BOULDER, Colo.—The Boulder county coroner has ruled the death in a beautiful mountain area of former University of Colorado football star Tennyson McCarty a suicide.
“The cause of death is environmental exposure (cold) with a contributing condition of multiple blunt force injuries,” Coroner Tom Faure wrote, the Camera reported. Faure said state law prohibits him from releasing the information that led to his conclusion.
Family and friends never like to hear those words, and remain skeptical.
Eric McCarty, his brother, says no one will ever know what happened during the three days he was missing northeast of Peaceful Valley near the Peak to Peak Highway.
“It’s such a mystery,” he said. “I think it’s a very unusual circumstance, and sometimes you can’t fit things into a box. … (People in the Coroner’s Office), they’ve worked hard, but they can’t answer exactly what happened.”
Colorado has the eighth-highest rate of suicide in the nation. Several other Western states also have high rates.
Eric McCarty said there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs in his system and he didn’t to have any self-inflicted injuries.
He said the injuries his brother suffered, including a broken wrist and broken ribs, probably resulted from a fall from a rock outcropping.
“As I look at it, it’s very hard to understand. I don’t quite understand what happened,” he said. “If someone was to feel like they needed to take their life, this doesn’t fit that type of circumstance.”
Eric McCarty echoing the feelings of other family members, wondered whether his brother, a profoundly religious man, went to meet his maker.
“Maybe he just knew it was time to go, and because it doesn’t fit into something they normally understand, they label that a suicide,” Eric McCarty said.
Tennyson McCarty, 32, lettered as a tight end for Bill McCartney’s and Rick Neuheisel’s Buffs from 1994 to 1997 and played on Boulder High’s 1992 state championship team. He helped form a traveling magic and Christian ministry act after college.
