William L. “Bill” Tippet Jr., a 72-year-old white male, was a U.S. Navy veteran and longtime truck driver who had raised his family in Colorado. He was living in a home with his son and daughter-in-law in Cañon City, Colorado, who had taken him in to care for him.
On the evening of January 6, 2023, the Fremont County Sheriff's Office received a call from a woman reporting a person with a weapon at a home on the 400 block of South Raynolds Avenue. The caller was Joseph Tippet’s wife, and she told authorities she had left the residence earlier that day to escape a domestic violence situation. She then received a voicemail from her husband in which he stated he had shot his father. A SWAT team was dispatched to the home, where they found William Tippet deceased in his bed. He had been shot twice in the back of the head.
The investigation quickly focused on William’s son, Joseph Tippet, who was 36 at the time. He was located later that night in Salida, where he was taken into custody without incident by the Colorado State Patrol. During a recorded interview with law enforcement, Joseph Tippet confessed to the killing. He told investigators that after a physical altercation with his wife, during which he had been drinking alcohol and consuming marijuana, she left the house. He said he then grabbed his .45 caliber handgun, approached his father who was asleep in bed, and shot him twice. When asked for a reason, he claimed his father had been a poor parent.
Joseph Tippet was arrested and initially charged with first-degree murder, held on a $1 million bond. The case, however, took a significant turn due to procedural issues. In the months following the arrest, Tippet’s defense attorneys filed motions citing ongoing discovery violations by the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which had failed to provide evidence in a timely manner. In April 2023, finding a "pattern of neglect," a Fremont County District Court judge sanctioned the prosecutor's office by reducing the charge against Joseph Tippet from first-degree to second-degree murder.
The District Attorney’s Office appealed the sanction, arguing the ruling was unjust, and the case was stayed pending a decision. On December 11, 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the district court's decision, finding that the judge had not abused her discretion in reducing the charge. With the case returned to the Fremont County court docket, proceedings moved forward.
On July 2, 2024, Joseph Tippet pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a crime of violence. His defense attorney stated that Tippet wanted to take accountability for his actions. The judge accepted the plea, and as of that month, the case was closed when Joseph Tippet was sentenced to 30 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
