The Insane Case Of Marvin 'Killdozer' Heemeyer Who Destroyed A Town For Revenge

Marvin Heemeyer became known as 'killdozer' after he used a bulldozer to get revenge on an entire town because his zoning petition was dismissed.

Heemeyer, of Granby, Colorado, made his living repairing mufflers at the small welding shop he'd built on land he owned himself.

In 2001, Heemeyer became angry when he learned the city had zoned the land next to his own to build a large concrete plant, as he'd become used to using it for access to his shop. He attempted to have the property rezoned to prevent the construction, but received multiple rejections.

Check out what happened below:

By 2003, Heemeyer was so frustrated by the rejection of his petition that he apparently decided to take his anger out on the town with the help of a bulldozer he had purchased a few years earlier with the intent to use it to create an alternative route between his home and his shop.

Rather than use the bulldozer as it was, Heemeyer seemingly went out of his way to make the machinery unstoppable by covering it in armoured plates, according to All That's Interesting.

He installed two monitors in the makeshift cockpit through which he could observe his movements, and added three guns to the bulldozer before sealing himself in the driver's seat, making it impossible for him to get out.

On June 4, 2004, Heeymeyer began his rampage by driving the 'killdozer' through the wall of his shop and heading straight for the concrete plant. After destroying that, he then apparently turned his attention to buildings in the town including the Town Hall, a newspaper office, a DIY shop and various homes, destroying a total of 13 buildings and creating nearly $7 million in property damage over a period of two hours and seven minutes.

Authorities reportedly later realised that Heemeyer had purposefully targeted buildings related to his conflict with the zoning committee, and the rampage caused such panic that the National Guard was put in place to attack, however they did not go ahead as Heemeyer accidentally wedged the bulldozer in the basement of a hardware store.

He ultimately took his own life, but remarkably no other lives were lost during the events. Authorities searching his home later found multiple notes and tapes outlining his motivations, and the bulldozer was eventually taken apart and sold for scrap.

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Topics: Crime, True crime, Viral, Life

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.