Episode one:
“Aren’t you dead yet?”
Two teenage friends, Dewey and Kevin, travel to “Down in the Valley” record store to purchase some items.
A gunman robs the store and shoots everyone in it.
The disturbing night of events unfolds.
You can listen to episode 1 everywhere you get your podcasts or you can listen here:
“Down in the Valley” at this time had only been open for about 2 years and was owned by Steve Hyland.
Steve was 21 years old when he opened the store in a basement on 7821 Golden Valley Road in Golden Valley.
From the outside, it looked like an old shed. Once you enter the front door, you walk down the stairs into the basement to actually enter the store.
There was no other way in or out of the store.
You could buy anything from records, cassette tapes and concert tickets to waterbeds and smoking accessories.
At about 6:30pm on the night of November 16th, 1974, Jennie Randall, a 19 year old girl, was working her shift alone at “Down in the Valley.” Owner Steve Hyland was taking a vacation in Mexico.
Her friend Coral had been dropped off at the store and was waiting for her ride to get picked up from the store.
While waiting for her ride, Coral went over to the water bed section in the back of the store to lie down.
Coral felt like all of a sudden a feeling came over her that someone was watching her.
She looked up at the window on the east side of the shop which directly overlooks the water bed but she did not see anyone.
Coral felt uneasy, got up and browsed the store.
About this time, Jennie asked Coral to watch the store while she ran next door to get a Pepsi.
While Jennie was gone from the store, only one male customer came in and made a purchase.
At about 6:55pm, Coral’s ride arrives. Looking over the store dock over the backroom doorway, “Perry Mason” was just ending on the television set Jennie brought with her to work, she said goodbye to her friend.
Her ride was parked in front of M & I Auto Supply, backed out, exited the driveway closest to the record store and went west on Golden Valley Road.
As they were leaving, a ‘65 Impala pulled into the M & I Auto Supply lot with Dewey Lamm driving and his friend Kevin Finneman was riding along. They both are also 19 years old.
This night was like any other carefree night for the two buddies. They thought about maybe getting something to eat at McDonalds but decided to spend some time searching through “Down in the Valley” record store.
It’s now 7 pm and it’s only Dewey, Kevin and lone worker Jennie in the store.
While Jennie watched “All in the Family” on her TV set, Dewey and Kevin were taking their time looking through the records and cassette tapes.
A male individual about 17 years old wearing a blue parka jacket with the hood portion pulled around his face so that very little of his face was visible, entered the shop.
This individual browsed through the record selection near the door for approx. 5 minutes before leaving.
Dewey and Kevin are now looking at the waterbeds and Kevin says something about maybe buying one sometime.
The individual reentered the store about 2 to 3 minutes later carrying a rifle in one hand and a white towel in the other hand. Carrying this towel as if he’d been swimming.
Kevin noticed and thought it was strange.
The individual approached Jennie who was behind the glass showcase counter at the north end of the store and set his rifle and towel onto the counter and stated,
“Get the money.”
And demanded Jennie open the till to the register.
Stunned, she opened it and asked,
“What do you want?”
Dewey and Kevin looked at each other and started laughing – thinking he was pulling a prank on the store clerk.
The individual turned towards Dewey and Kevin, now holding the rifle at hip level, and began shooting.
Kevin sees his friend Dewey fall to the floor as he flies back about 10 feet onto the floor with wounds hitting his shoulder and arm.
Jennie ran to the backroom and tried to use the telephone when the shots first started and the individual shot through the back curtain missing her and started to run towards her.
She falls to the floor, pretending to be hit.
Kevin was dazed and got up on his feet and walked a few feet over to where Dewey was lying.
Kevin could no longer see the individual but could hear him ask the clerk,
“Is there any more?”
He heard the clerk say,
“Yes.”
At that point, he heard sounds of them walking in the back room of the store.
Kevin thinks about rushing him and tries to think of a plan.
The individual came back to Kevin when he realized he was now standing up and pointed the rifle at his head.
