1862
Trinidad was founded in 1862 because coal was discovered in the region.
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FILE 296 / 30 June 2022 / 166 MIN / full
This is Trinidad, Colorado, in southern Colorado, only within 15 miles of the New Mexico border, in Las Animas County. about 0:05:07
Trinidad was founded in 1862 because coal was discovered in the region.
about 0:06:37By the late 1860s about 1,200 people lived there, many of them immigrants who came to mine coal.
about 0:07:17Bat Masterson was the town marshal for a time.
about 0:07:17In the early 1900s Aina Eloise Young became the first woman sports editor of a newspaper and the only woman sports writer to cover the World Series in 1908.
about 0:07:36Trinidad was founded in 1862 because coal was discovered in the region.
about 0:06:37By the late 1860s about 1,200 people lived there, many of them immigrants who came to mine coal.
about 0:07:17Bat Masterson was the town marshal for a time.
about 0:07:17In the early 1900s Aina Eloise Young became the first woman sports editor of a newspaper and the only woman sports writer to cover the World Series in 1908.
about 0:07:36Trinidad had a popular semi-professional baseball team, and major league teams used to barnstorm through town to play exhibitions.
about 0:08:01In 1902 the Bowen town coal mine, six miles north of town, suffered a gas explosion and fire that killed 13 miners, one of the worst mining disasters in the state up to then.
about 0:08:34In January 1904 a fire destroyed most of the town's business section, and in September a heavy rainstorm caused severe flooding that flooded the Santa Fe railroad station.
about 0:09:17High Times called Trinidad Weed Town USA in 2018, when 5.13% of the state's total marijuana sales came from a town of less than 10,000 people.
about 0:09:46The town had 23 dispensaries, and the downtown section was called the weed mall area.
about 0:10:2988.2%
Biggest faith: Catholic residents, 78%
about 0:15:59White 41.2% · Black 0.2% · Asian 1.2% · Hispanic 53.1%
Ethnicity can overlap race.Property crime
▲ almost double
Violent crime
right on
Two-bedroom, one-bath house listing
about 0:18:50Three-bedroom, one-bath house listing
about 0:19:21Four-bedroom, five-bath property listing
about 0:19:56"8,127"
Comparison: "down 13% since 2020". Direction: below.
As told in 2022 about 0:14:54
"40"
Comparison: "a couple of years above the national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2022 about 0:15:17
"41.2%"
Comparison: "about 20% less than the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2022 about 0:15:27
"0.2%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:15:27
"1.2%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:15:39
"3%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:15:39
"53.1%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:15:39
"54%"
Comparison: "44% Democratic and a little over 2% independent". Direction: above.
As told in 2022 about 0:16:42
"88.2%"
Comparison: "more than the South, Alabama or rural Mississippi". Direction: above.
As told in 2022 about 0:15:59
"78%"
Comparison: "a share the hosts say they have never seen before". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:16:11
"0.2%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:16:41
"about 9%"
Comparison: "way higher than the national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2022 about 0:16:54
"$37,000"
Comparison: "about $20,000 less than the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2022 about 0:17:16
"54%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:17:24
"21.6%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:17:29
"82"
Comparison: "100 is the average". Direction: below.
As told in 2022 about 0:17:44
"$148,500"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:17:48
"about $980 a month"
Comparison: "a little less than the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:15
"$75,000"
Comparison: "744 square feet". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:50
"$122,000"
Comparison: "1,161 square feet". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:19:21
"$799,000"
Comparison: "3,242 square feet on 99 acres". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:19:56
"almost double"
Comparison: "the national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2022 about 0:22:51
"right on"
Comparison: "the national average". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:23:03
1.3 / 5 · average of 4
“After living there for eight months and spending time around the country, the reviewer calls it one of the worst towns they have ever been in anywhere.”about 0:10:40
“After 18 months the reviewer says they were lied to and screwed everywhere, could not get a job at Walmart, now lives in Pueblo, and sums it up as Trinidad sucks.”about 0:11:03
“Beautiful mountains, fresh air and scenery, but no businesses, people moving out, horrible schools, and small old houses built close together to keep the wind from blowing between them, with no yards.”about 0:12:21
“Nearly three years there were the most miserable and frustrating of the reviewer's life: jail on a protection order, a dog in a shelter, a lost job, no transport, and a police department called crooked and corrupt.”about 0:13:35
Trinidad sits in southern Colorado, within about fifteen miles of the New Mexico border, in Las Animas County. It was founded in 1862 after coal was discovered, and by the late 1860s about 1,200 people had come to work the mines. Bat Masterson served for a time as town marshal. In the early 1900s Aina Eloise Young became the first woman sports editor of a newspaper and the only woman sports writer to cover the 1908 World Series. In 1902 a gas explosion and fire at the Bowen town coal mine six miles north killed thirteen miners. In 1904 fire destroyed most of the business district, and later flooding hit the Santa Fe railroad station. By the time of this story the town had a population of 8,127, down 13 per cent since 2020, and twenty-three marijuana dispensaries.
She liked to be called Sher. She was married to Mike Fuller, a Seventh-day Adventist preacher, and they had two daughters, Rochelle, seven, and Denise, two. Rochelle, the elder girl, was not Mike's biological child.
In Colorado the promised house was not finished, so they stayed in a motel while both children fell ill. He was married to Julie, and their daughters Tammy, Kathy and Lorry were in their teens.
She started there in August. Perry admitted the affair on the telephone and said he had never loved anyone the way he loved her. In the divorce a judge declared her "a whore" and gave Mike custody of both girls, with no visitation until they turned thirty. Their son Danny was born in March 1979 and their daughter Misty in 1980. They built a six-sided house on a mountain and called it the Roundhouse, hauling water from a neighbour's well.
Perry's practice collapsed. By 1982 he owed about $300,000, including $120,000 on the Roundhouse, more than $100,000 to the IRS and $80,000 to the state, and he was drinking heavily. A friend found him in his Bronco with a loaded revolver and talked him out of suicide. Buzz threw her out, she had an abortion and moved to Rocky Ford, and Perry called off the divorce. They reconciled and returned to the Roundhouse.
They began an affair. The first attempts at the Trinidad Best Western failed, but by the spring of 1983 they succeeded at Trinidad Lake. She said she had thought of getting rid of him for years, but he had little insurance.
They made one attempt: they got Perry drunk and pushed him into a pool, leaving him floating, but he survived and thought he had fallen in. Perry picked him up one night and they drove towards Pueblo, stopping at a Burger King and a Pearle Vision. Perry fought back, and the current carried him away.
Sheriff's deputies, the fire department and an Air Force air-sea rescue searched Clear Creek and found nothing. She sold the house and the practice. The insurance company paid $200,000. He refused, saying it was too soon after Perry.
They married on 2 June 1988 after he made her his insurance beneficiary. She drew him a map of Thornton, told him where to park, gave him a key and demanded Glenn's wedding ring as proof. The fire took hold. She burned the map.
Firefighters found Glenn's body in the burned house. Investigators found two shell casings and signs of arson and a staged burglary. A removed window grate had intact spider webs behind it, so entry had been by key.
In 1991 Danny and Misty Nelson sued the insurance companies for $400,000. Born in 1945, she would have been seventy-seven at the time of the episode.
June 1983 / Clear Creek near Golden, Colorado
As told in the episode, on 30 June 2022.
Accused
Accused
November 15, 1988 / his home in Thornton, Colorado
As told in the episode, on 30 June 2022.
Accused
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
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