Jail cleared of wrongdoing in Mancos man

Jail cleared of wrongdoing in Mancos man's suicide

Nov 17, 2001

By Shane Benjamin
Durango Herald Staff Writer

The death of a Mancos man being held in La Plata County Jail has been ruled a suicide, and the jail has been cleared of any wrongdoing, said Lt. Jim Spratlen, of the Durango Police Department, which conducted an investigation.

Dustin Jeremy Eppich, 20, was found dead early Monday in his jail cell during a routine security check. He had a noose wrapped around his neck woven out of a sheet and pieces of a towel. It was tied to a hook on a wall that was four to five feet off the ground, Spratlen said.

The sheriff’s office is conducting its own internal investigation to determine if procedures were followed the night Eppich hanged himself, Sheriff Duke Schirard said. Preliminary results show everything was handled correctly, but the investigation is ongoing, he said.

"I knew the parents of this young man," Schirard said. "I am upset and feel as horrible about this as the next person. I wish nobody would get hurt."

Eppich was being held on a warrant from Montezuma County for siphoning about 20 gallons of diesel fuel onto the ground in Mancos in late October. The Mancos Marshal’s Office was seeking a hazardous-materials-spill charge against Eppich – a felony.

He was arrested Nov. 8 and was in jail for about four days before killing himself. He was not eligible for work-release programs because he was waiting to be transported to Montezuma County, Schirard said

"We had no way to release him unless he posted bond," he said.

Eppich was being held on a $3,000 bail.

According to Durango Herald archives, Eppich was employed as a snowboard instructor at Hesperus Ski Area last winter. His father is a second cousin of Dave Eppich, assistant to the president for external affairs at Fort Lewis College.

Schirard said jail life may have contributed to any depression Eppich was feeling and pushed him to commit suicide.

The jail does medical screening of all inmates, he said.

"I don’t believe there were any (indications) of suicide," said Schirard. He said the suicide hit jail employees hard because "morale was already at the bottom" because the jail is so small and overcrowded.

A new jail could be designed to make it possible to observe all inmates all the time, Schirard said. The design of the current jail requires deputies to visit each cell to make inmate welfare checks.

The last time someone committed suicide at the La Plata County Jail was in the early 1980s when the jail had holding cells behind the La Plata County Courthouse, said Schirard.

There have been multiple suicide attempts but nothing successful since about 20 years ago, he said.