On a hot July afternoon in 1990, the quiet of a Billings, Montana, coin shop was shattered by violence that claimed the life of 47-year-old Catharine Newstrom. On July 31st, she and her employer, 60-year-old Charles William Sparboe, were found shot to death inside the Treasure State Silver & Gold coin shop. Both had been shot in the head with a. 22 caliber handgun in what was also a robbery, with an estimated $54,000 in coins and gold stolen from the establishment.
In the days leading up
to the murders, a new customer had been frequenting the shop, making Sparboe and his son, Jim, uneasy. The man, who presented himself as a farmer from a nearby town looking to invest a large sum of money from the sale of his farm, had smooth hands that seemed inconsistent with his story. Jim Sparboe also noted the man's suspicious behavior of parking his car at a distance. This man was later identified as Charles Thurman Sinclair. After the discovery of the bodies, information provided by Jim Sparboe, including a composite drawing, was crucial in linking Sinclair to the crime.
The investigation into the deaths of Newstrom and Sparboe quickly connected their case to a string of similar homicides at coin shops across the western United States. The suspect, Charles T. Sinclair, became known as the "Coin Shop Killer" and was linked to at least eleven murders and one attempted murder. His method was consistent: he would pose as a legitimate customer to gain the trust of shop owners before returning to rob and kill them, ensuring there were no witnesses.
On August 16, 1990, investigators tracked Sinclair to his home in Kenny Lake, Alaska, and arrested him. He was held on a $500,000 bond while Montana authorities sought his extradition to stand trial for the murders of Catharine Newstrom and Charles Sparboe. However, justice in a courtroom would never be realized. On October 30, 1990, before he could be extradited, Charles T. Sinclair died of heart failure in his jail cell in Anchorage, Alaska, taking the full story of his crimes with him to the grave.
