Boulder Police Announce Arrest In 1994 Murder Case

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - Police in Boulder on Thursday announced that they have made an arrest in an 18-year-old murder case. The victim was a 48-year-old city employee.

Police now say Michael Martin Clark, 36, shot and killed Marty Grisham on the night of Nov. 1, 1994. The murder took place at Clark's apartment, located on the 5600 block of Arapahoe Road.

Police say Grisham was dining with his girlfriend when he heard a knock and came to the door and was shot four times. The suspect then ran away.

Boulder police arrested Clark on Thursday in Summit County. They say he knew Grisham's daughter and was viewed as a person of interest in the investigation because he stole checks of Grisham's and forged nearly $4,500 from Grisham's account prior to the murder.

Grisham was the city's Data Processing Director. He reported that the theft had taken place and identified Clark as a suspect on the same day he was murdered.

Two days after the murder Clark was arrested on a forgery charge and eventually entered a guilty plea to the theft.

"(Clark) said he was able to access Grisham's home because he had been given a key by Grisham's daughter so he could take care of Grisham's cat. (At the time) he denied any knowledge of or involvement in Grisham's murder," Boulder police wrote in a prepared statement.

Investigators with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms helped Boulder with the investigation. So far it's not clear why it took so many years to make the homicide arrest.