Marvin Heemeyer, a resident of Granby, Colorado, was a frustrated automotive muffler repair guy. In the late 1990s, after years of protests, petitions and town meetings, it became clear that the 52-year-old man was destined to take justice into his own hands. His business ended up ruined by some shady changes in land use and Heemeyer claimed that the mayor and city council were corrupt. Even though he gave up his legal fight and sold his land, he hatched one last secret plan to restructure his silencer workshop to serve a single malevolent purpose: to build a machine that would allow him to exact revenge on those who had wronged him. .
Marvin Heemeyer, the “reasonable man.”
Marvin Heemeyer fell in love with the state of Colorado when the Air Force deployed him there. And when the service ended, he moved to Grand Lake, where he opened a small chain of muffler stores that supplied the surrounding towns. After a while he began to rent some of the stores to other operators, but he kept one: Mountain View Muffler in Granby, to operate it personally. Heemeyer became involved in politics almost immediately after taking up residence in Colorado. He was well-liked among friends and neighbors, who often described him as a “nice person.” And as someone who could “do the impossible for anyone.”
However, others were more familiar with his volatile temperament. He was a strong defender of the legalization of gambling, and published at least two newsletters to spread his point of view. When a local newspaper reporter interviewed Heemeyer for an editorial that opposed gambling, he noted that the man was so enraged by the opposition that the interview almost escalated to fisticuffs. In one particularly extreme case, Heemeyer threatened to kill a client’s husband when he refused to pay for a repair of a defective muffler. “If Marv was your friend, he was your best friend“said one of Heemeyer’s closest collaborators,”but if he decided that someone was his enemy, then they were his worst and most dangerous enemy“.
Problems with the Docheff family.
In the late 1990s, the Docheff family approached Heemeyer to purchase his only remaining muffler shop. They were looking to build a concrete mixing plant on that land. It was common knowledge that Heemeyer acquired that piece of land for $42,000. Docheff reported that he agreed to purchase the land for US$250,000, but the deal fell apart when Heemeyer raised the price to US$375,000. In fact, it is said that he asked for up to a million dollars. Tired of Heemeyer’s indecision, The Docheffs went to the Granby City Council and tried to change the area’s land use. that surrounded the land where Heemeyer’s muffler shop was located.
From the beginning Heemeyer was involved in the re-zoning process. He attended town meetings to ensure that his interests were protected. However, in 2001 the city’s zoning commission and trusteeship approved the request for the land use change. He added as an extra affront a plan for the concrete plant to cut off the only way to the muffler workshop. The city also fined Heemeyer $2,500 for the junkyard on his property.and for not having his store connected to the sewer line.
Legal actions.
Hindered but not defeated, Heemeyer set out to remedy the situation through community action and legal maneuvers. He appealed the zoning commission’s decision, and gathered signatures from townspeople to petition against the plant. He also attempted to obtain a permit to install a sewer line that ran under the Mountain Concrete Park property, but was rejected by the new owners. He even bought an excavator to build a new road that would allow customer access to the muffler store., but the City Council refused to approve his plan. Many people suspected that there was some shady dealings between the concrete plant and the city council members, but there was no real evidence of such illegal goings-on and no such thing was ever found.
Having no recourse, Heemeyer sent the city a check for $2,500 to cover the fines, with the word “cowards” written ominously in the line item. He then sold the property where he had the muffler shop to a garbage company, and was given six months to vacate.
The construction of the Killdozer.
Immediately, Heemeyer got to work on his new project. The Komatsu D335A excavator that was destined to save his business moved to his muffler workshop where Heemeyer began the modifications. He first installed a handmade composite armor: cement sandwiched between thick sheets of steel to protect the cabin, engine and parts of the tracks. He installed video cameras rear and front to feed images to monitors in the cockpit, as well as several windows around the cockpit that would serve as shooting points. He also carried a good amount of food and water, as well as an air tank to ensure he had clean air at all times.
During a year and a half of construction, Heemeyer documented his progress through notes and audio tapes. “Because of your anger, because of your evil, because of your hatred, that’s not going to work with me.“He stated in his tape recordings. “I’m going to sacrifice the miserable life and future they gave me to show that what they did is wrong.“. Marvin Heemeyer received several visitors in his shop while working on his armored vehicle of Revenge, and none of them seemed alarmed by the gigantic armored machinery in his workshop. In his notes, Heemeyer attributes a higher power “to a cloudy vision.” On one occasion he wrote: “I always showed a disposition towards rationality until I had to be irrational. Sometimes reasonable men do unreasonable things.“
The Revenge of Marvin Heemeyer.
