at 6.52 p.m. There were 44 people on board, 39 passengers, and five crew members. One of the passengers was an infant. Yeah. That's, that's rough. Bruteroof. No way around it. 11 minutes after takeoff, everyone on board was killed instantly. the plane crashed on a sugar beet farm,

eight miles east of Longmont, Colorado. And it was reported that the wreckage fell over six square miles. An employee in the control tower reported seeing a white flash and a flare in the sky. The air traffic controllers made contact with every plane in the Stapleton airspace except for Flight 629. The Longmont Police Department received hundreds of calls, immediately after the explosion, Longmont Police Chief Keith Cunningham sent every police officer, fighter, fighter, an ambulance to the scene of the crash. Denver 7 reported that just a few minutes later,

a patrolman radioed him and said, no ambulances are necessary. And I think that tells you everything. You know, you're getting all these calls. There's something's going on. There's been a crash, a fire, whatever it is, yeah, you're going to throw every resource at it that you have. Right. And then a patrolman gets out there, surveys the scene, and very quickly says, there's no need for any of that. Because none of these people survived. You know, when you said that the debris scattered and covered six square miles, at that point, you know, you have to realize the explosion had to be so powerful.

Yeah, the plane essentially blew apart. Yeah. Nobody's going to survive that. No. But they didn't know that at the time. Conrad Hop and his family lived on a farm near Longmont. They were having dinner when the plane exploded. Hop told Denver 7 and then we hear this loud explosion that shook all the windows in the house.

We looked outside and we could hear the war of the engines. That's how you knew it was a plane. And the ball of fire coming. through the air. Conrad and his brother got in his car and drove across the farm, dodging falling debris. They discovered a deceased person who was still strapped in their seat. Conrad Hop and his girlfriend, Martha, spent the night looking for bodies. Okay. You want to talk about a gruesome scene. Right. Finding a person dead still in their airplane seat after this huge explosion. That'd be rough stumbling across. Yeah. And then they made the decision that they were going to keep looking for people.

Okay, you have to respect that. Well, for sure. Yeah. They want to give some type of answers to the victim's family. Like, hey, we found them. Jack Gasky wrote for the Rocky Mountain News. Hundreds of persons milled around in the beat field between Longmont and Plattville. There were certain things to do, cover the bodies, make futile efforts to quell the flames of the fiercely burning wreckage. But for the most part, they stood around in quiet, stunned groups waiting. Within a few hours, the civil aeronautics board determined that the explosion didn't occur because of a plane malfunction. Within several days, they determined that a dynamite-type blast in baggage compartment four was the cause of the explosion.

I think it's really amazing how they can determine all this type of stuff. Well, this is, you know, the 1950s. Yeah. And within a few hours, they know that it wasn't a plain malfunction. And then within just a few days, they, they can pinpoint the blast to a specific baggage compartment. Yeah, it's pretty good. The FBI offered the assistance of the identification division to help identify the victims.

fingerprint experts arrived at the crash site on November 2nd. The victims were taken to Greeley, Colorado and put in a temporary morgue at the National Guard Armory. The bodies were identified on November 2nd and 3rd. Some of the victims were identified by their relatives, friends, or personal effects. Others were identified by their fingerprints, which were stored in the civil section of the FBI fingerprint files. Now, that must have been a scene. I can't even imagine what it looked like. No, 44 people trying to be, you know, identified, friends and family coming in.

It just must have been a horrible thing. So you had United Airlines and the Civil Aeronautics Board working together to investigate the crash. The board requested an FBI lab expert who was sent to the crash site on November 2nd. From November 2nd to the 7th, engineers for United Airlines and Douglas Aircraft Corporation performed a detailed exam of the wreckage, they could not identify a possible cause of an explosion due to a malfunction. So I think that's backing up what the aeronautics board concluded. On November 7th, the Civil Aeronautics board stated there were indications of sabotage.

