On the night of August 12, 2020, 20-year-old Tanner Andre Banderet was picked up in Westminster, Colorado, for what was reported to be a cocaine transaction. While riding in the passenger seat of a black Cadillac driven by 20-year-old Christopher John Matthews, Matthews retrieved a Glock from the center console and fired one shot that struck Banderet behind his left ear and severed his carotid artery. Matthews then covered Banderet’s head with a shirt, drove to a field in the 3200 block of West 84th Avenue, and abandoned the body after emptying Banderet’s pockets, taking cash, cocaine, and identification.

A passerby discovered Banderet’s body around 6:40 p.m. on August 13, 2020, and Westminster police found obvious trauma; an autopsy confirmed the gunshot wound as the cause of death. Investigators used cell phone records, interviews, and tire-track comparisons to link Matthews to the scene. Matthews was later arrested and charged; during an August 2022 trial he asserted self-defense but was convicted of second-degree murder.

Did anyone know Tanner’s movements that evening or recognize the Cadillac seen near 116th Avenue and Pecos Street?