Saguache-related deaths sadden town

SAGUACHE — According to reports from the Saguache Sheriff’s Office, two Saguache residents died under tragic circumstances in the town of Saguache on the same day last week, one of them a young adult male found hanging from playground equipment in Otto Mears Park.

The youth had recently quarreled with his girlfriend and was reportedly despondent. She found him hanging in the park and called Saguache Ambulance, but resuscitation attempts by ambulance personnel failed.

Saguache Undersheriff Jim McCloskey interviewed witnesses after arriving on scene, but no one else had been seen in the park at the approximate time of the incident.

The second death happened at a private home where Saguache Undersheriff Jim McCloskey also responded. A woman who was planning to enter a rehabilitation program was found dead in her common-law husband’s home from unknown causes. The husband said he had last seen his wife Aug. 13.

She had a doctor’s appointment Aug. 14, and when she did not come down to attend the appointment the husband went upstairs and found her deceased. When McCloskey arrived on scene he found the woman lying on a couch covered with a blanket. She was cool to the touch, he reported, and he could see that rigor mortis had set in.  McCloskey then called county coroner Tom Perrin.

While waiting for Perrin to arrive he began photographing the scene. McCloskey noted the woman had bruising on her upper chest, right eye, also around her lips and had suffered an older bruise. The husband also had a bruised eye and he told McCloskey the two had been in a physical fight about 10 days earlier. A driver’s license photo taken Aug. 9 shows the husband then had a fully black eye.

McCloskey inquired about a video surveillance system at the home, but the husband said it had stopped working about a month ago. McCloskey examined the equipment but determined it was not operational.

McCloskey ended his report with the comment that further information is pending until toxicology and autopsy reports become available.

Two other individuals with ties to the community also passed away in the past week, one in a car crash in Rio Grande County and the other, a former Mountain Valley student, in a freak accident in Denver.

A candlelight prayer vigil and dinner for those who lost their lives will be held Thursday at 6 p.m. in front of the Saguache County courthouse.