So they asked the FBI to start a criminal investigation. Between November 2nd and November 5th, the Civil Aeronautics Board and United Airlines interviewed 200 people. And it was said that 37 people provided information of possible value. So the FBI had these statements when they started their investigation. The FBI website states, the explosion appeared to have been of tremendous force, causing fiery streamers to fall from the plane. A flare which was normal equipment carried on the plane had separated from the plane ignited and descended slowly to Earth. A second explosion, probable of one or more fuel tanks, had occurred when the engines and forward compartment

of the plane struck the ground. So a lot of work, right, would have to go into this disaster scenario. Number one, we talked about, you know, identifying all the bodies, getting all the wreckage together. So they can analyze it. So they can analyze it. The FBI kept all the wreckage, baggage, baggage, cargo and personal effects in a large warehouse at the airport. And basically what they did is they constructed a full size recreation of the central section of the plane. After this mockup was completed, members of the Civil Aeronautics Board and a Douglas Aircraft Corporation Engineer agreed that an explosion occurred in the rear cargo pit, also known as Cargo Pit 4. The FBI figured out that based on the shipments that were supposed to have been on the plane,

there was nothing explosive in the air freight shipments that could have gone off, would have gone off, five small fragments of sheet metal were found during the crash site search. The fragments were burned and coated in what was described as a soot-like deposit. On one side of the fragments was read with blue letters H.O. This was identified as a part of the metal side of a six-volt battery, which was later determined to be the type of battery that was used as the detonating device. of the bomb. So I just find that amazing that this is how the forensics works. You know, they're really analyzing this. They're seeing this little piece of metal. And from that, you know, they, they step it

back to what it used to be. It is amazing. It also gives me kind of Unabomber type vibes. You know, if you go through the Unabomber case, which we haven't done yet, but the way that they analyzed the components of his bombs and tried to figure out, you know, what something was, where it was manufactured. That stuff is fascinating. I agree with you. The first summary of information, which indicated the probable use of dynamite was first given to the Denver field office on November 13th, 1955. So, you know, they analyzed all the wreckage and just based on the material. found on some of it, they figured out that the explosive was dynamite. Meanwhile, the FBI was conducting background checks on the 44 victims to determine a possible

motive for the crash. They also requested descriptions of the passenger's luggage so they could determine whose luggage was the most severely damaged or coated with the most foreign residue. Wow, it's really smart. It is. Well, you know, the FBI is pretty good. I think what they do. The agents recovered personal effects belonging to Daisy King, including letters,

newspaper clippings about her family, a checkbook, $1,000 in travelers checks, an address list, two keys, and a receipt for safety deposit boxes. One of the newspaper clippings showed that Daisy's son, Jack Gilbert Grant was charged with forgery and was put on the Denver County DA's Most Wanted list in 1951. Okay. Kind of a strange newspaper clipping to keep. That carry in your personal belongings?

Yeah, I guess not just keep, but to carry with you on the plane. Most of the items that belong to Daisy were found on or near her body, which indicated that she had them in her personal handbag or, you know, whatever. she had on the plane carry on with her, not in her luggage. Almost none of the contents of her luggage were found besides small pieces of her suitcases. I was thinking about that article again.

And, you know, when you meet parents, they like to show you pictures of their kids doing this or that or they. Maybe a straight A report card. Yeah. Or look at this article about John, look how well he's doing at the. at the company now.

Or he, you know, he came in first place in the swimming competition. Yeah, yeah. Not that he's made the county DA's most wanted list. Yeah. He's still, he's tops in something. The FBI found that six passengers had a maximum of $62,500 worth of trip insurance. Four passengers had $50,000. Two had $37,500.

one had 35,000, two had 12,500, and two had 6,250. Daisy King had three policies. When the FBI searched Jack's home on November 13th, they found a duplicate travel insurance policy for Daisy worth 37,500. The original, which designated Jack as the beneficiary, was later found by the insurance company. They also found two more policies worth 6,250 listing her daughter and sister as the beneficiaries. So I think, you know, what investigators learned was that Jack Graham was set to get a substantial amount of month upon his mother's death. They also learned that Jack and Daisy

argued a lot. And we talked about it previously, a business associate, of theirs talked about their troubled relationship and some of Jack's suspicious behavior. They mentioned the restaurant explosion and the fact that Jack recently bought a new truck and wrecked it possibly to get insurance. Okay. The FBI's interest is going to be peaked by some of this information. There are going to be a number of individuals who are going to be paid out life insurance money. Oh, of course.

