The murder of Vincent Vehar
Evanston, Uinta County, Wyoming · 1977
Overview
Evanston, Wyoming attorney Vincent Vehar, 67, his wife Beverly, 51, and their son John, 18, were killed when a dynamite bomb planted in the crawlspace of their home detonated before dawn on August 7, 1977. Another son, Tony, survived. The bombing grew out of a years-long feud between attorney Vehar and Mark Allen Hopkinson, a former federal drug convict who had lost legal disputes in which Vehar represented his adversaries. The case broke when Michael Hickey, the man Hopkinson had hired to plant the bomb, confessed before a Uinta County grand jury and turned state's evidence against Hopkinson in exchange for a plea deal, after a second witness, Jeff Green, who had also implicated Hopkinson, was tortured and murdered days before he was to testify. Hopkinson was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in September 1979, received three life terms for the Vehars and the death penalty for Green's killing, and was executed in 1992 in Wyoming's only modern execution.
How it was solved
The Vehar bombing went without an arrest for nearly two years. The break did not come from forensic evidence but from the criminal circle Mark Hopkinson had drawn around himself. In July 1978, during the unrelated murder trial of Jamey Hysell, a young man named Jeff Green broke down on the stand and admitted that earlier statements were lies, then implicated Hopkinson and Michael Hickey in the 1977 bombing of attorney Vincent Vehar's home. Green became a marked man. On May 20, 1979, two days before a grand jury was to convene on the Vehar bombing, Green's body was found at a rest area off Interstate 80 near Fort Bridger, Wyoming, bearing more than one hundred cigarette burns and a fatal gunshot wound. Prosecutors said Hopkinson had ordered the killing by telephone from the federal prison at Lompoc, California, where he was then serving time for an unrelated bombing conspiracy. With Green dead, the case turned on Michael Hickey, the accomplice who had actually planted the dynamite. Called before the Uinta County grand jury in late May 1979, Hickey confessed both to an earlier killing and to bombing the Vehar home at Hopkinson's direction. Under a plea bargain he agreed to turn state's evidence against Hopkinson in exchange for a twenty-year sentence and immunity from prosecution in the Vehar murders. Hopkinson was indicted and tried in 1979; with prosecutor Gerry Spence leading the case, a jury convicted him on September 25, 1979 of four counts of first-degree murder and two conspiracy counts. The jury recommended three life terms for the Vehars and death for the murder of Jeff Green, the witness who had tried to come forward.
Sources
- Mark Hopkinson
“Mark Allen Hopkinson (October 8, 1949 - January 22, 1992) ... was responsible for arranging the 1977 murders of Vincent Vehar, Beverly Vehar, and John Vehar, and the 1979 murder of Jeffrey Green, a key witness against him ... Hickey testified before a grand jury in late May 1979 and confessed to both the Wyckhuyse killing and Vehar bombing. Under a plea agreement, he turned state's evidence against Hopkinson in exchange for a 20-year sentence ... and immunity in the Vehar case.”
- Mark A. Hopkinson
“Mike Hickey, called to testify before the Uinta County grand jury, confessed to both the Wyckhuyse killing and the Vehar bombing. In a plea bargain, he agreed to turn state's evidence against Hopkinson in exchange for a twenty-year sentence for Wyckhuyse's murder. ... At about 3:35 A.M. the Vehar home exploded, killing Vincent Vehar, Beverly Vehar, and John Vehar.”
- Mark Hopkinson
“Mike Hickey, a young man with a drinking problem and criminal history, testified against Hopkinson in exchange for immunity from prosecution regarding the Vehar murders. ... Green was found on May 20, 1979 near Fort Bridger along I-80 with more than 100 cigarette burns and a gun shot wound to the neck.”
- Mark Hopkinson Executed For 4 Wyoming Murders
“Jeffrey Lynn Green, 23, died two days before he was to testify about Hopkinson's role in a 1977 bombing that killed three. Green's body was found on May 20th 1979 at a rest area near Fort Bridger along I-80 with more than 100 cigarette burns and a gun shot wound to the neck. ... Russell was convicted in June 1990 of conspiring with Hopkinson to slay Green.”
- Hopkinson Is Put To Death In Wyoming
“Hopkinson was convicted of a 1977 bombing that killed Evanston attorney Vincent Vehar, his wife and son (three life sentences) and the 1979 murder of Jeffrey Lynn Green, 23, arranged while imprisoned in California (death sentence). ... accomplice Alvin Russell was convicted of conspiracy in 1990.”
- Hopkinson v. State, 632 P.2d 79 (Wyo. 1981)
“The facts of this case present one of the most bizarre stories in the judicial history of the State of Wyoming. ... Hopkinson was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder; the State's case against him relied substantially on the testimony of his accomplice, Michael Hickey.”
- If Killer Had Pleaded Guilty, His Life Would've Been Spared
“Mike Hickey confessed to dynamiting the Vehar home at Hopkinson's request and received total immunity. ... Prosecutor Gerry Spence convinced a jury Hopkinson ordered Green's murder by phone from a California prison, despite no physical evidence linking him to the killing. ... Critics questioned why confessed killers received immunity and why no physical evidence connected Hopkinson to Green's death.”
- Evanston's Vehar Bombing featured on latest episode of Dead & Gone in Wyoming
“In August 1977, attorney Vincent Vehar, his wife Beverly, and their son John were killed when a bomb containing dynamite exploded in their Evanston home; the bombing grew out of a dispute in which Vehar represented Hopkinson's adversaries, and Hopkinson hired Michael Hickey to carry out the bombing.”