Once in a while you get a twisted up murder case like this one. Something about this case just doesn't sound right to me.
The Murder Of Billy Trimbach
On Valentine’s Day in 1992, Billy and Cindy Trimbach were married in Stoneham, Colorado. On the date of their first anniversary, Billy was shot to death and found by the side of a frontage road outside of Wiggins, approximately 80 kilometers (50 mi) away from Stoneham. In an odd twist, the sheriff who investigated the case just happened to drive past the same road shortly before Billy was found. He remembered seeing multiple vehicles at that exact spot and may have unknowingly driven past the killer while they were disposing of Billy’s body.
The investigation eventually turned toward Cindy Trimbach, who’d collected a $500,000 life insurance policy on her husband’s death. Physical evidence was also found inside Cindy’s car to suggest that Billy’s body may have been in there at some point.
The cloud of suspicion compelled Cindy to move to Butte, Montana, with James, her 10-year-old son from a previous marriage, and there would soon be a shocking postscript to this story. In April 1994, a Butte newspaper ran an article about Billy Trimbach’s murder, which mentioned that Cindy was a suspect. James was teased about this on the school playground by an 11-year-old classmate named Jeremy Bullock. James responded by pulling out a gun and shooting Jeremy to death.
James was sent to a juvenile home for the crime, and Cindy died of natural causes in 1996. Over the years, rumors have spread that Cindy hired someone to carry out Billy’s murder, and at least one drug dealer has reportedly bragged about being involved. However, the full truth about Billy Trimbach’s death has never been uncovered.
See what I mean? Lots of plots with-in plots going on here.
Coffee out on the patio this morning, OK?
That would make a good "Cold Case? TV show, Mr. Hermit! Coffee on a warm patio sounds lovely! It's -1 here!
ReplyDeleteVery intriguing I saw. Good one for today. Would love coffee on a nice warm patio. Cold and snowing here.
ReplyDeleteGood one to ponder over coffee this morning. How old was this woman that she died of natural causes.
ReplyDeleteCheck my way long comment below. I believe she and James's father had AIDS.
DeleteMaybe the kid did it??
ReplyDeleteI love the info you've provided about the events in Colorado. I had never heard a single thing about any of that which is incredible because I was a student at M. Leary Elementry in April of 1994 and was a witness to the shooting. So I feel compelled to adjust a few of the subtly misrepresented nuances in your post. James Osmanson was attempting to shoot a boy that had been teasing him, this part is absolutely true. However that day James missed his target. He never intended to kill Jeremy and Jeremy had never teased James or anyone for that matter. Jeremy was a model student and gracious young man. Honestly! He was a great athlete who loved soccer, A student, Eagle Scout and known for his respectful and friendly demeanor. James fired his gun 3 times missing 2 shots completely before the kick of the gun altered his aim and he accidentally struck Jeremy directly in the head and missed his intended target. Now that I've cleared that up. (sorry just personal and Jeremy was no bully). A less important error you made was the motive or at least the story (and my experiences) I was told contradicts your statement. James had been singled out by classmates because his parents had AIDS and students (one in particular) started teasing him for it. Now maybe this article is what made his parent's medical condition public knowledge- I'm not sure. But he suffered none the less. No one would touch him or want to stand by him and when the teachers would force close interaction the students would wait until recess to both brutally and relentlessly bully him mentally and physically. One day in class a teacher overheard some nasty comments from the "bully" attempted to unify the boys by making them hug. The "bully" turned bright red as the whole playground laughed. Immediately after the teach left the boy told James that he "ought to just kill himself" because if he ever came back to school he would kill him with his "bare hands" even if he did get AIDS. The next morning James supposedly got into his mom's (I was told parents) gun safe and took their I believe .22 and brought it to school. At out school it was common to see plenty of kids playing on the playground before school all by themselves. James lived near by and would walk to school. As he walked stepped onto the playground he was instantly notice by the "bully", who made it very obvious he was preparing to beat James up. At that moment is when the whole playground stopped and focused in on the two boys immediately followed by James revealing his pistol. I have already mentioned the details of actual shooting. I thought I knew every crevices of that situation but I've never heard of this Billy T./Colorado connection yet I've verified your info on other sites as well including the Denver Post. We were told his parents as in father as well had AIDS. I can't say James did it for one reason or another but I had never heard any of the children taunt him about the Colorado stuff. Sadly it was always ignorant AIDS bashing because it was 94' and our community didn't understand AIDS. The fact that his mom died so young seems to back the AIDS detail. True or not he was definitely bullied because of it. So it's incredibly hard to know wether James had chose to utilize our pre school play time to avoid adult supervision and commit murder one or if he was sadly misled and out of fear and ignorance took the gun as protection and when he believed he was in danger he used it. Either way the whole thing is a travesty but after reading your post I'm wondering if it may be the latter. Especially if his mother was a criminal and James was taught guns equaled protection and demanded respected and this led to a horrible decision he made out of fear and desperation. Either way it was very sad. I love that you posted this info. I apologize for ranting but your post lit a fire in me.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the first hand knowledge. I looked into James some more, because our of curiosity I wanted to know what happened to him. He went to a psychiatric place for a bit before going to a group home then a foster home, to young to be charged. At 20 went to college, an article talking about how well he was doing, etc. Fast forward ten years, he was caught with lots of child porn, thousands of things, given probation. He committed more crimes and ended up in jail/prison. Last I heard he had changed his banned, first name still James but I believe the last name changed, possibly to Morrison? Anyways he's still in Montana may be in prison currently.
DeleteJeremy Bullock was not the child who had teased James.
ReplyDeleteJames shot Jeremy who was standing next to the intended victim at the time of shooting.