McCormick Farm Murders

In January of 1985, a grand jury was convened to determine if Michael McCormick should be charged with theft and other felonies.  Mike’s alleged crimes had occurred throughout multiple counties in Colorado and in March of 1985, the Assistant District Attorney, Francis Oldham presented evidence that proved Mike had been involved in the theft and sale of various motor vehicles.  In June of 1985, the grand jury indicted Mike on 14-counts with 5 of them being related to the theft of Bert Donoho’s truck and trailer.  There was still no evidence that Mike was involved in the disappearance and suspected murder of Donoho.

Mike was arrested on June 24, 1985, and the trial was set for April of 1986.  He was given a bond for the low low price of $1 million which he posted.  Mike immediately went on the lam, but he was fairly quickly captured when he attempted to stiff a California hotel.  In his attempt to avoid paying his bill, Mike was arrested and after they realized he had warrants, he was extradited back to Colorado.

Back in Colorado, Mike was once again given the opportunity to post bail for another cool mill.  And once again, Mike posted his bail.  And ONCE AH-GAIN, Mike pulled the old Irish Goodbye and was in the wind.  On December 20th, a tip was called in that led officers to Mike in Omaha, Nebraska.  Mike had been going by the name Bill Kelly, and “Bill” had checked himself into a Best Western.  Since it’s the 80s, the hotel ran the credit cards later that day and discovered that “Bill’s” was stolen.  Once it was determined that “Bill” was trying to Kevin McCalister the Best Western, the manager tried to boot him out, but Billy Boy wasn’t leaving without a fight and had barricaded himself in his room and threatened to kill anyone who tried to come in.

The manager (who did not get paid enough for this bullshit) called the police who surrounded the 3-star hotel and breached the door to “Bill’s” room.  Once inside they were greeted with the sight of a 29-year-old man in his boxers trying to climb out of the window.  “Bill”/Mike had a towel wrapped around his hand concealing a gun which he then put in his mouth.  For the next 6 hours, police and a pastor would try and talk this man quite literally off the edge.  Once the situation was under control, the police arrested him and discovered his real name was Michael McCormick and he had multiple felony charges against him and had skipped bail (TWICE).

It was the holidays so Mike was placed in a psychiatric ward in an Omaha hospital and after the holidays were over, he would be transported back to Colorado again.  Once the authorities had rung in the new year, Mike was ushered into a little Cessna plane with the pilot and at least one police officer.  On the flight back to Colorado, Mike starts talking and sharing family history…  Once back in his home state, Mike told investigators that he would tell them not only where Bert Donoho’s body was, but also where there were more bodies and who killed them if they could promise him some leniency in his sentencing.

Prosecutors struck the deal and said that he’d get 2 years for every body he led them to if he told them the absolute truth, and they didn’t find any evidence that he was involved in the murders.  Mike agreed and on January 23, 1986, he told the investigators that his father, Tom McCormick was the murderer of Bert Donoho as well as numerous other men who were now buried on the McCormick family farm.  

Mike told them that his dad had murdered other men over disputes on the farm, and that he knew where the bodies were buried.  According to Mike Gallagher, the now retired detective from the case, Mike McCormick told them during the interrogation that “Nobody scares me more than my father.  ‘Cause I’ve seen him kill.”  Mike told the stories of how Bert Donoho died and would later reveal the details about the murders of at least 3 more men.  He told them that he and his dad had wanted Bert Donoho’s truck, so his dad bashed him over the head with a sledgehammer.  They buried him about 100 miles away from their farm.

On January 30, 1986, Mike took the police to Donoho’s remains, but not before taunting them with inaccurate directions and claiming memory lapses for over a week.  One day, Mike had taken the officers to the area where he said Donoho’s body was buried.  He told them a few places, but none were right.  Finally, one of the officers was done with Mike’s bullshit.  He got right in Mike’s face and demanded that he quit jerking them around.  Mike said, fine, give me the shovel and I’ll show you.  They did and while they kept their guns pointed at him, Mike began digging just feet from where they had been standing.  He hadn’t dug very deep at all before he uncovered clothing.

Now that they had the remains of Bert Donoho, Mike took the police to the farm, and he was given a dozen wooden stakes to mark the locations where he believed bodies were buried.  The oldest of the bodies they found was over a decade old.  Each grave was about 50 yards from each other and only about 2-3 feet deep.

1st they found the body of James “Jim” Irvin Plance.  Plance was either the cook or foreman (differing information) for the ranch.  He broke into Mike’s trailer to steal from him, but was caught by Mike.  Mike claims he called dear old dad who took care of the thief.  Then, the body of James “Jim” Perry Sinclair, a ranch-hand that Mike says Tom shot in the head with a 357 Magnum after they got in a fight over alcohol.

And finally the remains of Robert Lee Sowarsh.  Sowarsh’s body was one that, upon autopsy, indicated that there might be two murderers.  He had been shot in the head with a shotgun, but he also had 5 other gunshot wounds from a pistol in his gut.  The implication being that one murderer doesn’t often switch weapons mid-attack.

