This episode was originally released in September 2021, and is one of seventeen episodes from the archives we’ll be bringing you every Thursday, now through top of next year... for good reason! ;) We highly recommend you listen to each episode and follow us on Instagram @crimejunkiepodcast so you're the first to know what's coming next! In the 1980s, the Denver area was terrorized by a hammer-wielding mad man. But as fast as the attacks started, they suddenly stopped. Leaving the area to wonder if the mad man was dead or had moved on to another place. Once answers came, decades later the public would learn that the truth was much more concerning.You can listen to our episode MURDERED: The Hendricks Family right now! Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: crimejunkiepodcast.com/captured-denver-hammer-killer/ Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit crimejunkie.app/library/ to view the current membership options and policies. Don’t miss out on all things Crime Junkie!Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuckTikTok: @crimejunkiepodcastFacebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllcCrime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawatTwitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawatTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!
Chapter 1: What happened in Denver that caused fear in the community?
Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And today, we're headed to Colorado, specifically Denver, a city full of art, culture, and outdoor adventures. But as you know, major cities aren't always all rainbows and butterflies. There was a moment in time when the beauty of the area became overshadowed by fear and horror. And that's when a real-life monster was roaming the streets.
A monster who senselessly ripped families apart and took away precious lives that deserved so much more. And he almost got away with it. So let me take you back to 2021 when I first told you how decades later, before it was almost too late, justice was finally served. Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt.
And the story I have for you today is one of the most terrifying kinds of crime junkie stories because it reminds us all that we're all vulnerable, that no matter who we are, where we are, evil can still come knocking at our door or come sneaking through the garage. This is the story of the Denver Hammer Killer. January 10th, 1984 was cold in Aurora, Colorado.
Chapter 2: Who was the first victim of the Denver Hammer Killer?
Even colder if you're lingering outside at a bus station waiting for your ride. And that's exactly what Sherry Lutton was doing. She had just taken the bus back from work that evening and she was waiting for her mom, Patricia, to come pick her up. According to reporting by Kirk Mitchell in the Denver Post, this was their routine.
Every weekday since Sherry and her two kids moved to Aurora to live with Patricia, the after sherry's divorce sherry kept staring down the road waiting for her mom to pull up so they could go pick up the kids where was she she tried calling her mom at home but no luck which to sherry meant she had to be coming to get her yet she never showed
When Sherry could wait no more, she called her cousin to come get her, and together they rushed to pick up little Amber and Joe, who were six and four. By the time they pulled up to the complex of townhouses where they lived, it was dark, and that prickle that had started low in Sherry's spine trickled up her back because what she saw was all wrong.
Kevin Vaughn for Nine News reported on their podcast Blame that the detached garage door was open and there was Patricia's car. Also, there was what looked like a TV on just flickering through a window upstairs. So her mom was definitely home. This was so unlike her. Sherry and the kids hustled out of the car and up to the front door. The kids, like, making their way in front of Sherry.
When Sherry unlocked the door and flicked on the light, I can almost see her, like, hands on the kids' backs, ushering them in, taking a quick step towards the stairs to go see her mom before her whole world imploded. And it was Amber who saw her grandmother first. She was lying, feet from the door.
And though a Winnie the Pooh blanket was covering her face, the blood around her made it clear that she was dead, even to six-year-old Amber. Amber told Kirk Mitchell, quote, "'It's definitely an image that never leaves your mind.'" Sherry swooped up her children as fast as she could and got them out of there, then ran to a neighbor's who called police.
When detectives arrived and actually looked at the scene in more detail, what they saw was horrifying. There was a reason the killer had covered her head. She had been beaten with a blunt instrument, and it wasn't hard to guess what, because right next to her body was a hammer. And it also wasn't hard to guess a motive or motives.
Some jewelry had been taken off of her, and her pants were pulled down. So police were thinking that the killer was motivated by robbery and sexual assault.
But could they tell which one was the killer's main motive?
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Chapter 3: What evidence did police find at the crime scenes?
i don't have any proof of that because again that story was never picked up by the media like at all which seems so bizarre to me it seems like this is exactly the kind of story that you'd want to go out to the community like does anybody know anything did you see anything oh and also this is happening i don't know maybe make sure your garage doors are shut lock your doors stuff like that
Yes, you'd think. And maybe if they would have made some announcement like, hi, deranged hammer-wielding psychopath is on the loose, be on the lookout, maybe Donna Dixon would have been looking over her shoulder a bit more in the wee hours of January 10th. Wait, January 10th? Isn't that the same day Patricia was attacked? Yep, stay with me. I'm going to lay it out for you.
So in like the very late hours of January 9th and leading into the early hours of January 10th, a flight attendant named Donna Dixon is in her garage. I'm not sure if she's coming or going or just getting something, but while she's in there, she gets stunned by the blow of a hammer. According to a team of reporters for Fox 21 Denver, she is hit repeatedly and raped.
Kevin Vaughn from 9 News says on blame that the hammer gets left behind, along with most of the contents from her purse, which are spilled out nearby. And again, there are no news reports about this attack. Like nothing, nothing at all? Not a thing.
