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BoCo Coroner Reaffirms Trussell Death Ruling; Colorado Joins Suit Challenging Immigrant Rules Changes Jack Armstrong
BoCo Coroner Reaffirms Trussell Death Ruling
The Boulder County Coroner’s Office has reaffirmed its finding that a CU-Boulder student died by suicide earlier this year.
Eighteen-year-old Megan Trussell went missing on February 9th and her body was found in Boulder Canyon on February 15th, in what was described as “hard to reach” terrain.
The autopsy report, first released in May, concluded that she died from the toxic effects of Adderall, the primary ingredient of the amphetamine found in her system, according to the Daily Camera. Exposure to cold temperatures contributed to her death, and ruled it a suicide.
Her mother has rejected that conclusion all along. Vanessa Diaz believes her daughter was in a struggle before she died, and in support of that, said her purse was ripped and she was missing a shoe. She said that Megan Trussell was happy, and not suicidal.
But in the updated autopsy report, the coroner reaffirmed its conclusion that Megan Trussell died by suicide.
Vanessa Diaz has not commented publicly on the updated report.
Colorado Joins Suit Challenging Immigrant Rules Changes
Colorado has joined a new lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging new rules that would bar undocumented immigrants and some visa holders from federal programs that provide early childhood education, health care, and other critical services.
The suit is being led by New York Attorney General Letitia James. It alleges that the
administration ignored proper procedures in establishing the rules. Chalkbeat reports that the suit also argues that they misinterpret federal welfare law, and put excessive burdens on local programs.
Colorado Attorney General Files Complaint Against Mesa County Sheriff
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has also filed a civil complaint against a Mesa County Sheriff’s Deputy who played a role in the arrest of a Utah college student last month
At a news conference yesterday, Weiser alleged Deputy Alexander Zwinck violated the law when he shared the personal information of Caroline Dias Goncalves in a signal group chat while conducting a traffic stop. Zwinck had been communicating with Federal agents while conducting the stop and stalled Dias Goncalves in his squad car, eventually leading to her arrest.
Dias Goncalves was released from the Aurora GEO Detention Facility on June 20th on bail – two weeks after her arrest.
According to the Denver Post, Zwinck had been communicating in a signal chat made up of multiple different local and federal officers. Weiser’s office is launching a larger pattern-and-practice investigation into chat to see if other state departments have engaged in federal immigration enforcement.
The attorney general’s complaint against Zwinck claims that he broke state laws that limit cooperation between local and federal immigration authorities. According to the Denver Post, Colorado law prohibits local law enforcement agencies from engaging in civil immigration enforcement.
The Post also noted that this is a civil complaint, and not a criminal offense. Zwinck has the right to contest the allegations and receive a court order prohibiting his assisting federal agents. Zwinck may also admit to the law violation and volunteer to stop assisting ICE agents.
New Influx of Colorado Business Startups
According to Secretary of State data, more than fifty-one thousand Coloradans between April and June of this year have filed to start a business. Filings for new businesses were low last year, but picked up between the second quarter of 2024 and 2025.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold attributed the new filings as a reaction to new national economic policy, including tariffs and layoffs forced by budget cuts. Experts from the University of Colorado are calling the new jump in business filings a rebounder.
CU Boulder researcher Brian Lewandowski told the Colorado Sun, “ do call it a rebound because when we were looking at the same data a year ago, we were talking about a 22% decrease in filings. This is quite a jump.”
In a news conference Monday, Secretary of State Griswold shared that the new business filings doesn’t necessarily indicate a rise in prosperity. Griswold can be quoted as saying, “Oftentimes it indicates an unknown future, or a little bit more instability than prior (period) for the economy in general.”
Continued Coverage of Five Western Colorado Wildfires
Fire officials are predicting that it won’t be until August, at the earliest, before five Western Colorado wildfires are all contained.
The fires have burned more than twenty-five thousand acres since they began. Four of them were started by lightning on July 10th. The fifth fire began in Utah and later crossed into Colorado. Most of that one is still in Utah, according to the Fort Collins Coloradan, and its cause is under investigation.
CSU Study: Trees Choke On Smoke
Meanwhile, researchers say that smoke from wildfires can have much the same effect on plants as it does on humans.
That’s a finding of two Colorado State University scientists. They were studying plants and the organic compounds they emit, when smoke from a wildfire drifted over their study area. They were surprised to find that the smoke caused their study trees to stop taking in the carbon dioxide they need to grow. It was as if, the researchers say, the trees were holding their breath.
One of the researchers told the Colorado Sun that their findings suggest a need to better understand how plants will respond not just to wildfires, but to climate change.
