Friday, Aug. 2, 2024
Did one of the costliest ecoterrorism attacks occur in Colorado?
A group known as “the family” connected to the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front targeted the Vail ski resort, destroying four ski lifts and burning down a restaurant, a lodge and a utility building, according to the FBI. Damage was initially estimated at $12 million and later reassessed at $26 million.
Three people pleaded guilty in the attack while one suspect remains at large. Josephine Sunshine Overaker remains a fugitive and is believed to have fled to Europe.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- FBI Operation Backfire
- U.S. Attorney's Office for Colorado Four people indicted for 1998 Vail arson fires
- FBI Testimony
- Colorado Wildlife Council Canada Lynx
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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The Colorado Sun is a journalist-founded, award-winning and nonprofit news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers. We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.
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