The Death of Dammion Heard: Disputed Evidence and Reopening Efforts

The death of Dammion Heard remains officially a suicide in the eyes of the Gunnison Police Department, but the 20-year-old Western State Colorado University wrestler’s family and much of the local community have never accepted that ruling. Heard disappeared from an off-campus party in the early hours of March 30, 2014, and was found hanging from a tree branch near the Cabin Creek trail three days later, with jumper cables around his neck. Conflicting witness accounts, a disputed eyewitness sighting, untested physical evidence, and contradictory toxicology results have kept the case in dispute for more than a decade.¹

The Night He Disappeared

Heard, a two-time Texas state wrestling champion from Fort Worth, was a freshman starter at 125 pounds on the Western State Mountaineer wrestling team.² On the night of Saturday, March 29, 2014, he attended a party at the Gunnison home of team captain Kyle Piatt.³

Witnesses told police Heard had been drinking and smoking marijuana, and text messages showed he was trying to obtain LSD. Partygoers described him as “bummed out” and “not acting normal,” and he texted a longtime friend that he was “a ****ed up person.”¹

Around midnight, Heard punched Anthony Rios, a track team member dating Heard’s ex-girlfriend, and injured his own hand on a missed swing. Piatt confronted him for starting a fight. Piatt’s account of what followed shifted between interviews: he told one officer he had Heard “up against the wall in the kitchen” and told another there was “no physical contact.” A witness, Morgan Lambert, told police she saw Piatt hold Heard in a headlock that she said was not tight enough to immobilize him.⁴

By about 1:00 a.m. on March 30, Heard was lying on the floor of a bedroom in the house, covered with a blanket. Two partygoers who arrived around 1:15 a.m. spoke with him for about seven minutes and described him as “sleepy” and “tipsy” but said he “seemed okay.” He rolled over and appeared to go to sleep. His final text message was sent at 12:53 a.m. No witness reported seeing him leave the house.⁴

How the Body Was Found

On April 2, 2014, a hiker found Heard’s body hanging from a tree branch near the Cabin Creek trail east of Gunnison.⁵ The autopsy estimated he had been dead since the early-morning hours of March 30, and his father had filed a missing-person report in the interim.⁶

Heard’s black 2004 Saturn SUV was parked nearby. The jumper cables used as a ligature were a detail police initially kept from the public. His cell phone battery had been removed, his hood was pulled over his head, his shoes were untied, and his pants were unzipped. Investigators found no identifiable fingerprints anywhere inside the SUV. No suicide note was recovered.⁴

What the Official Investigation Concluded

Over roughly six months, Gunnison police conducted at least 45 interviews and compiled a report of nearly 200 pages. The death certificate listed strangulation by hanging as the cause of death.¹ The final autopsy report, released in late July 2014, ruled the death a suicide.⁷

Detective Chris Danos said there were no defensive wounds on the body, only ligature marks around the neck, and that the absence of signs of a struggle was the primary basis for the suicide determination.⁴

In June 2014, Gunnison police asked the Denver Police Department for an independent assessment. Commander Matthew Murray reviewed scene photographs and cited 17 points he said were consistent with suicide, including that the body was found alone, there were no signs of a struggle, the noose was double-knotted, and the phone battery had been removed. Murray’s report stated that Heard’s car was “the only vehicle at the scene.”⁴

On October 21, 2014, the Gunnison Police Department officially closed the case and classified the death as noncriminal.¹

Evidence Still in Dispute

The Cabin Creek Eyewitness

Linda Nienhueser, the Gunnison County Finance Director, told police she drove past the Cabin Creek trail around 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 30, and saw two vehicles: Heard’s black Saturn and a white truck with a camper shell and a breast cancer awareness license plate. She also saw two bicycles locked to a fence post and two people on higher ground near some trees. She described one person in camouflage whose feet were pointed in “the wrong direction” and a second person squatting and staring at her through binoculars.⁷

