In the summer of 1981, a camping trip in Colorado turned tragic for 17-year-old Tammy Sue Woodrum. On August 14, she was killed by Vincent Darrell Groves. In a surprising turn of events, Groves, reportedly on the advice of his wife, turned himself into the police and confessed to his involvement in Tammy's death. He initially claimed that she had died from a drug overdose. However, the subsequent autopsy told a much more sinister story.
The medical examiner found no evidence of drugs in her system and determined that she had been both raped and strangled to death.
Following his confession and the contradictory autopsy results, Vincent Groves was charged with second-degree murder for the death of Tammy Sue Woodrum. In the summer of 1982, he was found guilty and received a 12-year prison sentence. Groves was released on mandatory parole in 1987, having served only a portion of his sentence for Tammy's murder. His release, however, did not mark the end of his violent crimes. He was later convicted for the 1988 murder of 19-year-old Juanita "Becky" Lovato, for which he received a life sentence, and the murder of 25-year-old Diane Montoya Mancera, which added another 20 years to his time in prison.
Years after his initial conviction for Tammy's murder, further investigations and advancements in DNA technology would paint a much grimmer picture of Vincent Groves' criminal activities. Denver's Cold Case Review Team eventually linked him to several other unsolved murders through DNA evidence, leading authorities to believe he was one of Colorado's most prolific serial killers. Groves died in prison in 1996, but the scope of his violent acts continued to be uncovered long after his death. While he was held accountable for the murder of Tammy Sue Woodrum, the case was just the beginning of understanding the extent of his horrific actions, with authorities believing he could be responsible for more than 20 murders in total.