Because there were 44 people who died. Jack is is one of those individuals. But he also had a troubled relationship with his mom. He'd been in trouble for forgery, possible insurance fraud, and maybe caused a big explosion. Maybe we should look at him. I think the red light kind of goes off. Yeah. No, I think it does.

Another person expressed similar suspicions and said that Jack's truck had stalled on a railroad track and was hit by a train. This person also told the FBI that a local supply concern had a $1,000 note signed by Jack Graham, which was secured by the restaurant's equipment. It's not that your truck could install in the middle of a train track. I don't think it's likely. I don't think it happens to a lot of people. No. But when you park it there. And then leave.

Yeah. And a train comes by and demolishes it. Okay. Insurance money is going to be paid out to you. On November 10th, the FBI reviewed records from the Denver County Probation Department that detailed Jack's forgery charges, his arrest, his probation. Jack was first interviewed on November 10th, 195. He gave the FBI information about himself and his family. He also volunteered information about the train incident with his truck.

he told the FBI that his mother planned to travel to Alaska on November 1st. He gave a description of her luggage but said he didn't know what was inside because Daisy would not let anyone help her pack. He did mention that she had a considerable quantity of shotgun shells and ammunition with her, which she was going to use for caribou hunting. She took all that shells for that. Curibou. I'm guessing you can't get that when you land in Alaska and buy it there. Yeah, I'm sure you could.

I'm also thinking back to 1955 and how different air travel was back then. Just load up the suitcase with shotgun shells and ammunition. No screening. Yeah, you just walk right on. The FBI spoke with Gloria Graham. on November 11th, she provided information about her marriage and their living situation with Daisy. But Gloria also provided a description of Daisy's luggage. But she, too, could not say what was inside the luggage, explaining that Daisy was very particular

about packing and wouldn't let anyone help her. Gloria did contribute an important piece of information. She said, Jack gave Daisy a present on no. November 1st before she went to the airport. Gloria believed the present was a set of tools to make seashells into pieces of art. Jack had talked to her about getting this toolkit as a Christmas gift for Daisy. On November 1st, Jack took a wrapped package to the basement where his mother was packing for her trip.

Gloria thought it was the tool set and assumed Jack gave it to his mother. You know, so here we have what seems to be. be a wife who's trying to answer questions as truthfully and, you know, honestly as she can, it doesn't seem to me as though she knows what her husband did, but she's giving this very valuable information concerning this wrapped package. Enough information to call some concerns. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

The FBI also spoke with family and associates of Daisy and Jackson. on November 11th and 12th, a neighbor of one of Jack's relatives offered some useful information. The neighbor heard that before Daisy was supposed to travel to Alaska, Jack was interested in buying a toolkit for her Christmas gift. Jack searched throughout Denver to find the one he wanted. She heard that he wrapped the gift and put it in Daisy's luggage before she boarded the plane. The neighbor had heard that Jack became very sick shortly before. his mother left Denver. She had heard that after Jack and Gloria were informed of the plane crash,

Jack said, that is it. And since the crash, Jack hadn't eaten or slept and spent most of his time walking around inside and outside his house. Okay, I don't really know what to make of that. Now,

if this woman is saying that what she heard was that he didn't give the gift to Daisy, he snuck it into her luck. Okay, that would be very important. It would be critical. But him saying this, that is it and not eating or sleeping. Okay, I think a lot of people who are grieving the loss of a loved one, especially in such a tragic way, might exhibit some of those same behaviors. I don't know what you can make just from that. The Denver, office received torn and broken fragments of luggage on November 12th, which matched the description of Daisy's luggage. That same day, Jack and Gloria were asked to come in to try to identify it. They came to the office the next day and identified some pieces as part of Daisy's smaller

suitcase and said that a piece of a canvas bag may have belonged to her. So Jack was told that the FBI wanted to interview him again. He was questioned about this ammunition. He said his mother was carrying as well as the Christmas gift. He gave the same statement about the ammunition, but his statement about the gift didn't match what his wife, Gloria, had told them. Now we have them at odds with each other. Well, yeah, Jack said he wanted to buy a tool set for Daisy, but he learned that the kind of

