Marvin Heemeyer mailed the tapes to his brother in South Dakota just a few days before he went on the rampage on June 4. Heemeyer knocked down eight buildings in town and damaged several others before getting stuck in a collapsed basement, where he shot and killed himself inside the bulldozer. In the audiotapes, Heemeyer says he can't believe people didn't figure out what he was doing and explains his reasons for building the bulldozer and destroying businesses. Heemeyer blamed the people of Granby for a lot of his troubles and said he was doing God's work.Heemeyer built the bulldozer in a small shed in downtown Granby. When people came to check up on him, he described making up elaborate lies for what he was doing. "How come they didn't catch me?" Heemeyer asks on tape. "It was right there under their nose! Well," he goes on, "I wasn't supposed to get caught. Not yet. Maybe I will and this will come to a stop. If that's the way it's supposed to be, I will accept that." Heemeyer wasn't stopped. He bulldozed several hundred thousand dollars worth of property - selecting businesses owned by people he felt had wronged him.The tape starts, "Hello, my name is Marvin Heemeyer. Today is - let's see here - April 13th, 2004. I am making this tape (thought I should make it a year ago). Made part of it, didn't like it. Really didn't think it would make a difference if I did make it, but a good friend of mine said I should make it. He said I should sit down in front of a videotape machine and do it. But you're just going to have to take my word that this is Marv Heemeyer. Serial number 503689471." Heemeyer is chatty, but spends most of his time giving a chronological list of how he was wronged by others in Boulder and in Granby."This guy is a cowardly thief," he complains of a man in Boulder. "He's a man of the system. He milked me like I've never been milked before."I'm fighting for my life here. Because this is my future. This is my retirement. I need to get this stopped."Heemeyer had left writings on the wall of his shed, but this is the first time we've heard a recording, in his own words, of the reasons for the rampage.Heemeyer's brother turned the tapes over to the FBI, who in turn, sent it to the Grand County Sheriff's Department.
Newly released audiotapes detail reasons for Granby bulldozer rampage
GRANBY - The man who gained notoriety when he plowed his reinforced bulldozer through the town of Granby, left behind two-and-half-hours of audio tapes explaining why he did it. 9News has obtained a copy of the audiotapes.
