 This is Denver Police Department case number 1973-135706, which is the cold case homicide investigation of Colorado State Patrol Trooper Thomas Carpenter, which occurred on December 27, 1973. Trooper Carpenter's vehicle was found at 13870 Albrook Drive, with Trooper Carpenter deceased in the driver's seat. Tom Carpenter started as a patrolman with the Colorado State Patrol in the 1960s. Tom was a great guy by all accounts, a valued member of the patrol. He was a husband, father of three. He served our country as a United States Marine, and the people of Colorado as a state trooper. My name is Cory Carpenter, and he was my father. My name is Sheila Carpenter-Barrella, and I am his daughter. When he died, I was four. I was seven when he was killed. My dad is one of my heroes. He was a great man. There's probably not a single day that we don't think about him. He has grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and none of them ever had any type of relationship with him. We were both the patrolmen on the Colorado State Patrol. Tom was a nice guy, easy to get along with, fun to talk to. He trusted everybody, maybe to a fault. The day that he was murdered, he was actually assigned to work on the I-25 corridor between Denver and 104th Avenue. I remember the day it was real nasty and it was about two or three feet of snow everywhere. Tom started his shift that morning at six o'clock, and he had the opportunity to have contact with a vehicle on the ramp from Broadway to Westbound Highway 36. The vehicle that Trooper Carpenter contacted had actually turned out to be stolen from Denver earlier in that day. The car was taken out of the Lincoln Projects down around 11 and Mariposa. The vehicle had two people inside. An African-American male and a white male, both in their late teens to early 20s. I think one of them walked up in front of him, one of them walked behind him, and that's what they did, they rushed into the ground and took his gun and forced him to drive away, left the car there. Trooper Carpenter's vehicle was tracked traveling eastbound on I-70 and eventually into the Montbello neighborhood. At approximately 10.45 a.m., residents in these apartment complex neighborhoods observed Trooper Carpenter's state patrol vehicle northwestbound in this parking lot with two occupants in the backseat. At approximately 10.50 a.m., an I-11 call was made to the Denver Police Department reporting an injured officer. When authorities arrived, they located Trooper Carpenter deceased in his vehicle in this exact location. He was murdered, he was shot four times in the back of the head and the assailants left the scene. The African-American male and the white male were observed running in a northwesternly direction out of that parking lot. When Trooper Carpenter was found deceased in his patrol car, his Colorado State Patrol issued firearm was missing. That firearm was located approximately two years later on the roadside in New Mexico. At this stage, we have no idea how his firearm ended up in New Mexico. I called this person and I said, what's going on, what's on the chatter? They told me that Tom Carpenter had been kidnapped and they found him deceased. My lieutenant came on the air in a car and I said, that's my next door neighbor and I'd like to go with you. And he said, come on. I was sitting right there when the Trooper came in and told my mom. I remember that he came to the door and we were sitting in our living room and so he came in and he wanted her to sit down on the couch because he had to tell her something and then I recall her saying he's dead, isn't he? Then I was just kind of lost it. She just ran to me and grabbed me and hugged me and hugged me. She never remarried. I don't blame her. I don't think she could have found another guy like Tom. I think one of the most rewarding things that you can do in law enforcement is tell a survivor, tell a victim what happened. And here we are 47 years later, one of our own and we can't do that and it hurts. It would be so beneficial still to our family to have that opportunity to heal from this, to have our questions answered, to know what happened to him. It would be a load off my mind because it's a long time, 47 years long time. I think about Tom a lot. I'm frustrated, but 47 years later I hope and pray all the time that there will be some resolution and with that, possibly justice. You know, this was 47 years ago, but this murder took place in a parking lot surrounded by apartment buildings that were filled with people. And not only that, people left that day and talked about it. In my heart of hearts, there are people out there today somewhere that know details about this case that will help us provide that closure to the people that love and care for Tom Carpenter. If anybody has any information, regardless of how important or insignificant you think it is, whether it's a small detail that you don't think would matter to this investigation, please call Crime Stoppers. You can remain anonymous. Every time I see a patrol officer I think about Tom. I had to look at how he lived because how he died is not the definition of who my dad was. To me, one of the very few who still doesn't know what happened after so many years, it's kind of like a hole inside of you that you're hoping to be filled. We will never stop trying to find out what happened and solve all the mysteries associated with it. We owe it to Tom. We owe it to the men and women of the Colorado State Patrol and we owe it to the people of Colorado for whom Tom was serving.