Twenty Dollars on Monroe Boulevard: The Unanswered Killing of Albert Spatz

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A Walk Home From the Bus Stop

On February 11, 1988, 67-year-old Albert William Spatz stepped off a bus at 25th Street and Monroe Boulevard in Ogden, Utah, and started the short walk north toward home. It was the kind of routine trip an older man might make countless times without a second thought. But as he walked along the east side of Monroe Boulevard, a man ran at him out of an alley, demanded money and knocked him to the ground. The injury Spatz suffered that evening would ultimately take his life. Nearly four decades later, the man who attacked him has never been identified, and the Weber Metro Cold Case Task Force still lists the case as unsolved.

Who Albert Spatz Was

Albert William Spatz was 67 years old in early 1988 and lived in Ogden, the largest city in Weber County, Utah. Public records preserve only a few details of his life, but they show that he had a son, Alan, who was close enough to be involved in his care in the days after the attack. Spatz relied on the city bus to get around and was making an ordinary trip home when he was targeted. He was an older man walking alone, carrying very little, and he had every reason to believe he would arrive home safely that evening.

The Robbery on Monroe Boulevard

According to the case summary maintained by the Weber Metro Cold Case Task Force, the attack happened on the sidewalk in front of 2450 Monroe Boulevard. Spatz told police that a man ran toward him from an alley near the Holly Rue Apartments and demanded money. When Spatz said he did not have any, the man knocked him to the ground. Spatz struck his head on the cement and lost consciousness. The attacker took his wallet, which held just $20, and fled back through the alley. For twenty dollars, a stranger had inflicted an injury that would prove fatal.

A Call for Help

When Spatz came to, he managed to make his way to a residence at 803 24th Street and call the police. Officers who responded documented what they described as a golf ball sized lump on the upper right side of his head, along with a swollen right cheekbone and a cut inside his mouth. Medical crews took him to McKay-Dee Hospital for treatment. At that point, the incident appeared to be a violent but survivable street robbery, and no one yet understood how serious his head injury truly was.

The Description of the Attacker

Despite what he had been through, Spatz was able to give police a description of the man who robbed him. He described his attacker as a Black male, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and around 150 pounds, with short hair. He did not recall the man having any facial hair. The attacker was wearing a black coat and tan pants. Officers searched the surrounding area that evening, but they did not find anyone matching the description. The man had disappeared into the alley and the neighborhood beyond it.

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