An open-space area near Estes Park’s Town Hall is closed until further notice after a falling rock killed a Michigan teenager on a church trip.
Audra Brownell, 17, of Sparta, Mich., was killed about 4 p.m. Thursday as she and other backpackers from Rockford Reformed Church were in the green space northeast of the downtown parking lot.
“The Police Department is interviewing numerous witnesses and (is) working around the clock to investigate the death,” said Kate Rusch, an Estes Park spokeswoman.
The Larimer County coroner’s office said an autopsy ruled the death an accident caused by multiple blunt-force trauma.
The green space is a grassy area with a creek running through it, Rusch said. A cliff, also part of the public parcel, rises above the open space.
The top of the park, where the rock outcropping comes to a peak, is an area known as Willow Knolls, Rusch said.
The town’s civil engineer is assessing the safety of the area, Rusch said.
Rusch couldn’t estimate the size of the rock or say whether the rock fell on its own or a person was somehow involved in dislodging it.
According to a tour schedule, the church group arrived in Estes Park on Monday and was to leave for home Friday morning.
Trisha VanStensel, a tour organizer, confirmed that Brownell was part of the youth group, but said the church had no further comment at this time.
Brownell’s family, reached by telephone in Michigan, declined comment.
“The community is devastated by this tragic incident and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim,” Estes Park Mayor Bill Pinkham said in a statement.
The town’s Police Department referred questions about the death to town officials.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
Staff writer Yesenia Robles contributed to this report.