toolkit he wanted to buy wasn't suitable for the intended purpose. so he didn't buy it, but explained that it was possible Gloria thought he had actually purchased the kit. Jack was questioned about his activities after he arrived at the airport on November 1st. He couldn't explain why he mailed himself a trip insurance policy that Daisy had taken out at the airport, listing him as the beneficiary, but did say he mailed similar policies with his aunt and sister listed. he believed he had thrown the policies away at the airport because he had not received the policy he mailed to himself. Okay. So now we've got another piece to the puzzle. Right. You know, these weren't policies that were taken out a year ahead of time, six months ahead of time, even. These were

policies that were taken out at the airport. At the time of departure. At the time of right before departure. And, you know, one of the things that's running through my mind is, okay, large, sizable policy for Jack, two much smaller policies, one for his aunt and one for his sister. Why would someone do that? To throw the officials off. Yeah. I mean, if we're working under the theory here that Jack, you know, took these policies out in his mother. name, then that would be the reason. And it's also going to throw off your family members, right? They won't know how much he got.

They're just going to know that he received insurance money. They received insurance money. So neither of them did anything wrong. It's just what Daisy wanted. Daisy was looking out for, you know, all of us. Yeah. Jack explained that after his mother boarded the plane, he, his wife and son had dinner at the airport coffee shop.

he felt sick and went to the restroom, which he believed was due to his excitement about Daisy leaving and because the food was what he called poor. Well, maybe you don't eat dinner at the airport coffee shop, but saying it was due to his excitement about Daisy leaving. You got sick because you were so excited that your mother was leaving. Maybe he thought, hey, mom's going to be gone. I can run the restaurant. I can do things my way.

I'm going to have a few good weeks here before she returns. Or you got sick because you know something bad was about to happen very soon. Because his statements weren't matching gloria. FBI agents were sent to interview Gloria and get a signed statement from her. Jack was informed that he was considered a suspect in the case and that any statement he made could be used against him. Jack said he would submit to a polygraph and allowed a search. of his home, cars, and property. And I know exactly what the defense attorney in you wants to say. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't allow it. Agents found a small roll of copper wire with yellow insulation

and a shirt pocket. They also found the large trip insurance policy listing Jack is the beneficiary, which was hidden in a cedar chest in one of the bedrooms. During his interview, the agents asked Jack about the discrepancies in his statements compared to the statements from his wife and others. Agents were sent out to verify some additional statements he made. When they got back, they confronted Jack with what they found and he was unable to explain himself on a number of issues. Jack was informed about what the FBI lab found in their examination of the plane wreckage. He admitted to the FBI that he caused the explosion. at the drive-in restaurant and admitted to intentionally leaving his truck on a railroad track.

He then admitted that he was the one who caused the plane crash. Wow, he's on a roll here. He broke. Yeah. And he explained that he built a time bomb with 25 sticks of dynamite, two electric primer caps, a timer, and a 6-volt battery. I don't know how long it took him to crack, but when he's, He did the damn burst wide open. Yeah.

He didn't hold anything back. I mean, he could have admitted to stuff he did as a, as a youngster, stealing cookies and taking money out of the, the offering plate. Right. He was going to, he was going to bear his soul. Yeah. Jack said that he had planned the murder for almost two weeks and said that he started building the bomb on October 18th or 19.

This was according to the Daily Sentinel. Jack put the bomb in his mother's suitcase. He set the timer to 90 minutes. Daisy paid an overweight baggage fee and her suitcase was loaded onto the plane. While at the airport, Jack went to a vending machine and paid $1.50 for a $37,500 trip insurance policy in his mother's name, listing himself as the Ben, beneficiary. You could get those from a vending machine. That's simple. I guess. I didn't realize they had overweight baggage fees in 1955. They've been raking that scam in for years. For many, many years. Yeah. The Daily Sentinel reported that Jack said in his confession, we were in the coffee

shop for approximately one hour. And as we were leaving, I heard the cashier say, there had been a wreck of an airplane about 40 miles out of Denver. They also reported, ironically, the insurance was invalid because his mother had failed to sign it before she left Denver's Stapleton Airfield. So he gets this from a vending machine and thought, what? I'll fill it out myself. My mom's not going to sign it. Yeah. But everything will be okay. Why wouldn't he have forced her single? She's not going to be around to dispute it if everything goes to his plan. Yeah, but I would, you know, they have document handwriting analysis people in 1955.

