Mary Showman was beautiful and had an effervescent smile. She was friendly and always happy.
Denver police department- Mary Showman, 28
Showman did so well waiting tables at Rick’s Cafe that is was more lucrative than using her accounting degree to get a job.
Her dream was to move back to tiny Windom, Minnesota and open her own restaurant. That way she could use her accounting and serving skills in the same venture. Mary also liked to read and write poetry. She had first started coming to Colorado in the mid 1980s to work at restaurants at mountain resorts to make enough money to attend Mankato State University.
Though she lived in a big city she was a farmer’s daughter and was very trusting, her sister said. Windom was a place where everyone in town knew each other and kept their doors and windows unlocked, said Inge Richter, 47, Showman’s sister.
Richter worries that her trusting nature may have led directly to her murder in May of 1989 inside her apartment at 1090 South Parker Road.
Richter was very reliable so when she failed to go to work a few days in a row without calling in sick or giving any explanation her coworkers became worried and went to her apartment, according to a Rocky Mountain News article.
When the manager opened her apartment door they found her partially clothed body. An autopsy showed that she had been strangled.
Richter was living in Texas at the time. The family buried her in her home town in Minnesota near the grave of her brother.
Showman’s murder happened about the same time that Richter gave birth to a daughter. As the years pass and her daughter grows older she can never forget the older sister who was so cheerful and loving. The pain never fades.
“It’s very important to me that they solve this case,” said Richter, who now lives in South Dakota. “The person who took her life; we hope that person is found.”
Richter has called detectives many times to see if they have a suspect. None has ever been identified. But about a year ago cold case detectives at the Denver Police Department told her that they reopened the case and are examining her possessions to see if they can find DNA from the killer.
The Denver Police Department can be reached at 720-913-7867. Denver Post staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206. For updates on cold case profiles follow him on Twitter @kmitchellDP.