Joseph Michael "Joe" Ervin: Serial Killer Identified Decades After His Death
Joseph Michael Ervin, commonly identified in law-enforcement records as Joe Michael Ervin, was an American serial killer whose known violent history stretched from Texas to Colorado between 1969 and 1981. For decades, several of his murders remained separate cold cases with no known connection to one another. Only advances in DNA analysis and investigative genetic genealogy allowed authorities to identify Ervin long after his death. Investigators eventually linked him through DNA to four previously unsolved murders in the Denver metropolitan area, while records also connected him to an earlier Texas homicide and the 1981 killing of an Aurora police officer. Authorities have therefore attributed at least six killings to Ervin.
The 1969 Killing of Rodney Gene Bonham
Ervin's known homicidal history began while he was still a teenager in Fort Worth, Texas. In August 1969, 21-year-old Rodney Gene Bonham, a student at Tarrant County Junior College, was sitting in a vehicle outside the Berry Bowl bowling alley on East Berry Street with a friend. Contemporary and later accounts differ on whether the shooting occurred on August 8 or August 9, but Ervin was subsequently accused of approaching the vehicle and shooting Bonham in the neck.
Bonham was transported to a hospital in critical condition and died from his injuries several days later, on August 13, 1969. The apparently random nature of the attack initially left investigators with few leads. Ervin was eventually identified as a suspect, and a Tarrant County grand jury indicted him for Bonham's murder later that year. By then, however, Ervin had fled Texas.
Ervin relocated to Colorado and used the name Joe Michael Erwing. The outstanding Texas murder case would follow him in official records, but administrative errors involving identifying information reportedly prevented Colorado authorities from recognizing that the man they were repeatedly encountering was wanted for murder in Texas.
Violent Crimes in Colorado
During the 1970s, Ervin repeatedly came into contact with law enforcement in Colorado. Investigators reviewing his history decades later found records involving burglary-related sexual assaults in which homes were entered and victims were threatened with a knife. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with one of his early Colorado cases and spent time at the Colorado State Hospital in Pueblo.
His dangerous behavior continued after his release. In June 1980, Ervin was arrested after allegedly breaking into a woman's home, kidnapping her at gunpoint, taking her to his residence and sexually assaulting her. He was charged in connection with that attack but was released on bond. Within months, investigators now know, women were being murdered in Denver while Ervin remained free.
The Murder of Madeleine Furey-Livaudais
On December 7, 1978, 33-year-old Madeleine Furey-Livaudais was at her home in northeast Denver when a man came to her door. Investigators determined that the attacker forced his way into the residence and stabbed her to death. She was a wife and the mother of two young daughters.
Furey-Livaudais had grown up in Florida, graduated from Tulane University and had traveled internationally. She had also worked as an editor associated with the children's magazine Ranger Rick. Nothing known about her life provided investigators with an obvious connection to the person who killed her. The murder remained unsolved for more than four decades.
The Murder of Dolores Barajas
On August 10, 1980, 53-year-old Dolores Barajas was attacked while walking to work in Denver. Barajas was visiting family in Colorado and had been temporarily employed at a downtown hotel. That Sunday was reportedly supposed to be her final day at work before she returned to her home outside Colorado.
At approximately 7:10 that morning, police were called to the 500 block of East 17th Avenue after someone reported a woman lying in the roadway. Officers discovered Barajas suffering from multiple stab wounds. She died at the scene. At the time, there was no apparent reason to believe her death had anything to do with the unsolved murder of Madeleine Furey-Livaudais almost two years earlier.
The Murder of Gwendolyn Harris
On December 21, 1980, 27-year-old Gwendolyn Denise Harris was found dead near East 47th Avenue and Andrews Drive in Denver's Montbello area. Police were notified at approximately 10:45 that morning after a person reported an unconscious woman lying outside. Harris had been stabbed multiple times.
Harris had reportedly last been seen the previous night at the Polo Club Lounge in downtown Denver. Years later, when investigators identified Ervin, they discovered an important geographical detail: the location where Harris was found was extremely close to Ervin's residence at the time. That fact had no known significance to investigators in 1980 because Ervin had not yet been identified as a suspect in her murder.
The Murder of Antoinette Parks
On January 24, 1981, Adams County authorities responded to a field in the area of 64th Avenue and Broadway after receiving a report of a body. The victim was identified as 17-year-old Antoinette Parks. She had been stabbed multiple times and was approximately six to seven months pregnant.
Parks was a student who had attended Gateway High School in Aurora. Her family remembered her as someone who loved children, music and singing and who had been looking forward to becoming a mother herself. She was the youngest of the four Colorado cold-case victims eventually connected to Ervin by DNA.
The Murder of Officer Debra Sue Corr
Ervin's final known killing occurred on June 27, 1981, and unlike the previous Colorado murders, authorities immediately knew his identity. Aurora Patrolwoman Debra Sue Corr, 26, encountered Ervin during a traffic stop in the area of East Colfax Avenue and Moline Street. When Corr attempted to arrest and handcuff him, Ervin resisted and managed to gain control of her service weapon.
Ervin shot Corr with her own handgun. Aurora Police Explorer Scout Glen Spies happened to be passing nearby and attempted to help the officer. Ervin also shot Spies in the back, but Spies survived.
Ervin escaped from the scene but was quickly identified and traced to his home. Officers arrested him there while he was attempting to remove the handcuff that Corr had managed to secure around one of his wrists. Ervin was taken into custody for Corr's murder and the shooting of Spies. Debra Sue Corr became the first Aurora Police Department officer to be killed in the line of duty.
