Editor's note: All this week at 6 a.m., 9NEWS is looking at Colorado Cold Cases and where these unsolved murders stand today.
JEFFERSON COUNTY - Richard Van Duyn was delivering money bags to an Aspen Park bank in a marked security patrol car when he was shot and killed.
That was Oct. 19, 1986. It’s a case that has plagued investigators and the Van Duyn family for 32 years.
Van Durn, who was 27 at the time of his death, worked as a security officer with Evergreen Security, a position he held for four months while applying for police officer positions.
He was tasked with collecting money bags from three Safeway stores around the Conifer area and dropping them at different banks.
According to investigators, Van Duyn was making his last drop of the night at Mountain Valley Bank in Aspen Park when he was shot and killed. The money bags he was delivering were left behind.
Jefferson County Homicide Investigator Elias Alberti said it's likely whoever killed Van Duyn was not there for the money. He's been working the cold case for about two years.
“They didn’t really care about what money bags he had at all ... they were there for him,” Alberti said. “They knew his routine, they knew his pattern, they knew where he went, what he picked up and where he went next. They brought the firepower or the person with the firepower to do it. They did it, and they left.”
Alberti said Van Duyn was in a security patrol car when he pulled in to the bank.
“He flipped a U-turn, pulled in front of the bank drop — and [to] the best of our knowledge — exited the vehicle with the money bags, and as he was going to drop the bank bags, he was shot,” according to Alberti. “There are some witnesses — audio witnesses — but nobody who actually saw the murder.”
A female custodian, the witness who investigators said was closest to the scene, arrived at the bank at 9 p.m., approximately 30 minutes before Van Duyn was shot.
She told investigators that she noticed a full-sized pick-up truck sitting in the bank’s parking lot with two men inside.
“She didn’t pay much attention to it because there was a bar in the area and people parked in the bank parking lot because it was closed at times,”Alberti said. “Then, around 9:35 [p.m.], she hears loud popping noises, which in one interview she describes as the sound of hail, goes outside to see what is going on.”
“She sees Rick’ [Van Duyn]’s patrol car, but she doesn’t see him. She goes back into the bank and comes back out a few minutes later,” Alberti added. “When she does, she walks around his security car and sees him lying by the back driver side car.”
Van Duyn had been shot several times and died on-scene. According to the witness statements by the custodian, the truck she saw upon her arrival was gone by the time she found Van Duyn’s body in the parking lot.
“She didn’t see the truck leave,” Alberti said. “But what’s interesting in this case is we have a Jefferson County sheriff's patrol car sitting in an RTD parking lot about a quarter mile away from the bank. When he hears gunfire, he automatically puts his car in drive.”
As soon as the officer approached the bank, the same area he heard gunshots, investigators said he saw the full-sized pick-up truck blow through the stop-sign.
“Due to the fog and the rainy conditions that night, he was unable to catch up to the truck — so the truck was able to get away,” said Alberti said. “It’s haunted that deputy this entire time because he believes the people, or person responsible for this, were in that truck.”
The case went cold in the early 1990s. The only evidence found at the crime scene were bullet casings. In 1986, the bank didn’t have surveillance cameras and nobody clearly saw the men’s faces inside the truck.
It’s a devastating loss that haunts Leigh Van Duyn, his widow, every day.
“I just want to know why. I just don’t know why,” Leigh Van Duyn said. “I was robbed, and having it be unsolved feels like another robbery in my mind. The pain is excruciating.”
Alberti said he believes someone, somewhere knows what happened to Rick Van Duyn.
“We are looking for the person who has been sitting on this secret for 32 years and finally wants to come forward and share the information that they have,” Alberti said.
Leigh Van Duyn wants to see her husband’s case solved and his killers brought to justice, but she said nothing will bring Rick Van Duyn back.
“I need answers. We need answers and justice,” Leigh Van Duyn said.“Nothing will satisfy me. Nothing will make me feel better. Nothing will bring closure. Nothing will end that ache, it just won’t happen.”
All this week at 6 a.m., 9NEWS is looking at Colorado Cold Cases and where these unsolved murders stand today.
On Tuesday we featured the case of Jane Doe who was found dead in 1993. Watch her story below.On Monday, we featured the case of Patricia Louise Smith. The 50-year-old mother and grandmother was killed in 1984. Her killing was linked to several other crimes, including the brutal slaying of an Aurora family. None have been solved. Watch her story below.
