In the early evening of May 30, 1968, paramedics arrived at a grizzly scene in Mead, Colorado, thirty-five miles north of Denver. A Chevrolet sedan had crashed into a tree and the driver was barely conscious. Several onlookers surrounded the scene as emergency responders tried to save eighteen-year-old Leroy Drieth. When paramedics asked the bystanders what had occurred, one person responded that Leroy was upset after having a fight with his fiancée and that he was going to kill himself.

Leroy Drieth died shortly after being transported to the hospital. The statement made to the paramedics was relayed to the county coroner. No autopsy was performed and no investigation was launched.

Against the protest of his family, Leroy Drieth’s death was ruled an “auto suicide.” Twenty-five years later, his body was exhumed and an autopsy was performed by a different coroner. As a result, the cause of his death was changed from suicide to undetermined.

A death which the original coroner and police believed to be an open-and-shut case of suicide was officially open after a quarter-of-a-century.

Leroy Drieth

 

Shortly after leaving a Memorial Day party held at the home of his seventeen-year-old fiancée Patty, Leroy’s car plunged head-on into a tree only two blocks away. The bystander’s statement that he intended to kill himself was enough to satisfy George Howe, Jr., the mortician (not a pathologist), serving as Weld County Coroner. Without visiting the scene, taking any pictures, or conducting any interviews with family members and/or party attendees, he ruled the death a suicide. His finding was supported by the police department and county prosecutor.

LeRoy and Patty

 

Leroy’s parents, Henry and Freda, were certain their son had not taken his own life. They had also attended the party, and Henry was the first person to arrive on the scene after Leroy’s car crashed. As he tended to his dying son, Henry says Leroy was trying to tell him something but was unable to speak.

The Drieths’ repeatedly asked Weld County District Attorney James Shelton to open an investigation into their son’s death, but were repeatedly told the suicide ruling was final. Pleas to Shelton’s successor, Robert Miller, met with the same results.

Henry Drieth and Fred Bruce

LeRoy’s Parents

 

In June 1988, over twenty-three years after Leroy’s death, the new Weld County Coroner told Leroy’s sister, Vickie Mahrling, that after reading George Howe’s one-page report on Leroy’s death, he believed the incident had not been fully investigated. He also noted that “auto suicide,” using a vehicle to crash into an object to kill oneself, is rare with only two such recorded cases in Colorado history. The coroner recommended she hire a private investigator. Not having the means to do so, she instead conducted her own investigation. She tracked down party attendees who told her several members of Patty’s family had become drunk and were acting rudely toward Leroy.

 

Vickie Mahrling

LeRoy’s Sister

The Drieth family had lost contact with Patty several years after Leroy’s death. Vickie placed an ad in the local newspaper asking for Patty to contact her, which she did. What little she said seemed to confirm Vickie’s suspicions.

Patty Answers Vickie’s Ad

 

Patty said she and Leroy had not had an argument at the party. Vickie thought Patty was evasive about the rest of her questions and believed she knew what occurred but was protecting her family members.

Vickie says Patty later contacted her and offered to provide a more detailed account of the party. When Vickie called her to set a meeting, however, she says Patty’s phone had been disconnected and she was unable to locate her.

No source I found listed Patty’s last name.

Patty Is Cooperative But Also Evasive

 

On August 9, 1993, Leroy Drieth’s body was exhumed. Forensic pathologist and medical examiner Dr. Patrick Allen performed the autopsy which LeRoy’s family believes should have been conducted twenty-five years earlier. He made a surprising discovery.

Leroy had sustained two knife wounds to his neck: a nearly two-inch long stab wound and a four-inch deep slash that had severed his windpipe. Dr. Allen had investigated hundreds of car crash deaths but had never seen that type of resulting injuries. In addition, he found LeRoy’s carotid arteries undamaged, contradicting the 1968 death certificate signed by Dr. Howe, saying they had been severed in the crash.

Knife Wounds To LeRoy’s Neck

 

The findings led to Leroy Drieth’s cause of death being changed from “auto suicide” to “undetermined.”

Cause of Death Changed

 

Carolyn Wertz, who had been married to Patty’s brother, lived with the family at the time of Leroy’s death and was at the Memorial Day party. She contacted Vickie, saying she believed members of Patty’s family may have killed Leroy. The following is a theory of what may have occurred:

Leroy arrived at the party at approximately 5:00 p.m. Patty’s family and Leroy soon argued. Patty is of Hispanic heritage and Carolyn believed the argument stemmed from her family not approving of a white man dating a Hispanic woman. Infuriated, Leroy stormed out and Patty followed him to his car.

Carolyn believes, perhaps as Leroy entered his car, one of Patty’s family members inflicted the knife wounds. She believes it was this family member who falsely blurted that Leroy had said he was going to kill himself when the paramedics tending to him asked what had occurred.

Carolyn Wertz 

Patty’s Former Sister-On-Law

 

Dr. Howe was technically correct in his ruling that the cause of Leroy Drieth’s death was from injuries sustained from the automobile crash. Dr. Allen believes, however, that Leroy had been stabbed and slashed with a knife and those injuries were the proximate cause of his death because they caused him to lose control of his car and crash into the tree.

Leroy Was Likely Slashed Before He Crashed

 

If you have any information relating to the death of LeRoy Drieth, please contact the Weld County, Colorado, Sheriff’s Office at 970-356-4015.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39910846/leroy-drieth

A Shut-And-Open Case

SOURCES:

• Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph
• Denver Post
• KUSA TV-9 News Denver
• Unsolved Mysteries