Sowarsh was a long-time ranch hand and driver for the McCormick’s and knew Tom kept at least $25,000 on the ranch.  He basically decided that if Tom McCormick wasn’t going to pay him, he’d withdraw the money on his own.  Mike tells the story that Sowarsh’s death was far from fast.  He tells law enforcement that it all started at about 1 am when he came out of his trailer to find Tom chasing Sowarsh.  Tom told Mike to catch him and the two McCormick men chased Sowarsh to the trees where he was caught and then tied up by Tom.  Mike claimed that he went about his daily duties and then went to his parents’ house for dinner.  

While you’d think these pleasant folks would have lovely mealtime conversations about their day and make jokes – you’d be wrong.  Not only were they unpleasant, they ate in almost complete silence.  Mike said that this night, their silence was interrupted when there was a thumping that kept happening over and over throughout dinner.  Then Tom started screaming at his wife, Sylvia, that this was all her fault!  There are rumors and stories that say that Tom may have thought that Sylvia had been sleeping with Sowarsh.

After dinner, Mike says his dad told him to meet him in the cellar.  Once down there, Mike learned what was making the thumping they had heard at dinner.  It was Sowarsh, who was tied up with duck tape on his mouth.  He had been throwing himself up against the wall.  The father and son took Sowarsh to the barn and along the way they could hear Lynyrd Skynyrd blaring from the worker housing.  Perfect for covering screams.  Tom tied fencing wire around Sowarsh’s ankles and then hoisted him up on a hook.  Because fencing wire is basically a razor, it immediately dug deep into Sowarsh’s ankles down to the bones.  His foot was almost amputated (this would later be seen when his remains were found).

Mike said that at this point, Tom is tickled pink with himself and living his best life.  He began beating on Sowarsh like a punching bag and whatever else he wanted, but Mike said that he didn’t see any of this because he stepped outside for a joint.  Then, he heard a gunshot.  Tom came out of the barn and retrieved Mike.  Mike tells police that there was so much blood and Sowarsh’s body was still hanging upside down with a tarp on the ground beneath him.  Even more disturbing was the wheelbarrow sitting nearby that was full of Sowarsh’s skin.  Mike claimed that Tom skinned Sowarsh and then, like a cherry on the top of a sundae, placed Sowarsh’s nards on top.  It was never revealed if Sowarsh was alive or dead when he was skinned.  

Mike’s job was to dismember Sowarsh’s body and wrap it in the tarp so the two of them could load the parts into the backhoe.  While Mike was doing his part, Tom went looking for the perfect place to bury the remains.  Then Tom would move the body while Mike went to gather all of Sowarsh’s things from his room at the worker’s house.  Father and son buried the remains of Robert Sowarsh behind Mike’s trailer.  They dumped the body parts in the hole, but got the tarp back out.   They weren’t going to bury a perfectly good tarp!  That’s a great tarp.  They dropped all of Sowarsh’s possessions and covered it all with dirt.  When his grave was revealed, there was still wire around the ankles, now just bones.

Mike later claimed that he frequently thought about the bodies throughout the years.  He also recalled that his wife had to move her garden, and he had to explain why.  Unfortunately, the investigators and Mike were unable to locate any other graves.  According to the Clappers who were the new owners of the property, Mike McCormick told them that they had made so many changes that he couldn’t get his bearings to find the graves.  However, despite digging with backhoes and basically churning up the land, no further remains were located and the search was called off when their funding dried up.

There were stories of other murders committed for similar reasons.

One story was that a cook stole a briefcase and then left in a car that belonged to the McCormicks.  He was chased down by the men of the family.  Tom hopped into the small Cessna plane (casual) he owned and Mike and John were in cars.  All had radio communication to each other and they located and then murdered the cook.  Another story was of a man that was strangled for stealing from Mike and was then placed in the farm’s cesspool.

When these men would disappear, the other workers tended to believe that they just left.  They were either oblivious or in serious denial about what was going on on that farm.  Because of his claims that his father was the murderer, Tom McCormick was arrested in 1986 as well and in March, Mike testified at the preliminary hearing against Tom.  However, Mike then began to change his story.  During interviews with law enforcement in April and May, Mike’s stories started to reveal a lot of inconsistencies.  His new stories even involved his brother and wife in the murder of Bert Donoho.  It also became apparent that he had withheld a fair amount of information during his previous statements.

He also began to say that he had been the one to kill Bert Donoho and gave more details.  Mike would tell the police that he lured Donoho back to the ranch somehow and that when he had him in his trailer, he showed him to the garage.  On the steps, he used his sledgehammer to cave in Donoho’s skull.  Donoho collapsed to the garage floor, and Mike wrapped him in a sleeping bag to stop the blood from spreading further.  While he was cleaning up, Mike said he heard Donoho moaning so he slit his throat.

Mike said he pushed the body wrapped in the sleeping bag into the corner and then went about covering up the bloodstains on the garage floor.  He decided that the best plan was to paint over it with gray paint.  While Mike was painting the floor, his wife, Kathy returned home and opened the garage door.  Mike told her that he had spilled red paint and was painting over it.  Later, he moved the body to the field and buried it.  His wife was interviewed and even let the detectives remove the stairs to the garage for evidence.