Post by Scumhunter on Mar 6, 2016 13:19:50 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: denverpost.com)
Ben Bradley's Passion For The Slopes
Friends say Benjamin Bradley was the kind of guy who lived from day-to-day. He was never concerned with material things, and liked to play the drums and the flute, but his ultimate passion was snowboarding.
He loved to tackle new trails and carve his board through fresh powder. His friends say he was extremely talented; in fact, he could have been a professional border, but choose to do it for fun. For a while, Ben even made a living producing snow at resorts.
Friends also say Ben "dreamed of longer back country trips, more strenuous hikes, and bigger mountain faces to conquer." He loved chasing adventure, and once lived an entire summer alone in a Colorado cabin without running water.
When Ben wanted to hitchhike 485 miles from Tabernash, Colo., to Jackson Hole, Wyo. to go skiing for his 29th birthday, no one thought anything of it.
Ben had even hitchhiked the route before with no problems. Hitching in that part of the country, friends say, is pretty common. According to Ben's parents, he'd once flown from Colorado to California to visit them, but decided not to use his plane ticket home.
Instead, Ben made his own way back to Colorado, relying on his thumb and his skateboard. His dad says he would hitch rides to the top of hills and skateboard to the bottom, a process he continued for days.
But this time, his journey would not be so carefree.
Birthday Blues For Ben's Family
On June 2, 2006, two days before Ben's birthday, police say he started his trip on foot with his snowboard in hand. He was heading to a resort to meet his friends for his big birthday ski bash -- but he never made it.
Investigators say Ben made one last call to his friends before he went missing. According to reports, Ben left a message from his cell phone that he was two hours outside Pinedale, backpack and snowboard slung over his shoulder, and hoped someone could drive down from Jackson to pick him up.
Sadly, that was the last time anyone would hear from Ben.
For months, no one knew where Ben Bradley was. Ben's friends and family, including his parents, Ken and Mary Bradley, drove out to Rock Springs to post fliers about their missing son. The posters were canvassed along the route he took from Colorado to Wyoming, but there was no sign of him.
Then, on September 29, 2006, cops got a big break in the case. A man named Tommy Bowman walked into the Rock Springs Police Department, wanting to file a police report for a stolen computer.
Things at the police station took a turn when Bowman recognized Ben's picture on a missing persons poster on the wall, and the hairs stood up on the back of his neck.
That's when Bowman told the person behind the desk that he had information about Ben Bradley, and that he had Ben's backpack in his car.
Tommy Bowman sat down with America's Most Wanted and told us that he had found the bag floating in the Flaming Gorge reservoir.
Inside the bag was a car title with Ben's name on it, and other items. Bowman told AMW that he had all intentions of turning in the bag sooner, but it was not a high priority for him.
Bowman says that when he walked into the police station and saw the poster, he remembered the name, and wanted to turn the backpack in.
Just two days later, on October 1, 2006, two sightseers hiking in an area called Boar's Tusk, a natural volcanic landmark, about 50 miles north of where Tommy Bowman claims to have found Ben's bag, discovered Ben Bradley's body. He had been stabbed to death.
Investigators say Bowman is not charged with any crime, and since turning in the bag, he has moved with his family to California.
No one knows if Ben lived to see his 29th birthday. The detective on the case doesn't believe Ben would stop in Boar's Tusk because it was totally off track for him, and it would've taken him a lot of extra time to reach the location on foot.
One-Of-A-Kind Snowboard
One important clue in finding Ben's killer could be his snowboard.
The style of board Ben was carrying is unique because the board splits to form two short skis, which allow a snowboarder to climb up slopes. Denver-based Never Summer is the only company to design these boards -- and each is one-of-a-kind.
Ben's board is black with an eagle grasping lightning bolts in its talons. The eagle's wings read "Never" on the left and "Summer" on the right. On the second banner that runs parallel to the eagle's wings is the word "Denver," and the bottom of the snowboard reads "Legacy." Ben bought the snowboard for about $1,000.
There have been various reports of Ben's snowboard being seen at area resorts. So far, police have examined over 1,400 snowboards at "swaps" and other events, but there have been no revelations in the identification of the young extreme sportsman's killer.
No arrests have been made in the case.
web.archive.org/web/20090512192032/http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=42421
Thoughts? The above was the original archive description of the murder of Ben Bradley, his case aired on the March 7th, 2009 episode of America's Most Wanted. And a year later, it looked like it would finally be solved.
In 2010, Tommy Bowman would be charged after all, along with another man, then 41-year old Eric John Conn.
According to court documents, Conn told the agents he and two other men attacked Bradley at his residence after they spent hours "getting high."
Conn said he cleaned Bradley's bloody body and the other two men dumped the body in the Red Desert.
Federal agents arrested Conn in St. Louis on March 18. He was charged with first-degree murder, accessory to first-degree murder and accessory after the fact.
Bowman was arrested in April on charges of felony accessory after the fact and giving false statements to authorities.
However, charges against Bowman and Conn would soon be dropped- according to the authorities- facts came to light that wound up casting doubt on the truthfulness of Conn's incriminating statements to law enforcement.
According to a 2015 news article, the case is still considered unsolved.
Admin Note #1: According to the tv show "Crime Watch Daily", tips on this case can be made anonymously to the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Officer (Wyoming) at (307) 922-5295
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
Other Relevant Links:
www.denverpost.com/search/ci_7501541
trib.com/news/state-and-regional/charges-dropped-in-snowboarder-killing-in-southwest-wyoming/article_715d3e4a-85be-55d7-96c5-90c2c5bb20b8.html
www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/cops_courts/old-hitchhiker-murder-case-may-warm-up/article_574acbe6-d504-5a48-91ef-c2f719c70408.html
