John ‘Jack’ Gilbert Graham hated him mum so much that he packed her suitcase bound for a flight to Alaska with 25 sticks of dynamite, ultimately killing all 44 people on board
The airliner was bound for Alaska but would never land(Image: @OnDisasters/X)
Tragedy struck the skies over Colorado on November 1, 1955, in one of the first recorded attacks on a commercial airliner in the United States.
Daisie E. King, a 54-year-old woman from Denver, was among the 44 people who lost their lives when explosives detonated just minutes after take-off. Unbeknownst to her, the deadly device had been hidden in her suitcase by her own son, John ‘Jack’ Gilbert Graham. King was flying to Alaska that evening to visit her daughter.
Her son, Graham, later claimed he had no idea what was in her luggage beyond some shotgun shells and hunting gear. But investigators soon uncovered a much darker truth – Graham had packed 25 sticks of dynamite into her suitcase, setting the stage for a catastrophic explosion.
John ‘Jack’ Gilbert Graham plotted the sick attack in which all on board died(Image: @OnDisasters/X)
That day had begun innocently enough, with Graham allegedly searching for an “early Christmas present” for his mother. He spent time with her as she packed her things in the basement, giving no indication of his sick plans. The family drove to Denver’s Stapleton Airport and at 6.52pm King’s flight took off.
Eleven minutes later, a flash lit up the sky. A control tower employee at Stapleton saw a bright flare and reported the incident immediately – with the plane torn apart mid-air, crashing to the ground and claiming the lives of everyone aboard including a 13-month-old boy. It still remains one of the deadliest acts of mass murder in Colorado’s history.
The plane was torn up mid-air in the huge blast(Image: @OnDisasters/X)
In the aftermath investigators sifted through the wreckage, focusing on the luggage to pinpoint the source of the explosion. They found King’s suitcase among the debris and it was significantly damaged and covered in foreign residue.
The trail led straight to Graham, whose rocky relationship with his mother soon became a focal point of the investigation, reports Unilad.
Graham’s mother Daisie E. King was killed in the explosion(Image: Denver District Attorney’s Office)
The FBI learned Graham stood to gain financially from his mum’s death. He had bought a $37,500 trip insurance policy in King’s name, listing himself as the sole beneficiary.
The FBI also uncovered other suspicious details including that Graham had once worked in King’s restaurant, which suffered an explosion just two months before the flight. He admitted to causing that earlier blast, blaming a “disconnected gas line”.
Graham was sentenced to death and on this day in 1957 he was executed in the gas chamber(Image: Denver Post via Getty Images)
When questioned about the “Christmas present” and the unusually heavy suitcase, Graham’s story began to unravel. A search of his belongings turned up a small roll of copper wire, the same type found on a detonating primer cap.
Confronted with the evidence, Graham eventually confessed and he admitted to building a time bomb with 25 sticks of dynamite, setting the timer for 90 minutes before handing the suitcase over at the airport.
The suitcase was filled with a time bomb(Image: @OnDisasters/X)
“The number of people to be killed made no difference to me,” he chillingly told psychiatrists. “It could have been a thousand. When their time comes, there is nothing they can do about it.”
Graham was arrested and charged with murder and after trial he was sentenced to death. On this day back in 1957, he was executed in the gas chamber.