GUILTY CO - Bruce, 27, Debra, 26, & Melissa Bennett, 7, murdered, Aurora, 16 Jan 1984 *inmate arrest 2019*

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My name is Jim and my ex-wife Kim and I are believed to have been the first to be attacked by this monster on Jan 4 before the Smith and Bennett murders(he almost killed me). Just to answer some of the questions he was a African American male about 6 feet tall. My ex (Kim) is the only one to have seen him and he came in through a open garage door about 2 am. I was told that is how he had gotten into the other homes also, there were footprints in the snow up to other homes leading up to our house but mine was wide open so he was just looking for a easy target. Hope that answers some questions. Can't wait for the day they catch him, I still have a hard time sleeping to this day.
Thanks Jim
 
Wow thank you for sharing Jim. I can't imagine what you and your ex went through. I am so glad that you two survived.

I hope all this new media coverage jars someone's memory or brings a lead to catch this monster and bring him to justice. Although of course any punishment they could give him seems small in comparison to the evil he has committed against you and the others.
 
jaleach123 said:
Wait...Owen committed a murder on 3/24/84 where he killed a 14 year old babysitter. He then committed another murder five days later. He left a bloody footprint at the first murder scene and a fingerprint at the 3/29/84 murder scene. He first confessed to the latter murder and then confessed to the former afterwards when cops inked his feet to see if he left the footprint.

This guy's good for two murders and a number of burglaries and sexual assaults. Aurora PD should take a closer look.
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The second murder was actually 5/29/84.
Between the 2 murders he did a few other break-ins, attempted assaults. He liked to steal women's clothing.
One of the break-ins was my house.
I had fallen asleep in the living room while reading. I woke up and went to bed without noticing the time. I awoke later to breaking glass and thought it was the cat knocking the dishes off the counter, lol.
As I walked through the living room to check on things, there was a guy standing in the front doorway. I screamed and ran out the kitchen door, noticing broken glass all over the floor from the window.

It was about 10pm, as it turned out. Sherriff's deputy did't arrive till at least an hour later, IIRC.
I later found out Owen lived a few blocks from me at the time.
And also I delivered mail to hi splace of employment, Florida Auto Sales. I took my lunch break with the girl in the office. She was going to California, I gave her my address to send me a postcard. And yeah I used to tell her my whiny dating stories :banghead: Be careful who you talk to kids....ya never know who's listening :sick:

Also one of the detectives on the case was a little too sympathetic with this guy. Jeez.
 
DelrayBch said:
The second murder was actually 5/29/84.
Between the 2 murders he did a few other break-ins, attempted assaults. He liked to steal women's clothing.
One of the break-ins was my house.
I had fallen asleep in the living room while reading. I woke up and went to bed without noticing the time. I awoke later to breaking glass and thought it was the cat knocking the dishes off the counter, lol.
As I walked through the living room to check on things, there was a guy standing in the front doorway. I screamed and ran out the kitchen door, noticing broken glass all over the floor from the window.

It was about 10pm, as it turned out. Sherriff's deputy did't arrive till at least an hour later, IIRC.
I later found out Owen lived a few blocks from me at the time.
And also I delivered mail to hi splace of employment, Florida Auto Sales. I took my lunch break with the girl in the office. She was going to California, I gave her my address to send me a postcard. And yeah I used to tell her my whiny dating stories :banghead: Be careful who you talk to kids....ya never know who's listening :sick:

Also one of the detectives on the case was a little too sympathetic with this guy. Jeez.
Click to expand...

That is terrifying! I am very glad you are ok and were not harmed!
 
This could be a completely dead lead, but I have been trying to locate more information and this drifter and convict, Troy Eugene Wigley. He savagely attacked a woman in her own home after hiding in her attic for days. It struck me the brutality he used, and that he used a hammer (again, could be completely unrelated) I believe he is serving a life sentence, but again, there is so little information out there about him. I don't believe he was convicted until 1987.

http://www.texansforequaljustice.org/protest/wigley.shtml

He looked to me like a good suspect for the Bennett and Smith murders as he was a drifter. Just something I have been chewing on.
 
Wanted to bump this thread for The Bennetts, Patricia Smith and this monster's many other victims spread across Denver, Lakewood and Aurora. The 28th anniversary just passed and I drove through the area where the Bennett's house is - as I do often and just keep hoping someday they will find a DNA match or get some other lead. I just hope the public never forgets.
 
It's hard to believe the killer didn't leave DNA elsewhere. I hope he's found, soon. That poor little girl... I hope she's had a good life, since.

Jim and Delray, your words are chilling and I can't imagine how terrifying it all was and has been for you. I just wanted to say thanks for sharing your stories here.

