In the spring of 2019, a sense of unease settled over a Fort Collins apartment complex on Verbena Way. On April 29th, a neighbor went to check on 63-year-old Joseph “Sonny” Brigman and discovered him unresponsive in his home. Emergency services were called, and Brigman was rushed to a nearby hospital, but his injuries were too severe. He was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
The cause of his death was determined to be blood loss from a gunshot wound, and the Larimer County Coroner's Office officially ruled it a homicide.
For years, the investigation into who was responsible for the death of the man, also reported to be 62 years old, yielded few answers. Fort Collins Police Services detectives worked the case, but all initial leads were exhausted without enough evidence to bring charges against any suspects. The case eventually went cold, leaving a lingering question in the community about who had taken Sonny Brigman’s life and why.
The silence in the case was finally broken in 2023 when detectives decided to revisit the investigation. With fresh eyes and advancements in forensic technology, they were able to uncover new leads. Their renewed efforts pointed them toward a single suspect: 42-year-old Clayton Pierce. As they built their case, investigators became confident that they had found the man responsible for Brigman's death.
Before detectives could make an arrest and formally charge Pierce with first-degree murder, a dramatic and violent turn of events brought the pursuit of justice to an unexpected close. On July 21, 2024, Fort Collins police officers responded to a rollover crash at Grandview Cemetery. The man involved in the accident was Clayton Pierce. When officers approached, Pierce opened fire, injuring one of the officers. The remaining officers returned fire, and Pierce was killed in the exchange. Though he would never stand trial for the crime, the Larimer County District Attorney's Office stated that had Pierce survived, he would have been charged with the murder of Sonny Brigman. The officer who was shot was thankfully released from the hospital the following day.