Kevin fell to his knees and begged the individual to not shoot him in his head.
He fell onto his stomach and was covering his head with his arms.
The individual moved closer and closer to Kevin and shot him in his spinal cord and stomach, paralyzing him, then went back to Dewey and he again was shot twice.
The individual was using a rifle which was loaded through the stock. The individual reloaded his weapon after shooting Dewey then reentered the back room and shot two more times at Jennie.
The individual asked Jennie,
“Aren’t you dead yet?”
Then the individual pulled out a machete type instrument.
Jennie passes out when she sees the machete.
The individual reentered the display room and grabbed Kevin by his hair, jostled him around some, grabbed his coat collar and moved him some more.
Kevin was then struck on the head two or three times with the unknown instrument.
He was trying to act unconscious during this ordeal but he could hear everything. He couldn’t move his body.
Kevin could hear him walk back towards his friend Dewey and heard sounds of him being struck by this unknown instrument.
The individual then went towards the back room and struck Jennie two or three times with that same instrument.
The individual came out of the backroom and exited the shop by walking up the stairs.
They heard no vehicle sounds after the suspect left the shop.
Kevin called out to Jennie immediately and told her to call an ambulance.
Jennie said that she had been shot and she didn’t know if she could even move.
Kevin started to crawl towards the door upon hearing nothing further from Jennie. He could only move very slowly.
He got about 15 feet away from the phone before he stopped crawling and waited for someone to enter the shop.
A man and woman walked down the stairs into “Down in the Valley” to purchase some incense but discovered the horrific scene.
They saw three people lying on the floor and blood all over the place.
Kevin called out for them to call the police and ambulance to get some help.
Jennie awakes to someone walking over her to try to use the telephone to call 911 but the phone wouldn’t work.
Immediately, both parties ran out of the store, one going to the Metro 300 Liquor and one going to Rosie’s Liquor, both making calls for help.
Panicked, they tell police that someone better hurry and get down to “Down in the Valley” record store.
Police arrived at a horrific scene.
Kevin identified himself and said he knew his friend was dead. That some maniac came into the store and started shooting.
He gave the first initial statements to the police.
Jennie was conscious and able to speak but was almost to the point of hysteria and kept saying that she was going to die.
An officer held her hand and tried to calm her. She was not asked any questions at this time.
When the ambulance arrived, this officer assisted ambulance attendants in carrying her to a stretcher.
Jennie left first due to the extensive injuries she sustained.
She had an entrance wound in the middle part of her upper chest and also a bullet wound entering her jaw on the left side and an exit wound on the right jaw.
Jennie was bleeding profusely from the mouth and wound areas as well as several cuts to her head.
She kept saying,
“I can’t talk, I know I’m going to die.”
The officer asked if she could please tell them what happened or who did this. It was at this time that she lapsed into unconsciousness.
No more conversation is held with Jennie.
Kevin continues to talk to police about what he witnessed until his ambulance arrives.
Once the two injured parties were removed by the ambulance crews, Officer Otto then did search the immediate area around the building and did search the area behind and south of the building to and including the Plaza Shopping Center area.
The items searched for were a white towel, some type of sharp instrument, possibly a hatchet, and a .22 automatic rifle used by the assailant at the scene of the crime.
Officer Otto was unable to find anything during the search. This included checking all of the rubbish containers throughout the immediate area of the “Down in the Valley” establishment.
Outside officers speak to the two who discovered the scene, John and Paula.
They both stated implicitly that they had not seen a thing that they had just gone downstairs to the store, walked in, saw three people lying on the floor and blood all over the place.
Kevin said,
“Some guy came in and plastered us, call an ambulance.”
Paula said that as curiosity seekers and bystanders began to gather, she noticed a person standing near the N.W. corner of Dahlberg’s building. Paula thought it very strange as many people had gathered out front of the building, but this person remained where he was, watching from that location. When asked if she could describe this person, Paula stated light was not good and she did not pay close attention to this person.