I mean, this dude is clearly escalating and within like a matter of days.
I know.
So did Donna survive?
Yes, she did survive her attack. But while she's in the hospital, that very afternoon being treated for her injuries, that's exactly when Patricia Smith is being bludgeoned and raped in Lakewood, Colorado.
Okay, so zero excuses for me on why they didn't make these cases public in Aurora, but I'm not sure it would have prevented anything from happening to Patricia, you know? Like, the news of these attacks wouldn't have ever made it to her, especially in 1984.
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Chapter 4: How did the police connect the series of attacks?
Why? What on earth could be more important than this? It's not like this case is cold. It's not even a week out yet.
Well, they need all hands on deck to prevent another attack because you see, by now, police have discovered a pattern. And if they're right, the killer is going to strike again that very night. Because of all the press the Bennett murders was getting, it of course caught the eye of investigators over in Lakewood. And they told Aurora police about the attack on Patricia Smith.
And that's when it jumped out at them. The pattern. Six days. Every six days, their attacker struck. first on January 4th with James and Kim, then on January 10th with the flight attendant, Donna, and Patricia, who is the same day, then again on the 16th with the Bennett family.
Detective Frick told the Daily Sentinel, quote, We've noticed this six day pattern, and if it holds, the next would occur Sunday. So they put cars out patrolling up and down the streets. Every minute that passes, they held their breath. Every crackle that came over the radio made their hearts stop for a second. But the night came and went without a single report.
And on one hand, everyone is happy. But on the other, it's... It's almost like they're waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like, when is he going to attack next? Exactly. The people in town are afraid. Like, really afraid. They show up to community meetings about safety. Gun sales in the area go through the roof. And they all hold their breath, waiting for the next attack.
But day after day passes and that doesn't come. And unfortunately, definitive answers don't come from Lubbock either. With nowhere else to turn, the Aurora police turn to the FBI in hopes that they can create a profile of their killer that might narrow down their suspect pool. Or I guess in this case, like show you which body of water to even start looking in.
A little less than two weeks after the family's murder, Ron Walker from the FBI arrives in Colorado. According to yet another Denver Post article by Kirk Mitchell, quote, End quote. Ron Walker agreed with police's assessment. All four of these cases were definitely connected, definitely done by the same perpetrator. And he had an idea about what that person might be like.
And here, Britt, I'll have you give everyone kind of the lowdown from this Denver Post piece.
Okay, so basically Walker suspected this guy was an unsophisticated criminal, especially when looking at the few items that were taken from the victims, which you mentioned in all the cases is nothing big or super valuable was ever removed from any of the houses. Just a little bit of jewelry from Patricia. And then all the cases had this purse that was dumped out.
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Chapter 5: What did the FBI suggest about the killer's profile?
Chapter 6: What was the community's reaction to the attacks?
Ashley, you didn't tell me I was going to have to puke during this episode. I'm sorry. You need to give me a warning.
He did multiple writings like these, trying to get correspondence with women. And again, all from prison. And he was there counting down the days until he was eligible for parole, which would have been in 2021.
Okay, I guess I'm struggling to, like, wrap my head around something. Like, how could he just be sitting there this whole time and, like, there was never any sort of CODIS connection or CODIS hit? Like, obviously there was, like, that weird anomaly with Patricia's sample, whatever. But aren't there laws that felons have to have their DNA tested and, like, submitted into a profile and a system?
So, yeah. Here's the thing. There are laws like that, yes. But... But it wasn't for a long time until after he was put away. According to the Blame podcast, in like the mid-1990s-ish, Nevada, which is where he was, made the law that said all felons should have their DNA collected. But this only applied to people who were convicted of a felony after the law was passed. OK.
Now, at some point, someone was like, hey, we got a lot of people in jail. Maybe they did something. Oh, well, good question. Good thought. Genius. Right. So in 2013, they made an amendment that said, OK, anyone currently in jail for a felony, you're getting tested, too. But apparently the administration at the prison he was at was basically like, nah, like they just ignored it.
And they ignored it for five years until the attorney general. Yeah. The attorney general had to come in and force them to do it. And what do you know, in 2018, when they start testing, boom, one of the biggest cold cases in Colorado gets solved.
Okay, when you were going to explain this, I fully were expecting you to say like, it took so long because testing took so long because we see that happen so often. But they just weren't testing. You're just telling me that they just weren't doing it.
They just weren't doing it. Yeah, this could have been solved five years ago. Cool, cool. Awesome. Ewing tried to deny his involvement. His defense argued that there were probably more than just one person there and the investigation was narrowly focused. And they pointed to the fact that there was other DNA apparently found at Patricia's crime scene and it was the DNA of an unknown male.
Now, granted, we're not talking semen. We're talking like touch DNA on I think it was like her blouse and maybe even the hammer. And the truth is the scene was contaminated. Right. I told you early on officers weren't using gloves. This is something that came out in court.
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