Marvin Heemeyer

Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 – June 4, 2004) was an American USAF veteran, welder and automobile repair shop owner who demolished numerous buildings, in an act of revenge, with a modified bulldozer in Granby, Colorado, in June 2004. Heemeyer's machine was posthumously labeled by some members of the media and later adopted by some of Heemeyer's supporters as the "Killdozer".

For 12 years, Granby town officials, neighbors of his muffler shop, the local press, and other citizens of Granby had been in disputes with Heemeyer in various ways, including over zoning rules which Heemeyer believed impaired his muffler repair shop's business. Starting in 2002, over about eighteen months, Heemeyer channeled his frustration and secretly armored a huge Komatsu D355A bulldozer with layers of steel and concrete to render it tank-like and referred to it on tapes as "Marv's Komatsu Tank".

On June 4, 2004, Heemeyer acted out his rage and used the bulldozer in a vehicle-ramming attack to demolish the Granby town hall, the house of a former mayor, and several other buildings. He committed suicide after the bulldozer became stuck in the debris of a hardware store he was destroying. No one else was injured or killed.

Career

In 1974, Heemeyer moved to Colorado, because he was stationed at Lowry Air Force Base. He had lived in Boulder, Colorado and operated a few muffler repair shops around Denver, before 1989, when he moved to Grand Lake, Colorado, about 16 miles (26 km) away from Granby. His friends said that he had no relatives in the Granby–Grand Lake area.

Zoning and sewage dispute

In 1992, Heemeyer purchased two acres (0.8 ha) of land for $42,000 (equivalent to $96,360 in 2025) at auction with plans to lease the property to a friend who intended to build an auto repair shop on the site. Present at the auction was Cody Docheff, whose family had previously owned the property. Heemeyer claimed that Docheff had berated him for several minutes afterward out of anger towards losing the property; however, no other party present recalled any such interaction.

The property had a rudimentary sewage storage solution in the form of a buried cement mixer left by the previous owners. The cost to update the sewer system would be nearly double the $42,000 Heemeyer paid for the property.

City officials told Heemeyer that putting in a septic tank was a less expensive alternative, but he rejected both options and said that the government not paying for the sewage line hookup was "extortion by government fiat". Despite these setbacks, he did not withdraw his annexation request and subsequently became part of the sewer district.

By 1993, Heemeyer had abandoned plans to rent the property to a friend and instead opened a muffler repair shop on the grounds. According to Heemeyer, his friend had lost interest in the property in around April 1992 because of oil spills and environmental issues.

Opposition to sell to concrete plant

In 1997, the Docheff family planned to expand their business to include a concrete batch plant and were buying up the land around their current lot, hoping to lease the remaining 23 parcels to small manufacturers. They were informed by the town planning commission that they needed a "Planned Development Overlay District" permit to construct the plant as part of their Mountain Park Concrete development. The commission also suggested that the Docheff family ask if they could purchase Heemeyer's plot to keep the plant away from the hotels and businesses on Route 40.

Heemeyer asked for $250,000 (equivalent to $501,399 in 2025) for his property, but later claimed he had had the lot reappraised and asked for an additional $125,000 (equivalent to $250,700 in 2025). The Docheffs managed to collect $350,000 (equivalent to $701,959 in 2025), but according to Susan Docheff, Heemeyer again upped his asking price, claiming he had the property appraised again at a higher value, this time asking for $450,000 (equivalent to $902,519 in 2025). This negotiation happened before the rezoning proposal had a public hearing at town hall.

Heemeyer launched a public campaign against the planned concrete plant. His campaign was initially successful, with members of the public concerned about potential environmental impacts packing into hearings on the construction proposals. The Docheffs addressed these concerns by promising to install additional measures against dust and noise and presented miniatures of the plant to concerned citizens. Opposition to the proposal dwindled, and the plan was set to move forward again. In November 2000, Heemeyer filed a lawsuit to block the project.

By January 9, 2001, Heemeyer had lost most of his allies in opposition to the concrete plant, and city officials almost unanimously approved its construction. That day, the preliminary plans for the plant were approved near-unanimously, with only Heemeyer remaining opposed. This made the final approval by Granby's zoning commission and trustees in April a formality.

Heemeyer tried to appeal the decision, claiming the construction blocked access to his shop. He also complained to the Environmental Protection Agency; this resulted in the Docheff family having a professional noise analysis done.

In June 2001, Joe Docheff made Heemeyer an offer over the phone whereby if Heemeyer dropped the lawsuit, they would provide him an easement to connect a sewer line to the new concrete plant free of charge; Heemeyer simply hung up. Around this time, the buried concrete truck barrel that served as Heemeyer's sewage hole filled up. Heemeyer responded by pumping his sewage with a gasoline pump into the irrigation ditch that ran behind his property. Heemeyer also attempted to illegally connect to a neighbor's sewer line, but was caught and the incident reported to the sanitation district. At this point, the sewer district started enforcing the legal requirement to have a sewer hookup or a septic tank and fined Heemeyer $2,500 (equivalent to $4,546 in 2025) for it and other city code violations at his business, in July 2001, nine years after he was required to have installed either.

Bulldozer repurposing and construction

After the lawsuit against the town was dismissed in April 2002, Heemeyer blamed the failure on his lawyer and demanded a refund. Knowing the zoning decision was now final, he traveled to California, bought a Komatsu Limited D355A bulldozer in an auction for $16,000 (equivalent to $28,640 in 2025) and had it shipped to Granby in July 2002. He kept it outside of his business with a "For Sale" sign on it and tried to auction it, but few paid it any mind.

In October 2002, he announced the closure of the muffler repair business, putting almost all of the inventory up for sale. When the bulldozer failed to sell, he saw it as a sign from God to use the machine to enact vengeance on the town of Granby. He sold his property for $400,000 (equivalent to $716,004 in 2025)—around ten times the original purchase price—to a waste disposal company in October 2003 and took out a lease for half the building he had previously owned until he had "finished some work." Within a day of the purchase closing, the new owners had completed water and sewer connections.

He erected a wall to separate his space from the rest of the building and changed the locks. While no one else could see him, he worked on the bulldozer, illegally constructing living quarters to avoid having to return to his home in Grand Lake, which he saw as a waste of time that could be spent on the dozer. During this period, he dumped his sewage into the same irrigation ditch he had been caught dumping into several months earlier.

"It is interesting to observe that I was never caught", Heemeyer wrote. "This was a part-time project over a 1½-year time period." He was surprised that several men, who had visited the shed late the previous year, had not noticed the modified bulldozer "especially with the 2,000-pound [910 kg] lift fully exposed ... somehow their vision was clouded".

During this period, Heemeyer repeatedly mentioned the bulldozer to friends and associates, as well as his intention to use it for destructive purposes.

The bulldozer was a modified Komatsu D355A, which he referred to as the "MK Tank" (or "Marv's Komatsu Tank") in audio recordings, fitted with makeshift composite armor plating covering the cabin, engine, and parts of the tracks. Three external explosions and more than 200 rounds of ammunition fired at the bulldozer had no effect on it.

For outside views, the bulldozer was fitted with several video cameras linked to two monitors mounted on the vehicle's dashboard. The cameras were protected on the outside by three-inch (7.6 cm) shields of clear bulletproof polycarbonate. Compressed-air nozzles were fitted to blow dust away from the video cameras.

Three rifles, including a .50 BMG rifle, were mounted in the vehicle. At the time of the demolition it also contained three handguns and enough food and water to last a week.