Sure, yeah. My assumption is he doesn't have her signature down. Right. But, yeah, I just don't know what he was thinking. You know, obviously putting a bomb on a plane, you know that you're going to end the lives of a large number of people. And for what? To get rid of your mother.

And on top of that to, you know, make some money off of her death. But you don't think that part all the way through. No. Because you don't get her to sign it. It's not valid. So not only are you not getting any money,

you break down during the interrogation process and tell the FBI about the stains in your underwear. Yeah. Everything. So he confessed on November 13th. The FBI filed a complaint charging him with sabotage on November 14th. He was charged with what was termed peacetime sabotage, which came with a maximum sentence of 10 years and a $10,000 fine.

Okay. I get sabotage. How about murder? Where are we at on murder? Because, you know, so far I'm thinking. 10 years and a $10,000 fine for killing 44 people is, uh, is ludicrous. Yeah, I think this is just going to be the beginning, you know? Well, it's got to be, right.

That, that can't be all that, that happens to Jack. On November 15th, the federal government decided to turn prosecution over to the state of Colorado. And maybe that's, that's where the line was, right? because on November 17th, Colorado charged Jack with the murder of Daisy King. My thought is there was only so much that they could do federally, right? They needed to hand it over to the state to prosecute for the murder. After Jack was arrested, the FBI began trying to locate the source of the items he used to make the bomb.

On November 17th, they found a supply company in Denver, where Jack purchased a 60-minute on-type timing device on October 26th, he exchanged it a few days later for a 90-minute, off-type timing device. On November 19th, a store manager in Kremlin, Colorado, remembered selling 20 to 25 sticks of dynamite and two electric blasting caps to someone in October of that year. the manager identified Jack in a lineup on the 21st. Oh, the good old days are just walking into the store to get some dynamite.

I need 20 to 25 sticks of dynamite, please. But, you know, this is some really good investigative work. A lot of times we think of the 50s as maybe them not being as sophisticated. They didn't have the technology. Right. But they could put in the work and they did. They certainly did. and were able to find people who had had interacted with Jack and sold him some of these things.

It's similar to how they might do some of that stuff today. Now, they might be aided today with stored video surveillance. They didn't have that back then. Electronic receipts that are stored digitally or, you know, whatever. So they were at a disadvantage, but they were able to get the job done. Jack was arraigned in Denver District Court on December 9th, 1955. He pleaded innocent and innocent by reason of insanity before, during, and after the alleged commission of the crime.

The court accepted his pleas of innocent and innocent by reason of insanity at the time of the alleged crime. So he was sent to the Colorado Psychopathic Hospital to be examined by four. psychiatrist. Jack told one psychiatrist during his interview with the FBI, he saw a photo showing the apprehension of Nazis who landed in Florida during World War II. The photo showed agents digging up explosives, which inspired him to confess that he used dynamite to blow up the plane. So what's he saying? He didn't really do it. It sounds to me like he's trying to come up with a way to explain his confession. He saw a picture. They were digging up explosives and boom. He decided to say that

that's what he used. But all four psychiatrists found Jack legally sane and sent him back to the county jail. Apparently he was a model prisoner, but he tried to end his life. On February 10th, 1956, he was transferred to the psychiatric ward at Colorado General Hospital. Psychiatrist spoke with Jack, and he was willing to talk about his crimes. This time, Jack said his confession was true. And he decided to purchase materials to make a bomb after he made the decision to kill his mother. He built a bomb and slipped it into Daisy suitcase while she was busy preparing for her trip. He took his mother and family to the airport. Glory and the kids came to say goodbye to Daisy. He dropped Daisy and his family off at the terminal and took her car to the parking lot. He set the timer on the bomb before he got

out of the car, then took the luggage to the weighing counter where it was then put on the plane. You know, he's carrying this luggage in, going past all these other passengers, right, that are waiting to get on the plane, check their luggage in, even this infant. And he doesn't even think about not doing this. Yeah, I don't, I don't think he, he cared about it at all. According to the FBI website, Jack callously told the doctors that he realized there would be about 50 or 60 people on the plane. But the number of people to be killed, he said, made no difference to him. It could have been a thousand.

