In the quiet mountain town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the autumn of 1993 was shattered by a brutal and sensational crime. Gerald 'Gerry' Boggs, a 52-year-old male and the mild-mannered owner of a local hardware store, was found dead in his home on October 22, 1993. His brother, Doug, made the gruesome discovery after Gerry failed to open his store that morning.
The scene revealed a violent struggle; Gerry Boggs had been beaten with a shovel, shocked with a stun gun, and shot to death.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on two prime suspects: Boggs's recent ex-wife, Jill Coit, and her new boyfriend, Michael Backus. Boggs and Coit had a brief and tumultuous marriage that was annulled after Boggs discovered Coit was a serial bigamist with a string of previous husbands and a dark past. At the time of the murder, Boggs and Coit were embroiled in a bitter lawsuit over a bed and breakfast. Investigators learned that in the days leading up to the murder, witnesses had seen two strangely dressed individuals, a man and a woman in what appeared to be Halloween costumes, near Boggs's residence.
Coit and Backus presented what they believed to be a solid alibi, claiming they were on a camping trip in Poudre Canyon at the time of the murder. However, forensic evidence debunked their story. An analysis of the contents of Boggs's stomach revealed he had eaten his usual breakfast of hashbrowns, eggs, and toast from a local diner on the morning of his death, a time when Coit and Backus were still in the area. This crucial piece of evidence, along with a phone call Coit made to her son stating, 'it's done and it's messy,' led to their arrests in December 1993.
The subsequent trial brought national attention, branding Jill Coit as the 'Black Widow.' Prosecutors laid out a compelling case built on circumstantial evidence, including Coit's attempts to hire someone to murder Boggs and her son's testimony against her. In March 1995, both Jill Coit and Michael Backus were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They were each sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, bringing a close to one of the most infamous murder cases in Steamboat Springs' history.
