In the winter of 1978, a shadow fell over a quiet home in northeast Denver, forever altering the lives of a young family. Madeleine Furey-Livaudais, a 33-year-old female, was a loving wife and the mother of two young daughters. Known for her adventurous spirit, she had traveled through Africa and Europe for her work as an editor for the children's magazine, Ranger Rick. Her life, once filled with exploration and the joys of motherhood, came to a brutal and abrupt end on December 7, 1978.
On that day, an unknown man appeared at her door, forced his way inside, and stabbed her to death. For decades, the identity of her killer remained a painful mystery, a cold case that left a family grappling with unanswered questions and a community with a sense of unease.
The years stretched into decades, but investigators did not give up hope. The breakthrough came with advancements in DNA technology. Between 2013 and 2018, investigators were able to link the DNA evidence from the murder of Furey-Livaudais to three other unsolved homicides in the Denver area that occurred between 1978 and 1981. The victims were Dolores Barajas, 53, Gwendolyn Harris, 27, and 17-year-old Antoinette Parks. This crucial connection transformed four separate cold cases into the hunt for a serial killer. The path to identifying the suspect then turned to investigative genetic genealogy. This innovative technique led authorities to a potential relative of the killer in Texas.
Through further investigation, a suspect was finally identified: Joe Michael Ervin. However, bringing him to justice would be impossible. Ervin had died by suicide in 1981 while in custody at the Adams County Detention Center. He had been arrested for the murder of Aurora Police Officer Debra Sue Corr, whom he shot with her own weapon during a traffic stop. To confirm Ervin as the killer in the four cold cases, his remains were exhumed from a cemetery in Texas in late 2021. A DNA sample was obtained and directly compared to the evidence from the crime scenes. In January of 2022, it was definitively confirmed that Joe Michael Ervin was the man who had taken the life of Madeleine Furey-Livaudais and the other three women. While there could be no arrest or trial, the identification of her killer finally brought a measure of closure to the family of Madeleine Furey-Livaudais, providing answers to a question that had haunted them for over four decades.