When their time comes, there is nothing they can do about it. This is what he told doctors. when their time comes. Well, it's not their time when you decide to blow the plane up. No, he made it their time. Yeah. By his actions, their time had not come. Now, there was nothing they can do about it because they didn't know about it.

But how callous is that to say, I was going to do what I was going to do? Yeah, I knew there could be 40, 50, 60 people on the plane. That didn't matter to me. it wouldn't have mattered if there were a thousand people. He's saying, I don't care. I don't give a rip. Jack dropped his insanity plea on February 24th, 1956. Jury selection started on April 16th of that year.

His defense attorney was Charles Vigil. D.A. Bert Keating led the prosecution. So jury selection took several days. And it was said in a number of outlets that, that it set a state record for the number of jurors examined. Wow. Hundreds of people waited outside the courtroom, trying to get seats. Many people packed a lunch because they didn't want to leave and lose their spot.

So this is a spectacle that people wanted to get inside to see. They were willing to pack a lunch to wait in line just to sit inside this courtroom. D.A. Keating gave his opening statement on April 23rd, 1956. The Greeley Daily Tribune reported that Keating told the jury that the state would prove Jack planned to kill his mother coldly, carefully, and deliberately. Keating said that the prosecution would produce a piece of yellow wire used on electric dynamite caps, which was found in Jack Graham's home. witnesses and exhibits would prove that jack bought dynamite a timer a battery and dynamite caps the prosecution

said they would prove the explosion occurred in cargo pit four and was only caused by dynamite sounds like the prosecution is bringing their a game yeah but isn't their their a game pretty easy to bring i think so i mean look at all the stuff that they have you know testimony established that both Daisy King and her luggage were on the plane on the evening of November 1st. The ground crew testified that the plane was working properly that day. So they're trying to cover everything. Right. Right. This was not a plane malfunction. This was Jack Graham, who had used dynamite to, to blow it up. Six witnesses described the explosion and United Airlines employees,

Civil Aeronautics Board Investigators, and an engineer from Douglas Aircraft Corporation testified about recovering items and bodies from the crash scene. And the one thing that I did think about is that, obviously, this is devastating for the airlines, but United Airlines and Douglas Aircraft, who probably made the plane,

had a real vested interest in making sure that people knew this was not the result of a faulty plane. Oh, yeah. I mean, just the lawsuits alone was enough reason, but also just the publicity. Yeah, who's going to want to fly United? Who's going to want to fly on a Douglas aircraft from any airline if they thought it blew up and killed. all these people. The defense filed a motion to eliminate FBI testimony and evidence, arguing that the testimony was illegal because Jack wasn't advised of his rights before he signed a confession and his confession was obtained under duress. They also argued that his home was searched

without his consent, but the motion was dismissed when FBI agents testified that Jack was advised of his rights and they had waivers with his signature on them. All right. The defense is trying to do what they can do. But it's not going to work when the guy signed a paper saying that he was advised of his right. Exactly. A lab expert identified gray deposits from the cargo pit as dynamite residue. He identified pieces of metal and carbon as coming from a particular battery. And he testified that the wire found in Jack's shirt pocket was identical to wire from an electric dynamite cap.

So, you know, a lot of damning evidence, testimony. The owner of an electric company testified that Jack approached him in October 95 and offered to work at a low wage for more experience. So Jack worked there for a week. on his last day, he asked about timing devices, claiming he needed a timer that could be used with a battery that wouldn't exceed two hours. Jack was told to go to an appliance store to buy a timer with Spring.

A salesman testified that he sold Jack a timer in October and that Jack said he was an employee of the Colorado, Texas pump company. A credit manager from Chevy in Denver, testified that Jack commented how easy it would be to blow up a plane and that based on how luggage was handled at the Denver airport, it would be easy to put a bomb on a plane. Wow. So yeah, wow, for me for a couple of different reasons. First of all, if you've hatched this plan in your mind, which is a horrible thing.