Good sleuthing, freshwater. Even if the guy was eliminated (I wonder how, did they say?) I think you followed that lead through really well.
 
Ausgirl said:
Good sleuthing, freshwater. Even if the guy was eliminated (I wonder how, did they say?) I think you followed that lead through really well.
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I agree. I am guessing he was eliminated through DNA. One of the victims who survived one of the attacks also stated the perp was an african american male.
 
Ausgirl said:
It's hard to believe the killer didn't leave DNA elsewhere. I hope he's found, soon. That poor little girl... I hope she's had a good life, since.

Jim and Delray, your words are chilling and I can't imagine how terrifying it all was and has been for you. I just wanted to say thanks for sharing your stories here.

Good sleuthing, freshwater. Even if the guy was eliminated (I wonder how, did they say?) I think you followed that lead through really well.
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The detective didn't tell me how they eliminated him. If, as I've read here, the suspect is believed to be African-American, well that would certainly eliminate Owen.
 
I lived in Aurora, near this family for a couple of years in the early 80's. DH and I had just been transferred back to the midwest a couple of months before this happened. i don't recall hearing about the murder in the news, we were so busy with the move and probably missed it.

Aurora and all the Denver suburbs were undergoing a big building boom back then and many of the people who lived there were younger transplants from other parts of the country. There were new subdivisions and shopping centers going up every other week it seemed. It was a great place to live back then, kind of out on the edge of the prairie. We loved the Denver area and really hated to leave. People were very friendly and there was always so much to do especially with the Rockies close by.

It's possible the murderer was an itinerant construction worker. He would have had some kind of vehicle, since that part of Aurora was at the outer edge of the suburbs then and the distance from Lakewood (where he's linked to a similar attack just prior to the Bennett murders) was pretty far. There's no way he could have walked or hitched and a bum or transient type of person would have stood out in Aurora.

These seemed to be crimes of opportunity, committed by an extreme sexual deviant who was filled with rage. That they ended so quickly and no trace of his DNA has showed up in CODIS indicates he moved out of the area soon after, then met an untimely end. Its difficult to imagine he suddenly stopped killing people.

LE should be praised for their ongoing efforts to solve this crime, I hope they do some day.
 
Horrible murders, I have never heard of it till now. I am hoping he gets caught and pays for what he has done to these families.It has been such a long time since this happened I do hope the daughter who survived has had a decent life.What a nightmare!Why didn't the police ever release that it was a tall black man or have a sketch artist make a drawing from the woman who saw him,it might have jogged someones memory of the person who did this.
 
From what I've read in these posts, the Bennett family's killer used a hammer (which he probably brought with him) and a butcher knife (belonging to the family).

I wonder why he bothered with the butcher knife - certainly using a hammer to kill someone would be pretty effective all by itself.
 
mikeysmommom said:
Horrible murders, I have never heard of it till now. I am hoping he gets caught and pays for what he has done to these families.It has been such a long time since this happened I do hope the daughter who survived has had a decent life.What a nightmare!Why didn't the police ever release that it was a tall black man or have a sketch artist make a drawing from the woman who saw him,it might have jogged someones memory of the person who did this.
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I agree! The only reason I can come up with is that they didn't see the attacks as related at the time (how I don't understand). It seems impossible that someone capable of such extreme violence would not have been arrested for another crime sometime, somewhere else and be in the CODIS database so that they could match him. I am beginning to think that he must be dead and that is even sadder - for him to have taken this to his grave without facing justice (whatever that is).

My mother and I were talking about this the other day and she said she never remembered the police even mentioning the other attacks to the public or hearing a word about the woman murdered in Lakewood on the news. The public thought was that this was a one time act, and police spread the word that they thought it was a family member of the Bennett's for years until DNA shot holes in that theory. Shoddy police work - the public had a right to know a serial killer was freely roaming Denver and its suburbs.
 
Daisy1975 said:
This could be a completely dead lead, but I have been trying to locate more information and this drifter and convict, Troy Eugene Wigley. He savagely attacked a woman in her own home after hiding in her attic for days. It struck me the brutality he used, and that he used a hammer (again, could be completely unrelated) I believe he is serving a life sentence, but again, there is so little information out there about him. I don't believe he was convicted until 1987.

http://www.texansforequaljustice.org/protest/wigley.shtml

He looked to me like a good suspect for the Bennett and Smith murders as he was a drifter. Just something I have been chewing on.
Click to expand...

This poor woman was on the show *I Survived*a couple of yrs ago.Her story scared the daylights out of me!What that animal put her through-Its a miracle she did survived!GB HER!!
 
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