Suspect Arrested for Double Homicide at Coin Shop Nine Years After the Crime
by Daniel Baumbach, translated by Maike Meßmann
The double murder of a coin shop owner and another man in Cheyenne, Wyoming, lay unsolved for almost a decade. Now a man is on trial – the very man who had called the police to the crime scene.
Content
Cheyenne, Wyoming. Background: Vasiliymeshko / CC BY-SA 4.0
What Happened?
On 20 July 2015 at around 9.30 am, a double homicide was committed at The Coin Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Owner Dwight Brockman (67), and his coin-loving friend George “Doc” Manley (76) were shot dead in broad daylight. The crime is said to be a robbery, but it has never been possible to determine exactly what was taken from the shop.
The Witness
At the time, the police were called by a male witness. He claimed that he entered the store to find a Hispanic man who was tampering with the safe behind the counter. The man allegedly pointed a gun at him and told him to leave the shop. So he ran to his car and called 911. The perpetrator allegedly fled on foot. At the time, a manhunt was carried out with a composite sketch.
Despite an intensive investigation, the murder was never solved – until now. On 25 June 2024, almost exactly 9 years later, a 68-year-old man was arrested in California for the double homicide and transferred to Wyoming. He is the man who had called 911 – the most important witness in the case.
Composite sketch of a criminal who apparently never existed. Source: Cheyenne Police Department.
No Suspect?
According to the Cowboy State Daily – the source of most details in this article – the arrested man was not initially considered a suspect by the police, neither he nor his car were searched at the time. The man is said to have been very cooperative during the investigation, but is reported to have known an unusually large amount of details. A few months later, he had to do a polygraph test, but passed it.
It was only in 2023, when the Cheyenne Police reviewed the case again that the man was considered a suspect due to inconsistencies in his statements. He was questioned again, and his statements revealed severe inconsistencies while also diverting from his initial statements.
The police also analysed CCTV footage from around the coin shop, which covered all directions around the shop. There was nothing that would suggest that anyone other than the witness had left the shop at the time of the crime.
These and many other inconsistencies paint a picture of the police being thrown off the scent. They were looking for a man who never existed – due to the witness statement of the actual killer. Whether the alleged murderer, who knew Brockman and “loved” him, according to a statement quoted in the Cowboy State Daily, premeditated the murder or “just” wanted to rob the store and was improvising when he called the police, remains to be seen.
A Lack of Evidence
The man is now standing trial in Wyoming. He is being held without bail pending sentencing. He faces up to life in prison. However, it seems unclear whether he will actually be convicted. The defence argues that there is no physical evidence connecting the suspect to the crime, but only circumstantial evidence, such as his presence at the scene at the time of the crime and the inconsistencies in his statements.