Sure. But you've already hatched it. You're working towards making it. making it a reality, why in the world you go into a Chevy dealership and start talking to a guy about how easy it would be to blow up a plane? Because people like to talk. I do, man. I cannot figure it out. We do so many cases. And I can't figure out why people do what they do as far as committing the crimes that they commit. But I also can't figure out the need for people to disclose to essentially strangers, information about things that they're planning to do.

I just don't get it. According to the Daily Sentinel, Jack testified in the absence of the jury that his statements were not true and were given under threat of the FBI. He claimed that the FBI threatened to arrest Gloria for lying, so he made the statement to protect her. The defense called on eight witnesses, none of whom could refute the prosecution's evidence. That's not good. I mean, it's great that you have eight witnesses. Yeah, but if they can't count or anything the prosecution put out there, they're really no good to you. Yeah. Jack's defense attorneys described him as a psychopathic liar. One said, what are the lies and what are the truth? If he's lying in his statement, his confession to the FBI, he shouldn't be found guilty.

I don't know what else they're supposed to do, you know, confronted with this mountain of evidence against their client. Yeah, it's not an easy chore. No, they try to discredit the evidence. None of their witnesses can do it. They're calling their own client a psychopathic liar. Yeah. And basically saying he lied in his confession. Jack Graham was found guilty of first degree murder on May 4th, 19.

The jury recommended the death penalty. Apparently there was a motion for a new trial that was denied on May 15th of that year. Jack claimed that he didn't want his case review and his attorney filed the motion without his permission. Jack was sentenced to be executed during the week of August 26th of that year, but his execution was stayed on August 8th by the Colorado Supreme Court after his attorneys filed. a formal record of appeal against his wishes. On October 22nd, the Colorado Supreme Court set his execution for the week ending on January 12, 1957. And on January 11, 1957, 27, 24-year-old Jack Grant was executed in the gas chamber of the Colorado State Penitentiary. He was pronounced dead at 808 p.m. You know, and you and I have discussed. discussed this in episodes before, you know, going back in time. When you talk about death penalty cases and you look at the timing, he's found guilty in May of 1956 and put to death, what, just a little over six months later, January of 1957. Now, some people would argue that that's a good

thing. Get it over with. Sure, yeah. And I might have been in that camp many years. years ago, but doing the number of cases that we've done, especially the unsolved where, you know, people were exonerated. Right. Wrongful conviction. Wrongfully convicted. I'm not in that camp anymore. I don't think it should drag out for 30, 35 years, but I'm not sure we should be putting people to death in six months either. And obviously we don't. No. And there's a reason, there's a reason for that. Warden, Harry Tensley, told the press that Jack didn't ask for a special last meal or any new reading material. Reverend Lloyd Kellams from the church where Jack and Gloria married visited Jack for three hours

on the 10th. Kellams revealed that Jack confessed to him to the bombing two different times. I don't understand not getting your special last meal because this is back when I think you could get some good stuff. Yeah. Why pass up that? it's your last meal. It was reported that Jack was nervous and fidgety on his last day,

but was still in what was described as good spirits and humor. I don't know who would not be nervous and fidgety, knowing that you're about ready to die. Because most people never know when they're going to die. No. Whether it's a heart attack or dying of old age or, you know, a car accident or whatever. it is. Nobody wakes up being told that it's going to happen today. Would you want to know?

No. No. I absolutely would not want to know, especially if it was down the road, because I feel like I'd live my life differently or I don't know. But these individuals who are put to death wake up that morning, knowing that barring some, you know, big clemency thing or, you know, push, or whatever, they are going to die that day. Right. That is such a strange thought. And I think it would make anyone, at the very least, nervous and fidgety. I can't imagine not being nervous.

You're nervous right now. I am. And there's nothing waiting for you. Bad. That's going to happen. Well, you can say that, but you'd never really know. Oh, I know. You wouldn't know.

