Police: Man jumped from feed mill
By Kevin O’Brien Editor’s note: The Tribune-Phonograph does not normally report on suicides, but due to the public nature of this death, it was decided that an article explaining the police investigation was warranted.
A man found dead on State Highway 13 in Colby on the morning of Aug. 25 appears to have committed suicide by jumping off the top of a nearby feed mill, according to incident reports from the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department.
Erick Valdez Navarro, 28, of Colby was found dead at about 7:30 a.m. by a pair of motorists who were headed north on STH 13. No one in the area reported seeing what happened, but with the help of a drone camera and a ladder truck, police officers from CAPD and the Clark County Sheriff’s Department were able to determine that Valdez Navarro likely killed himself by leaping from a height of about 100 feet.
Officers did not observe any fresh tire marks on the roadway that would indicate that the victim was struck by a vehicle, and his injuries were consistent with a fall, according to the reports. Police were drawn to the roof of the feed mill after a drone operated by a sheriff’s deputy picked up images of a jacket on a tower rising above the rest of the structure.
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Using the ladder truck from Central Fire and EMS, two officers were lifted above the roof of the feed mill and could see fresh footprints on a large piece of steel leading to a grain bin structure.
The officers were able to use ladders attached to the building to retrace Valdez Navarro’s path to a tower platform overlooking the highway.
“While looking down to STH 13 from this position, it was evident that Erick jumped from the highest point,” one of the officers wrote in his report.
Several of the victim’s belongings were found on the top of the structure, including a windbreaker jacket containing two forms of photo identification. A fingerprint scanner was also used to confirm Valdez Navarro’s identity.
According to Valdez Navarro’s estranged wife, he had been struggling with drug problems and was acting strangely the day before his death. She said he had previously gone to rehab, but when she saw him on that Saturday, she described his eyes as “all over the place” and “gone.” When asked by officers if her husband had ever made any suicidal comments, she said not specifically, but Valdez Navarro did engage in self-harm and was sometimes delusional and paranoid, according to the reports. She said they talked for a couple hours the day before his death, but she did not receive any calls or text messages from him that night or the following morning.
Valdez Navarro’s body was taken to the medical examiner’s office in Ramsay County, Minn. for an autopsy, and after examining his wounds, the doctor involved said his death was “presumptively caused by multiple injuries from a high fall.”
Online court records indicate that Valdez Navarro had been charged in 2022 with misdemeanor domestic abuse and possession of cocaine, and was out on bond with the condition that he have no contact with his estranged wife.
Anyone having suicidal thoughts is encouraged to call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. The service is available 24 hours a day.
