Corbett left a ransom note for Coors’ wife asking for one payment of $200,000 and a separate one for $300,000. As a sign that the money was ready, he demanded that an ad be placed in The Denver Post advertising for a tractor.
FBI
Terrible luck for anyone legitimately looking to sell a tractor, but even worse for the kidnapee whose luck ran out completely. In 1960, nearly seven months after his disappearance, Ad Coors’ remains were found in a forest by a hunter who came across a pair of pants with his initials, AC, on them.
It wasn’t long until Corbett was fingered as the killer. Like many murderers have done, he fled to Canada due to his placement on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitive list. Seen there driving a red Pontiac, he made his way to Vancouver. Police eventually knocked on the door of a hotel room and found Corbett, who immediately admitted his guilt, declaring, “I’m your man.” Hey, at least he’s… honest? The following year he was convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He’d be released on parole in 1980 and would later take his own life with a gunshot wound to the head in 2009.
After Coors’ death, the company was knee-deep in the mud. It was known that Ad Coor was allergic to beer and had a stutter that his father, Adolph Coor II, did not approve of. This had made Ad’s success as his predecessor all that more remarkable despite its tragic end. Who would’ve thought so much drama existed in the making of this cheap, mediocre beer?
Top Image: Ardfern/Wiki Commons
Related: 6 Movie Marketing Tie-Ins That Hilariously Missed The Point
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