Ervin's Death in Custody
Ervin never went to trial for Officer Corr's murder. On July 1, 1981, only days after his arrest, he died by suicide while being held in the Adams County Detention Center. He was subsequently buried in Texas.
His death effectively ended the immediate investigation into Corr's killer because there was no question about who had attacked her. What investigators did not know was that the man sitting in the Adams County jail had also left behind a series of unrelated-looking murder investigations that would remain unsolved for decades.
Victims Attributed to Joseph Michael Ervin
- Rodney Gene Bonham, 21 - Died August 13, 1969, after being shot outside the Berry Bowl bowling alley in Fort Worth, Texas. Ervin was later indicted for Bonham's murder but fled Texas before he could be prosecuted.
- Madeleine Furey-Livaudais, 33 - Killed December 7, 1978, inside her home in northeast Denver, Colorado. Her attacker forced his way into the residence and fatally stabbed her.
- Dolores Barajas, 53 - Killed August 10, 1980, in Denver, Colorado. She was attacked while walking to work and was found fatally stabbed in the 500 block of East 17th Avenue.
- Gwendolyn Denise Harris, 27 - Killed December 21, 1980, in Denver, Colorado. She was found stabbed to death near East 47th Avenue and Andrews Drive in the Montbello neighborhood, close to where Ervin was living.
- Antoinette Parks, 17 - Killed January 24, 1981, in Adams County, Colorado. She was found stabbed to death in a field near 64th Avenue and Broadway and was approximately six to seven months pregnant.
- Patrolwoman Debra Sue Corr, 26 - Killed June 27, 1981, near East Colfax Avenue and Moline Street in Aurora, Colorado. Ervin took Corr's service weapon while resisting arrest and fatally shot her. He also wounded Aurora Police Explorer Scout Glen Spies, who survived.
Four Murders Become One Investigation
The murders of Furey-Livaudais, Barajas, Harris and Parks were originally investigated as individual cases. Their ages, backgrounds and circumstances varied, and detectives working during the late 1970s and early 1980s had none of the modern DNA technology that would eventually demonstrate that the same offender was connected to all four crime scenes.
Years later, biological evidence preserved from the investigations became increasingly valuable. Between 2013 and 2018, forensic testing established that DNA evidence from the four murders was connected to the same unidentified man. Investigators finally knew that instead of four unrelated killers, they were searching for one serial offender.
Investigative Genetic Genealogy
Beginning in 2019, investigators intensified efforts to identify the unknown DNA profile. Traditional searches did not immediately produce the killer's name, so detectives and forensic specialists turned to investigative genetic genealogy and familial DNA techniques. Researchers constructed family lines based on genetic relationships and eventually determined that the unknown offender appeared to have family connections in Texas.
In 2021, a familial search performed with assistance from Texas authorities produced a significant lead involving a close biological relative. Investigators examined that family and discovered a previously overlooked brother: Joe Michael Ervin. His history immediately attracted attention. Ervin had lived in Denver during the murders, had a documented history of serious violence, had been wanted for a Texas homicide and had himself killed a police officer only months after Antoinette Parks' murder.
The discovery was compelling, but investigators still required direct scientific confirmation. Ervin had been dead for approximately 40 years, so there was no possibility of obtaining a conventional reference sample from him.
Exhumation and DNA Confirmation
Investigators learned that Ervin was buried in a family cemetery plot in the Arlington, Texas, area. Authorities obtained legal authorization to exhume his remains so forensic scientists could develop a DNA profile directly from him.
The comparison produced the confirmation investigators had sought. Ervin's DNA matched the evidence connecting the murders of Madeleine Furey-Livaudais, Dolores Barajas, Gwendolyn Harris and Antoinette Parks. The result transformed four decades-old unsolved murders into identified serial killings.
On January 28, 2022, Denver police and their law-enforcement partners publicly announced that Joe Michael Ervin had been identified as the killer in all four cold cases. Because Ervin had died in 1981, there could be no arrest or criminal trial, but investigators considered the cases solved.
A Killer Who Escaped Trial
One of the most troubling aspects of Ervin's history is how often he came into contact with authorities without the full extent of his background being recognized. He had been accused of the Bonham murder in Texas, encountered Colorado authorities repeatedly in connection with violent offenses and was facing serious kidnapping and sexual-assault allegations in 1980. Nevertheless, administrative problems and the limitations of law-enforcement information systems at the time helped prevent agencies from seeing the complete picture.
Ervin was never convicted of the six killings now attributed to him. He fled before facing the Texas murder charge, remained unidentified in the four Denver-area cold cases during his lifetime and died before he could stand trial for killing Debra Sue Corr. His death also meant investigators could never question him about other unsolved crimes or determine whether additional victims existed.
Legacy of the Investigation
The identification of Joseph Michael Ervin illustrates the importance of preserving evidence in unresolved homicide investigations. Biological material collected by investigators decades earlier survived long enough for forensic technology to become powerful enough to connect cases that originally appeared unrelated. Investigative genetic genealogy then provided the breakthrough necessary to move from an anonymous DNA profile to a specific family and finally to Ervin himself.
For the families of Madeleine Furey-Livaudais, Dolores Barajas, Gwendolyn Harris and Antoinette Parks, the 2022 announcement ended more than 40 years of uncertainty about who had taken their loved ones' lives. It also revealed that their losses were connected to the same violent offender. Ervin's known history now encompasses at least six deaths in Texas and Colorado, beginning with Rodney Gene Bonham in 1969 and ending with Patrolwoman Debra Sue Corr in 1981. Although Ervin escaped judgment in a courtroom, preserved evidence and decades of investigative work ultimately established his connection to a series of murders that had remained hidden for generations.
