For up to three weeks, fugitive Gary Wayne Branstutter masqueraded as Lee Herbert Goldsmith, a man he befriended in a transient camp in Denver and later allegedly shot between the eyes and buried along Denver’s Sand Creek.
He stole Goldsmith’s identification and money and was even withdrawing additional cash from his bank account, authorities say. As far as anyone knew, Branstutter was Goldsmith.
But on Aug. 9, 2004, Branstutter’s luck ran out. He was stopped on a deserted New Mexico highway, where he was arrested in connection with Goldsmith’s death sometime between mid-July and early August.
On Wednesday, Branstutter was ordered to stand trial in Denver for first-degree murder.
During the preliminary hearing, Detective Joel Humphrey said Branstutter confessed that he killed Goldsmith because he wanted to assume his identity.
New Mexico State Patrol Sgt. Gabriel Pacheco was driving on Interstate 40 near Tucumcari when he spotted a Volvo station wagon traveling on the shoulder and then on the highway with its flashers on.
Pacheco checked the Colorado tags on the Volvo. A dispatcher radioed back that they were registered to a Chevrolet.
When the car stopped, the driver told Pacheco he was Lee Herbert Goldsmith, 53.
In the next few minutes, according to court records, Pacheco discovered a black bag in the car containing a Rohm .22-caliber revolver loaded with eight rounds of ammunition. His dispatcher told him the gun was stolen. The officer then found another 61 rounds in the car, along with drug paraphernalia.
Then something unusual happened.
The driver told Pacheco that his real name was Gary Wayne Branstutter and that he was an escaped convict from Colorado, something Pacheco confirmed over his radio.
He also told the officer he had killed a man, according to court records.
“He said he had shot Goldsmith three times in the head and assumed his identity,” Pacheco said.
In an Aug. 10, 2004, interview in Tucumcari, Branstutter told Humphrey that he had been placed in a drug-treatment program in Denver. Nine months before shooting Goldsmith, he walked away from the facility, he said.
He lived on the streets, where he was known as “Rusty,” and walked into a transient camp, where he met Goldsmith. Because he was a fugitive, he wanted Goldsmith’s identification and planned to kill him to get it, he told Humphrey.
He said he lured Goldsmith to a secluded area along the creek near the camp, shot Goldsmith between the eyes and buried Goldsmith and his yellow backpack.
Earlier, Branstutter told New Mexico authorities he wanted a guarantee he’d receive the death penalty for killing Goldsmith and wouldn’t help authorities find the body if they didn’t promise the death penalty. New Mexico investigators said they couldn’t make such a promise.
He later told Humphrey the location of the grave, near Interstate 70 and Quebec Street, where the body was found.
Authorities have been unable to locate any of Goldsmith’s relatives but have decided not to seek the death penalty, prosecutor George Poland said.
On Wednesday in a phone interview, Pacheco recalled how during the stop Branstutter was doing everything he could to get back inside his vehicle, presumably to get the gun. “This (stop) was very memorable. This is not one you forget quickly,” he said.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
