Colorado state senator raises questions in death investigation of CU Boulder student
Colorado state Sen. Janice Marchman on Thursday called for state investigators to review the death of a University of Colorado Boulder student that coroner’s officials ruled as suicide.
The death of Megan Trussell and the following investigation by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office raised several concerns and exposed potential gaps in Colorado’s laws and policies, Marchman wrote in an email to Attorney General Phil Weiser.
Marchman, who represents portions of Boulder and Larimer Counties in Colorado’s District 15, said she’s heard from constituents across her district who were “deeply concerned” about how Trussell’s case was handled.
“As a state senator, I don’t have authority over local law enforcement or coroner offices. But I do have a responsibility to ask questions, review state laws and look for policy changes that might help families in future cases,” Marchman said in an email to The Denver Post.
In Trussell’s case, the sheriff’s office’s delay in requesting help from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, several pieces of untested evidence and the “lack of clear protocols ensuring minimum forensic procedures before ruling a death a suicide” were all concerning, Marchman said.
In a statement, Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson said he believes detectives and deputies conducted a thorough investigation into Trussell’s death based on available evidence and met with Trussell’s family attorney several times to discuss the case and offer an opportunity to ask questions.
The sheriff’s office was not involved in deciding whether to contact CBI after Trussell disappeared, and officials referred questions about that process to CU Boulder police.
In an accompanying statement, the Boulder County Coroner’s Office said the agency follows protocols to make sure national, peer-reviewed forensic standards are followed in every investigation.
Trussell was last seen leaving her campus dorm room at about 9 p.m. on Feb. 9, sparking a search and widespread media coverage of her disappearance.
Six days later, her body was found on “hard-to-reach terrain” in Boulder Canyon. Security camera footage and cell phone data indicate she walked to the area from campus, sheriff’s officials said.
The Boulder County Coroner’s Office ruled Trussell’s death a suicide in late May. In Colorado, pathologists can label a decedent’s manner of death as suicide, natural, accident, homicide or undetermined.
Marchman said the decision to rule Trussell’s death a suicide was “BS” in a comment on a CU Boulder Police Department post on Facebook and insisted that Trussell was murdered and the investigation into her death was botched and biased.
Trussell died from a combination of the toxic effects of amphetamines and hypothermia, coroner officials said, adding that undigested prescription medication was found in her body during the autopsy.
“The critical factor in determining the cause of death was the level of amphetamine found in her blood concentration, which represents the amount that had been metabolized in the body,” coroner’s officials said Thursday.
The coroner’s office has agreed to submit the undigested medication for additional analysis, the agency said in a statement. Bruising and abrasions found on her body did not contribute to her death.
While one deputy initially reported seeing a tarp or blanket on Trussell’s snow-covered body, detectives and coroner staff who later went down to where her body was found did not find anything wrapped around her, the sheriff’s office said.
Vanessa Diaz, Trussell’s mother, told the Daily Camera the CU student was prescribed amphetamines to treat her ADHD. Diaz ordered a second, independent autopsy and hired a private investigator to look into her daughter’s death.
“Megan was so vibrant and just a happy, happy child,” Diaz previously told the Daily Camera. “Anybody who knows her knows she was not suicidal. She wouldn’t kill herself. She’s never had any history of that.”
Marchman said she’s working on legislation to strengthen statewide investigatory standards in youth and Indigenous death cases to protect other victims moving forward.
Marchman wants to create stronger laws and policies surrounding:
- When and how CBI should get involved in missing persons cases involving vulnerable individuals,
- What legal standards apply to determining the cause of death when circumstances are unclear,
- And how state officials can improve communication between agencies, families and the community in high-stakes investigations.
“People want to know that when someone goes missing, especially a young person, every possible step is taken — quickly, thoroughly, and with care,” she said.
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