3. Jack Gilbert Graham murdered 43 people along with his mother when he bombed United Airlines Flight 629 in 1955
John Gilbert Graham (b. 1932 CE), nicknamed Jack, was a mass murderer responsible for the deaths of 44 people including his mother. Growing up in an orphanage due to the family’s impoverishment during the Great Depression, his mother, Daisie Graham, left him there even after becoming a successful businesswoman through remarriage to Earl King. Although they eventually reunited in 1954 their relationship was strained and reportedly argumentative, with his mother’s restaurant suffering after an unexplained and suspicious gas explosion the following year.
On November 1, 1955, United Airlines Flight 629 exploded soon after departure from Denver’s Stapleton Airfield, killing all 44 people aboard including Graham’s mother. Investigations revealed Graham had taken out a life insurance policy on his mother at the airport terminal just prior to her departure, valued at $37,500; combined with a history of insurance swindling, including an incident where Graham deliberately caused his new truck to be struck by a passing train to collect insurance, in addition to embezzlement and cheque forgery, Graham immediately became the chief suspect.
Identifying the components of a homemade explosive device linked with Graham’s house, he was charged with sabotage and subsequently murder. Confessing to his crimes, including telling a prison doctor that he “realized that there were about 50 or 60 people carried on a DC6, but the number of people to be killed made no difference to me; it could have been a thousand. When their time comes, there is nothing they can do about it”, Graham stood trial for only a single charge of premeditated murder; due to no federal statute existing criminalizing the blowing up of an airplane at the time, and a strong desire to seek the death penalty against Graham, prosecutors persuaded charges only for the premeditated killing of his mother.
After attempting suicide in February 1956, Graham was found guilty on May 5 and sentenced to death; the execution was conducted on January 11, 1957, with Graham’s final statement declaring: “as far as feeling remorse for these people, I don’t. I can’t help it. Everybody pays their way and takes their chances. That’s just the way it goes.”