Joseph Didier, a 26-year-old White man, was found shot to death in Denver on September 15, 1975. Public memorial records list his identity, age, and date of death and note he was later buried in Sidney, Nebraska. Several crime-history accounts place Marvin Gayle Gray crossing Didier’s path near downtown Denver that day, confronting him for money and shooting him in or near Didier’s car along Larimer Street; some write-ups say Didier had just left his bank job when he was targeted.

Police activity followed quickly. That same day Denver officer James Datsman was wounded in a confrontation with Gray and an associate, William Felder, not far from the murder scene. Datsman survived and identified Felder as the man who shot him, while Gray claimed responsibility; Felder later received a 20-year sentence in the Datsman shooting, and Gray got four years for theft and complicity. Ballistics indicated the bullets that killed Didier and those that injured Datsman came from the same weapon.