The man whose friends are accused of loading his body into the back seat of a car, before a night out in Denver, died accidentally of a drug overdose, the coroner’s office said Friday.
Jeffery Jarrett died of a mixed drug intoxication, according to an announcement by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.
The ruling indicates that Jarrett’s friends’ decision to tote him around Denver and Glendale played no role in his death.
Robert Jeffery Young, 43, and Mark Rubinson, 25, are both charged with abusing a corpse, identity theft and criminal impersonation. The two are accused of loading Jarrett’s body into Rubinson’s Lincoln Navigator the night of Aug. 27, and driving him to various stops around Denver while they used his ATM card.
Rubinson was arrested in Boulder on Wednesday, after he failed to appear at his Denver court hearing on Tuesday.
Young’s arraignment hearing was scheduled for Thursday, but his attorney was granted an extension to Nov. 3, pending the results of the autopsy, The Associated Press reported.
On Thursday, Young told local television stations that he thought Jarrett was drunk, not dead, when he put him in the back of the car.