She did, however, look in his direction several times, noticing the person to still be in the same place, never moving closer to the scene.
John didn’t see any cars or persons in the area before entering the store.
He also observed the same person standing near the N.W corner of Dahlberg’s building. John could not ascertain clothing worn but feels the trousers and coat worn were of a dark color, possibly dark blue. He did get a better look at the person and is almost positive the person had dark colored hair.
John stated the hair was very bushy and when questioned as to what he meant, John stated curly or wavy. He also thought this was strange someone would look on from such a distance and not walk up to the scene as other bystanders were doing.
With everyone removed from inside “Down in the Valley” the official search for evidence inside begins.
Several people leaning on the counter also looked into the cash register and the fact that the phone was handled several times, both by the person that found the people and Officers at the scene, that to research these places and articles for fingerprints would be futile.
Nothing was left behind by the suspect.
The scene inside pretty much gave up no evidence to help in the investigation.
The assailant walked out of the store with $145.68.
Shortly before officers left the scene inside the store, Steve Hyland’ s father, Duane Hyland, came into the store. They explained to Mr. Hyland what had happened, the money was being seized for safekeeping, and the crime scene sealed for further evidence collection.
The alarm was set and the building was secured using a key found in the cash register. Signs provided by the crime lab were placed on both front doors. A police department padlock was placed on the door at the head of the stairs. A purse containing identification of Jennie’s and her waist length fur jacket were brought to our office for safekeeping.
A search party outside of the building composed of approximately 8 to 10 fire department personnel in the immediate area of “Down in the Valley” record shop.
The area of the search was as follows:
The search team worked in a southerly direction towards and up to Highway 55. Search time then pivoted and directed a search north from Hwy 55 to Country Club Drive.
The search uncovered only one item which appeared to be alien to the area. This item is described as a brown buckskin colored mitten with wool inserts.
This item was located from the southeast corner and along the east side of M & I Auto Body Parts. Subsequent search by Fire Department personnel with ladders on the roofs in the immediate area discerned no further evidence.
A search by Fire Department personnel was also conducted in a westerly direction behind the Golden Valley Shopping Center. Search of the shopping center roof – found no evidence.
They searched for a hatchet or machete type instrument. The north side of Golden Valley Road, the area surrounding the Civic Center, shops, post office, McDonald’s parking lot, all trash cans and any other places where the instrument could have been tossed or hidden.
The immediate area search was then stopped and discontinued.
No rifle or machete-like instrument was located.
The night of November 16th, 1974 is over.
Taken from the Washington Examiner:
“1974 was the year in which some of America’s most notorious and prolific murderers began their reign of bloody terror. Ted Bundy committed his first known murder in January 1974. Dennis Rader (The BTK killer) first murdered in January 1974. John Wayne Gacy killed the second of his 34 victims in January 1974.”
This rise in crime extended outwards towards teenage boys with a lot of shot gun offences throughout Minnesota specifically in 1974.
It’s been more than 50 years since this horrific event and the people close to the crime and victims still wonder who could have possibly committed this crime?
And why were they never caught?
Through police case files, family interviews and lost footage from throughout the years, I’ll be covering every detail of the investigation from over the past 50 years.
They landed on one specific suspect and in 2009 – they were about 95% sure that this man was the one responsible for the robbery and murder of Dewey.
But he had been dead himself since 1974.
Police technically “solved” this case and felt confident in closing the investigation from that point.
Was a teenaged family annihilator in Golden Valley responsible for the brutal robbery and murder at “Down in the Valley” record store?
We will be breaking down the case file of the suspect and try to find what the detectives found:
Some answers and closure.
Please join the Facebook group “Dewey Lamm’s Cold Case” to stay connected with those closest to the case and stay updated on future news and episodes.
Coming up:
Episode two of “Down the Stairs, Into the Valley” we will learn about the victim Dewey Lamm and the beginning of the investigation from his friend and survivor Kevin’s side.