Well, that's true. I would be the one that would know. Jack was visited by Reverend. Reverend Justin McCurnan, a prison chaplain. When the warden came to collect Jack for the execution, he said, well, I guess it's time and told the chaplain, oh, chaplain, there are seven cigars and myself. You smoke them on me. Father McKinnon told Jack, God bless you.

I hope God will forgive you your sins. Jack only said, okay. His last words were, thanks Warden. Pretty anti-climactic as far as last words go. Yeah, pretty low-key. You know, Jack Gilbert Graham never provided the motive for his crimes, but he did explain in detail how he created the bomb. I think it's pretty easy to think that the thought was he would kill his mother

and, you know, obtain this $30 some thousand dollars in life insurance money, plus his inheritance, right? We talked about that. He was to get a quarter of her inheritance. And it was said to have been $150,000 or more. Right. And I'm assuming that he thought no one would ever suspect him, right? It's on a timer.

They'll never figure out that that's what caused the explosion. It happened 40 miles, you know, after takeoff. He just didn't realize they were going to be that good investigating. No. No, I don't think he did. But the thing is, he not only murdered his mother. He murdered 43 other people on this flight. And we've tossed a few words around callous.

Then I go back to his statement where he said he wouldn't have cared if it was thousand. Yeah. He was going to do it. Over what? $30 some thousand dollars. And some inheritance. But he wasn't even going to get that. the insurance because he was not smart enough to realize his mom had to sign the form. Yeah. Yeah. This

one is such a different type of case. Yeah. The bombing of an airplane. As we wrap it up, I think Gibbs, he thought he was so smart in the way he was constructing this bomb and the timer and slipping it into, you know, his mother's suitcase. And he thought he was just going to walk away. Right. Nobody would ever. figure him out, but he wasn't smart at all. No, he wasn't. He was just an unbelievably selfish piece of trash. Oh, for sure.

Who ruined countless lives. Because if you think 44 people died. Yeah. How many people were affected by those deaths? It's got to be in the hundreds and hundreds. But that's it for our episode on John Gilbert, Grant. Just a really bad guy. We got some voicemails.

You want to check those out? Let's hear them. Hello, Mike and Givie. This is Rob calling from North Carolina. Love your show. Never miss it. I'd like to give you a suggestion for a case that was not too far from where I live in North Carolina near Winston-Salem. It's a case about a guy named John Alexander Lawson, who later changed his name to Azuzu, P-A-Z-E-Z.

U-Z-U-Algorod, and he's known as the Satanist, I'm sorry, Satanist killer, and he buried people in his backyard, and there's a documentary or two about him. He would be an interesting subject, so I just wanted to pass that on to you. Thanks for all that you do. Bye-bye. I don't think I've ever heard of this person, so we definitely need to make sure it's on the list. And if nothing else, I want to hear you say that name multiple times.

Pizzou? Pizzuzoo. Didn't you drive one of those like in the 80s? Yeah, okay. Sounds like a horrible dude. It really does. So we'll look into that case and see what information is out there. Hey, guys.

This is Alex from Zeno, Ohio. I just wanted to tell you I recently discovered you. I am still on podcast from 2017, but I'm a truck driver. And I listen to you guys for hours and hours. And I'm telling you, I love you guys so much. Keep up the good work. by the way, I am definitely team giddy. Ah, man, I liked her so much at first.

Oh, come on now. I'm just kidding. She's so close to us. She is. She's just up the road. They're like 15 minutes away from us. So that is pretty cool. And we love truck drivers because they can binge so many episodes a day.

Now, she's on 2017. So she got quite a few to go. But eventually maybe she'll hear this voicemail. So we get some long haul hours in. Exactly. Exactly. All right, we had mailbag. Lindsay Jinks sent us in some of her artwork. Yeah. Which is just amazing. I was blown away. Anna Alexandre sent us some goat milk soap. She makes it her company, goat grunt tactical. And it smells amazing. I thought you said I could eat that. You can. It's made of goat milk. Oh, but you didn't say it was soap. You said, just here, take this and eat it. It's just a big block of candy.

yeah chocolate fudge goat milk fudge yeah tasted a little strange i'm sure no it seems like really good stuff yeah all right buddy that is it for another episode of true crime all the time so for mike and gibby stay safe and keep your own time ticking