Her account conflicted with the Denver reviewer’s statement that Heard’s car was the only vehicle at the scene.⁴ Police said they conducted a “lengthy canvas” for the white truck but never found a match. Danos suggested the area was popular with hikers and antler hunters and that the second figure could have been an illusion caused by shadows from rocks and snow. In a later interview, Nienhueser acknowledged she could not be certain another person was present.⁷

Contradictory Toxicology

State toxicology results showed the presence of LSD and marijuana but no alcohol, which surprised observers because multiple partygoers had described Heard as visibly drunk. An independent toxicology test arranged by the Heard family in Texas came back clean for all substances, directly contradicting the official results.⁷

The Untested Hair

An unidentified long blonde hair was found on Heard’s hand during the autopsy and is visible in photographs. Police never submitted it for DNA testing. Danos later said he could not collect it after the fact and argued that without evidence of a homicide, the hair lacked evidentiary value.⁷

The Jumper Cable Tip

That Heard was hanged with jumper cables was not publicly released by police. During a police interview on April 9, 2014, roommate Andrew Morris told officers he had heard rumors “from people in Pueblo, Colorado” that Heard had been beaten and hanged with jumper cables. Morris said his brother passed along the information from a man named “Noah.” Danos found the specificity of the tip noteworthy but said the trail to “Noah” went cold. He noted that by then the jumper cable detail was known to the Heard family and the county coroner, leaving open the possibility the information had leaked through those channels.⁴

Missing Fingerprints and Personal Items

The complete absence of identifiable fingerprints inside Heard’s own SUV has been a persistent point of suspicion. Gary Heard has also questioned the disappearance of cash and diamond stud earrings his son was known to wear, which were not recovered from the body or the vehicle.⁷

The Family’s Fight to Reopen the Case

Gary Heard has never accepted the suicide ruling. He has pointed out that his son had no documented history of depression or mental health disorders, that phone records suggested Heard had plans to meet someone the following morning, and that surveillance footage showed Heard filling his car with gas shortly before his death.⁸ He has called the circumstances “really fishy” and has suggested his son’s death may have resulted from an accidental choking that was then covered up.⁴

He commissioned the independent toxicology test, hired a private investigator, placed newspaper advertisements seeking information about the white truck, and ran license plate numbers from community tips, sharing his findings with police.⁷ In May 2015, the Gunnison Police Department released the physical evidence from the scene to Gary Heard, who has kept it sealed in a box in hopes that another agency will reopen the investigation.⁴

Public Doubt and the Podcast Investigation

A poll conducted by the Gunnison Country Times after the case was closed found that roughly 85 percent of respondents did not believe police were justified in ruling the death a suicide.³

In 2021, journalist Claire St. Amant released a 12-part investigative podcast called Final Days on Earth. St. Amant obtained the full case file, including the 187-page report and 47 recorded witness interviews that had never been made public, and used bank statements, cellphone data, and university ID card usage logs to build a detailed timeline. She conducted more than 35 original interviews.⁹

St. Amant reported that ID card records and vehicle movements suggested someone may have been using Heard’s credentials after his death. “Dead people don’t move cars, they don’t go to class, they don’t go to the cafeteria,” she said. “So who was doing these things?” She said the original investigation “skirted” key questions and that her reporting had identified new witnesses and provided “clear directions and avenues” for law enforcement should the case be reopened.⁵

Where the Case Stands

As of the most recent available reporting, the Gunnison Police Department’s suicide ruling stands and the case remains officially closed. The physical evidence sits in a sealed box with Gary Heard in Texas.

1
Denver Post. Gunnison Police Investigation Confirms Wrestlers Death Was Suicide
2
RMAC Sports. Western State Mourns Loss of Dammion Heard
3
CBS News. What Happened to Dammion Heard, Part 1
4
CBS News. What Happened to Dammion Heard, Part 3
5
Gunnison Country Times. Podcast Investigates Dammion Heard Death
6
Denver Post. Gunnison Wrestlers Suicide Under Investigation
7
CBS News. What Happened to Dammion Heard, Part 2
8
ABC News. Mystery Surrounds College Wrestlers Death
9
Dallas CultureMap. Claire St. Amant Final Days on Earth Podcast Dammion Heard