82 Years Ago
In the spring of 1943, Golden was consumed with the murder of two young boys, who had been pushed off of Castle Rock by 16 year old William Wymer. On April 10th of that year, three groups of boys had come separately to Golden. The first group consisted of 8-year-old Donald Matta and 11-year-old Milo Flindt, children of defense workers at the Remington Arms Plant (now the Federal Center).
The two boys were climbing South Table Mountain, heading for Castle Rock, when they were overtaken by a group of three older boys from Denver. The oldest of the Denver group was 16-year-old Wymer. He demanded that Milo give up his shoes and stockings and that Donald relinquish his watch and cap. Wymer gave the shoes to his younger brother, who was part of the Denver Group. He kept the watch and cap for himself. He then pushed the two youngsters over the edge of Castle Rock–a 123 foot drop.
A third group of boys–from Lakewood–came to Golden to attend a movie at the Golden Gem. They arrived early and had a malted milk at Foss Drug, then decided to climb to Castle Rock. On the mountain, they encountered Wymer and his companions. Wymer extorted 10 cents each from the younger boys, telling them that his father owned the mountain. When one of the boys refused, Wymer told him he would push him off the cliff unless he paid.
Upon returning to Golden, Wymer tried to sell the watch to jeweler Clyde Gregory, who told him he didn’t buy watches from children.
Later that evening, the Lakewood boys saw Wymer and his friends at the Golden Gem Theater. The older boys spent the night at the LaRay Hotel (now the Table Mountain Inn) and returned to Denver the following day.
The next morning, a Golden child spotted the two bodies and alerted the Sheriff. The Sheriff was able to track down Wymer and his companions. They were still in possession of the murdered boys’ shoes and watch. Wymer confessed to the killings. The younger two were put in the Industrial School and Wymer was put in the Jefferson County Jail.
The funeral for 8-year-old Donald Matta was held at St. Joseph’s Church and the service for 11-year-old Milo Flint was at Woods Mortuary on Washington Avenue.
At his arraignment in May, Wyman pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was given a 15-day psychiatric evaluation and was deemed sane. A jury found him guilty at his July trial, and he was sentenced to life in prison. The verdict was upheld in subsequent appeals.
Wymer attempted to escape from the penitentiary at Canyon City in October 1944 but was thwarted. He was successful in breaking out in June of 1960, but was caught and returned.
After this, he disappears from the news, but I found two last interesting references to him on a blog called “Kidnapping Murder and Mayhem.”
On July 31, 2011, a young woman posted:
William Wymer got out of jail, later after he finnished parol, raised his great neice Lisa Wymer (my mom), I never got to know him because he died before 1996 (my birth year). William Wymer is my great-great uncle
On February 28, 2013, another woman posted:
I am the great niece of William “Lucky” Wymer. Please feel free to contact me by email to further discuss all this. I don’t know if my uncle Lucky ever said anything to the family of the two boys, but from me, I am truly sorry for what he had done. I know no amount of apologizing will ever rewrite history.
