Nearly 28 years ago, the murders of a husband and wife – Robert “Curly” Culberth, 70, and Darlene, 51 – shook the Lamar, Colo. community to its core.
On Saturday, Oxygen’s “Cold Justice” series took on the 1991 unsolved homicides in one of its episodes. The TV show revisits unsolved murders across the U.S. In this episode, “Golden Years Gone,” the hosts, Kelly Siegler and Abbey Abbondandolo, visit Prowers County, Colorado to go over the case.
According to The Lamar Ledger, the Culberths arrived at the Lamar VFW Hall where they worked shortly after 1 p.m. on Aug. 1, 1991. The VFW alarm system was disabled at 1:41 p.m. and the cash register was opened six minutes later. At 2:10 p.m., 10 minutes after the VFW was scheduled to open, a woman attempted to buzz in through the front door. When no one showed up to open the door, she looked through one of the windows in the door and spotted Darlene slumped over behind the bar. She’d been shot in the head and abdomen.
It appeared to be a robbery turned double homicide. Between $700 and $1,100 was believed to have been taken, according to The Lamar Ledger.
At one point, someone was arrested for the murders, though they were released shortly after and were never charged.
The “Cold Justice” hosts interview the Culberth’s family members and do a walkthrough of the crime scene with investigators.
“(Curly would) come off as gruff but he was just a big teddy bear,” Cindy Barnhardt, the couple’s daughter, said in an interview with the TV show. “(Darlene) never had a bad word to say about anybody. She was a wonderful, wonderful lady.”
You can watch the episode at oxygen.com/cold-justice
Amanda Push
