Vincent Groves

Vincent Darrell Groves (April 19, 1954 – October 31, 1996) was an American serial killer who murdered at least seven girls and women in Denver, Colorado, between 1978 and 1988. His guilt was conclusively proven in four murders with the help of DNA profiling in 2012, 16 years after his death, as a result of which his total victim count remains unknown. According to the Denver Police Department, based on circumstantial evidence and a number of testimonies, Groves could have been responsible for more than 20 murders.

Early years Vincent Groves was born on April 19, 1954, in the family of a postman and a teacher, the eldest of three sons. The family lived in the western Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge, which was mainly inhabited by members of the upper middle class. Vincent's parents were law-abiding, average citizens who took good care of their children. Groves attended Wheat Ridge High School, which he graduated in 1972, the only black student from his class. One of his classmates was Dave Logan, who would later become a prominent professional football player and coach.

With a tall and athletic physique, Vincent spent his high school years as a member of the school's basketball team, achieving outstanding results on the court. In 1972, his team reached the final in the annual interscholastic basketball championship in the state, with Groves being recognized as the team's star player, thanks to which he was popular and had many friends and acquaintances. After school, he entered Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he played for the local basketball team. However, he quickly lost interest in studying and sports, and in 1974, due to his chronic absences, he dropped out of college and returned to Denver. He moved in with his grandmother and found a job as an electrician at the Gates Rubber Company. In his free time, Groves was fond of drinking alcohol and visiting the red-light districts, as a result of which, in the late 1970s, he spent a lot of time surrounded by pimps and prostitutes, and subsequently began leading a criminal lifestyle.

Trial Vincent Groves was convicted of Lovato's killing in 1990, receiving life imprisonment. A month later, he was extradited to Adams County, where he was charged with murdering Diane Mancera. At the end of 1990, he was additionally convicted of her death and received 20 years imprisonment. At the trial, prosecutors provided evidence of his involvement in eight other murders in the Denver area, using testimonies and other evidence that placed Vincent as the last person seen with the victims before they were found dead or disappeared. However, no new charges were brought against him.

Death In the early 1990s, Vincent Groves began to have health problems. He was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and liver failure, the complications from which he died on October 31, 1996, in a prison hospital near Denver. Shortly before his death, Groves was asked to confess to other murders, but he refused.

In 2025, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office announced that Groves was responsible for the 1987 murder of 30-year-old Rhonda Fisher. The breakthrough came from DNA analysis of 38-year-old paper bags preserved around Fisher's hand at the crime scene, which preserved both Fisher's and Groves' DNA.