In the late summer of 1978, the lives of James S. Judge, Jr., a 26-year-old male, and his 23-year-old wife, Jeanette 'Margene' Davis Judge, were violently cut short in the scenic landscape of Pagosa Springs, Colorado. The couple, who were newlyweds, fell victim to a crime spree that instilled fear across multiple states. Their tragic end came on August 9, 1978, when they were murdered by gunfire.
The individuals responsible were part of a group of escaped convicts led by Gary Tison and
his sons, along with fellow inmate Randy Greenawalt. This group had orchestrated a daring escape from an Arizona state prison on July 30, 1978, sparking a massive manhunt. Their flight from justice left a trail of violence, including the murders of another family in Arizona before they made their way to Colorado. It was during this desperate attempt to evade capture that they encountered the Judges.
The search for James and Jeanette, who were reported missing, concluded with the grim discovery of their bodies in November 1978 at a remote campsite. By this time, the crime spree of Tison's gang had come to a bloody end. A shootout with police at a roadblock in Arizona on August 11, 1978, resulted in the death of one of Tison's sons and the capture of Greenawalt and two other Tison brothers. Gary Tison himself escaped into the desert, only to be found deceased from exposure days later.
Randy Greenawalt and the surviving Tison brothers were subsequently tried and convicted for the murders they committed in Arizona. Greenawalt received a death sentence and was executed in 1997. However, despite Greenawalt's confession to killing a man in Colorado and the evidence linking the gang to the Judges' stolen van, the murders of James and Jeanette Judge were never formally prosecuted. The legal proceedings focused on the crimes committed in Arizona, leaving the case of the murdered newlyweds in Pagosa Springs officially unresolved in the courts.
