The Case of the Gentleman Gambler

Grand Junction police think they’ve finally solved a years-old murder—if only they can get the alleged perpetrator back to Colorado to stand trial.

By last fall, American authorities had finally gathered enough evidence against Bebb-Jones, and one morning last November Scotland Yard officers arrested him at the home in central England where he lived with his mother and Daniel, now in his teens. Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario says he can’t remember a local case that required so much legwork, but he’s convinced they arrested the right man. “When we investigate a case, we go where the evidence takes us,” he says, “and the evidence took us to Marcus Bebb-Jones.”

Since then Bebb-Jones has been fighting extradition. Earlier this year a British judge cleared the way for the transfer after Garfield County prosecutors pledged to take the death penalty off the table. Bebb-Jones still has remaining appeals in England, where his attorneys have argued that it would be inhuman for him to stand trial in a country where, despite prosecutors’ promises, execution still couldn’t be ruled out. Even so, Vallario remains optimistic that judges will eventually hand the suspect over to Garfield County. And back home in England, the Dusk Till Dawn official says Bebb-Jones’ former poker associates are still trying to get their minds around the image of the soft-spoken gentleman gambler as a murderer. “If he is guilty,” he says, “I hope he gets what he deserves.” 

David Frey is a freelance writer in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. His website is www.davidfrey.me. E-mail him at letters@5280.com.