2004 proved to be a difficult year for Heemeyer. His father passed away in March, and he broke off their engagement when he saw his fiancée with another man. The morning of that Friday, June 4, was gray and rainy. Heemeyer sent the audio tapes to her brother, headed to the store, and climbed into the bulldozer with a handwritten list of targets. He used the winch controls to lower the concrete and steel deck on top of his vehicle. He used a crane to lift the thirty-ton armored deck into place. With that movement, Heemeyer was sealed in a concrete and steel box from which he could never escape..
Shortly after 3:00 p.m., the Killdozer crashed through the side of his shed and into the Mountain Park concrete plant. Moments later, the phones at the 911 response center began ringing incessantly. A man called Cody Docheff who witnessed the destruction in progress, tried to use a forklift to intercept the imposing armored excavator. But, she retreated when they shot her from the embrasures of this “monster”. In a matter of minutes two buildings and multiple vehicles were reduced to rubble and the Killdozer rumbled onto the road to the city. The slow-moving excavator was trailing a parade of emergency vehicles as it approached the city limits. A police SUV was crushed when it passed too close.
Glen Trainor, a sheriff’s deputy, managed to climb to the top of the moving excavator. He used 37 rounds from his service pistol to try to kill the man inside. “I thought the thing was going to devour me“, said. Then he noted: “I knew it was the only way we could stop this thing“.
To the attack of Marvin Heemeyer and his Kildozer.
When Heemeyer and his Killdozer They arrived in town, the Granby police were waiting for him. However, before the armored giant the representatives of the law were helpless. When it became clear that the armor was impenetrable to police bullets they tried explosives, but they had no effect. The men guarded their flanks and tried to dislodge people in the path of this mass. They also used the 911 system in reverse to call residents and warn them of the danger that was lurking. The news helicopters filmed all the violence that unfolded from the air.
The overloaded vehicle was difficult to control and swerved widely across the streets. But, Heemeyer still showed himself capable of seeking out and hitting specific targets. The bulldozer effortlessly demolished cars and buildings, including the home of a former mayor, the office of a newspaper that had taken sides against him in an issue. She attacked the businesses of a former city councilman and city hall. Despite the destruction of property, no civilians had been killed or injured. Granby police requested an industrial excavator to pit heavy equipment against heavy equipment, but the Killdozer simply pushed the lighter adversary aside.
The end of Heemeyer.
After an hour of chaos and destruction, the bulldozer demolished thirteen structures and was on its way to its next objective: Gamble’s Hardware. However, small arms damage and the extra weight of armor were taking their toll on the heavy vehicle. The radiator had leaked, and the Killdozer was losing power. After the machine crashed into the wall of a hardware store, the lower floor of the beast gave way. And the front end of the excavator fell into a shallow basement. The engine struggled, but its very weight held the monster in place.
With SWAT teams surrounding the injured Killdozer, one of the officers heard a single shot, muffled from inside the cabin. The vehicle did not move again, ending a 2 hour and 7 minute frenzy of destruction. A destruction that caused damage by US$7 million. They used explosives to try to open that artisanal tank, but in the end It took twelve hours, an oxyacetylene torch, and a crane to lift the top armor.. Inside, they found Heemeyer dead. He had shot himself with a .357 pistol. He was the only death in that wave of destruction.
Legacy of Marvin Heemeyer.
Currently, a number of groups idolize Heemeyer and his fight against a corrupt system. They celebrate his ingenuity, ambition and his brave effort to avoid casualties. But Heemeyer is unlikely to deserve credit for the lack of serious injuries or deaths. Many of the buildings he razed moments before were occupied. There was also evidence of tank shots in various parts of the city. Including an attempt to detonate a cache of propane tanks. And another attempt to push a wall on a couple of police officers
Once they opened the Killdozer’s cabin and removed Heemeyer, police inventoried his numerous weapons. He also found names of people on his list of targets, in addition to buildings and businesses. In order to prevent accumulation Killdozer fansthe excavator ended up dismantled and its parts ended up scattered among many separate scrapyards.
The Marvin Heemeyer Story It is an episode of excessive madness, allegedly fueled by financial interests and government corruption.
