Charles Sinclair

Sinclair started a coin shop in the 1970s in Hobbs, New Mexico, using his own coin collection.

He expanded his store to sell a wide range of guns.

Charles Thurman Sinclair, also known as the Coin Shop Killer, was an American criminal suspected of various murders of coin shop owners between the early 1980s and the 1990s.

He was categorized as a nomadic killer who was linked to murders across the western United States and Canada.

Sinclair has been linked to eleven homicides, one attempted murder and two rapes.

He targeted coin shop owners in order to rob them of valuable coin collections.

His victims were killed to eliminate any witnesses to the event, not out of any known or specific malice.

Charles Sinclair was born and raised in the small town of Jal, New Mexico.

He was the youngest of four children from a working-class family.

Sinclair lost his father at a young age, leaving his mother to support the family by operating a coin laundry and taking in ironing.

In 1985, Sinclair's shop burned down.

There were investigations for arson but no one was ever charged.

The destruction of his only means of income led to defaults on bank loans.

When creditors tried to repossess his gun stock he had used as collateral, Sinclair and his family left Hobbs.

Sinclair invoked the same method of robbery for each victim: he would make himself known to the owners of a coin shop by talking to them frequently about coins, visiting the shop multiple times a day, and pretending to be interested in making a purchase.

This constant interaction with the owners created an image of a trustworthy regular customer, when, in fact, he was learning the traits and attributes of the store and its owners.

One day, he would arrive close to closing time with a small-caliber weapon with which he would shoot and kill the owners, then rob the store.

The murder was usually committed with a gun, and consisted of a headshot resulting in immediate death.

In the summer of 1986, Robert and Dagmar Linton headed towards the northwest in hopes of reaching Vancouver to see the World's Fair.

As they worked their way north for the first month, they frequently called home.

When they reached Washington State, the phone calls stopped.

The red and white trailer they had been traveling in was found empty at a campground in Washington State by a campground staff member.

Their pickup was abandoned at the Seattle Tacoma Airport.

On July 31, 1990, Charles Sparboe (60), the owner of a Billings, Montana, coin shop, was killed along with his assistant Catharine Newstrom (47), with a .22 caliber handgun.

The 10-year-old coin shop was also robbed of $54,000 in coins and gold.

Similar to the other killings, Sinclair had lingered around the shop, making himself accustomed and known to the owners by representing himself as a farmer from a town close by.

Jim Sparboe, the son of Charles Sparboe, became suspicious of the frequency of Sinclair's visits, his conspicuous distance in parking, and his "banker-smooth" hands.

However, he failed to act in time leading to his returning to the shop to find his father and assistant Newstrom dead.

Jim Sparboe provided information about the circumstances leading up to the murders and information that was used to create a composite drawing of the suspect.

For several days, a polite Texan wanting to invest in coins frequented Legacy Rare Coins in Murray, Utah multiple times a day.

On May 4, 1990, Sinclair (posing as "Jim Stockton" ) waited around until owner Kelly Finnegan closed up the shop.

As he put his valuables in the safe, Sinclair murmured, "dumb bastard".

Finnegan turned his head towards Sinclair and was met with a shot to the forehead.

Despite being shot in the head, Finnegan survived.

The bullet managed to not seriously wound him and he remained conscious.

He pretended to be dead on the floor as Sinclair robbed the store of around $60,000 worth of merchandise.

In his pocket was an antique pocket watch that he had stolen out of the shop's safe; his son was wearing a Rolex watch that Sinclair had stolen from the coin shop's other owner.

Robert and Dagmar Linton were a working-class couple from the city of Lodi, located in San Joaquin County, California.

The soon-to-be retirees loved the outdoors and frequently took short trips to Lake Camanche and New Hogan Reservoir

.