Silke Jasso
He was a friendly, likable guy living in a small town. No one would have ever imagined would be capable of committing such atrocities.
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The story of Marvin Heemeyer and his bulldozer rampage begins like so many true-crime tales. But from its small-town setting and unassuming villain, the ‘Killdozer’ tale goes on to become pretty darn strange.
Read on to hear the story of how this “friendly, likable” muffler repairman built an armored bulldozer that would systematically demolish the town of Granby, Colorado.
Who was Marvin Heemeyer?
Marvin Heemeyer moved to Grand Lake, a town in Grand County, Colorado in the early ’90s. A professional welder, Heemeyer purchased land and opened a muffler repair shop called Mountain View Muffler in the nearby town of Granby. His community, friends, and family largely regarded him as a friendly, working-class guy who “would bend over backward for anyone“.
But trouble started brewing in 2001 when Heemeyer became embroiled in a zoning dispute with the city. Heemeyer had agreed to sell his land to the Docheff family to build a concrete batch plant. However, Heemeyer and the Docheffs had trouble deciding on a price, with Heemeyer raising the price from $250,000 to $375,000 to $1 million.
But in 2001, the town approved the construction of a concrete plant, zoning the land Heemeyer had used to travel between his home and his muffler shop. The welder repeatedly petitioned to have the property rezoned, but was unsuccessful. To add insult to injury, the concrete plant’s construction blocked his shop’s access from the municipal sewer line and Heemeyer got saddled with a fine.
The construction of ‘The Killdozer’
For Marvin Heemeyer, the fine was the last straw. “Somewhere in that time period he just went over the edge and decided he was going to get back at the town, the Docheffs and anybody he felt had wronged him in the course of this fight,” said Patrick Brower, Granby resident and the author of “Killdozer: The True Story of the Colorado Bulldozer Rampage”, in an interview with KUNC.
Two years earlier, Heemeyer had purchased a Komatsu D355A bulldozer, intending to use it to build an alternative route to his shop. In the 18 months following the zoning dispute, Heemeyer began outfitting the bulldozer with makeshift armor made from “tool steel” and concrete. In the cabin, he installed fans, A.C., and monitors connected to a front and rear video camera system. Finally, Heeymer installed three gun turrets: one for a semi-automatic .308, one for a .50 caliber rifle, and one for a .22 LR rifle.
The Killdozer rides
On Friday, June 4, 2004, the Killdozer embarked on its first and last mission. Moving at five miles per hour, Heeyemer drove the modified bulldozer made its way to the Docheff concrete plant down. Cody Docheff, the plant’s owner, attempted to upend the vehicle with a front-loader tractor, but was chased off with bullets.
Next, Heeyemer and his Killdozer headed towards town, where he systematically destroyed 13 buildings — including city hall, the former mayor’s home, a local newspaper office, bank, and the Sky-Hi News headquarters. Every business was believed to be somehow connected to Heeyemer’s zoning dispute.
“He didn’t know who was in or not in the buildings,” said Brower. “And the best example of that is the library. The Granby Library was located in the basement of the Granby Town Hall. And only literally probably two minutes before Marv actually smashed into the side of the building and totaled it, five children were evacuated hurriedly out of the building, because they heard that this bulldozer was coming, probably to the town hall.”
Throughout Heemeyer’s rampage, officials from the local Sheriff’s Department, the Colorado State Patrol, the US Forest Service, and even a SWAT team tried to stop the vehicle. The Killdozer’s armor, however, proved to be impervious to small arms fire and explosives. Heemeyer fought back, firing shots at police vehicles and propane tanks.
The Killdozer is conquered
After two hours and seven minutes, the Killdozer’s rampage came to a close. After the radiator burst, Heeyemer got trapped while attempting to bulldoze the Gambles hardware store. Knowing he was stuck, Heeyemer shot himself in the head with a .357 handgun.
In the end, almost $7 million in property damage was done to the rocky mountain town — but amazingly, no one besides Heemeyer was killed. As investigative teams sifted through the rubble Granby, a note from Heemeyer was discovered. It read: “I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things”.
