ANESSA DÍAZ and Joe Trussell are still searching for answers to their 18-year-old daughter Megan Díaz Trussell’s death, more than a year after the University of Colorado Boulder freshman died. “There’s been a huge dismissal of who Megan was as a person. They didn’t ask us what she was like or what might have happened to her,” Díaz said. “It was really Boulder County [Sheriff’s Office] and CU [that] started this narrative. When we first got up there, they were pretty dismissive about her being missing. I knew in my heart something was very wrong.” Megan’s parents do not agree with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office’s determination of suicide as the cause of their daughter’s death and, according to Díaz, there were concerns about how the case was handled from the beginning. Díaz and Trussell hired a private investigator who identified unexplored surveillance cameras and is helping them gather records and documents from their original holders. As they pursued their own independent investigation, Díaz and Trussell became the first people in Colorado to invoke a state law requiring the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to independently review Megan’s death under a provision for certain Indigenous deaths ruled suicide or overdose under suspicious circumstances. For Megan’s parents, the announcement marked both a step forward and a reminder of what remains unresolved. THE CASE TIMELINE In the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) May 27, 2025 news release, “Conclusion of Investigation into the Death of Megan Trussell,” the department reported that Megan was last seen leaving the CU Boulder campus on the night of Feb. 9, 2025. She was reported missing three days later, and her body was discovered near the 40-mile marker on Boulder Canyon Drive on Feb. 15. The release also concluded that Megan died by suicide “as a result of the toxic effects of amphetamine, a key ingredient in Adderall, with hypothermia as a contributing factor.” Díaz said a close friend who works for CBI advised her on Feb. 12 to file a missing-person report with the Boulder Police Department rather than CU. She said she wishes she had gone to the Boulder police first because once CU took the report, “they kept their narrative” and acted as “gatekeepers for information.” Díaz said investigators initially struggled to identify Megan on camera. “They started looking for video of her leaving campus, and they couldn’t find her,” Diaz said. “You know why? Because they didn’t ask us for a recent picture. She had changed her hair color from blue to red.” Above all, they want people to know their daughter. “They never asked any questions about her…They basically turned her into a statistic — a statistic that CU did not want to have on their books,” Diaz said. ‘BRILLIANT AND BEAUTIFUL’ Megan was more than a typical freshman film major at CU Boulder. Her parents described her passion for music, her humor, and her creativity. They said she had a way of making people feel seen. Her father called Megan hilarious. “She was happy, she was digging college, and really liked her classes,” he said. “She was really starting to come into her own.” Megan was a bass player and a concertgoer. She dreamed of joining a band. Diaz said that Megan kept a 15-page list of prospective band names, including “Taco Bell Breakdown” and “Copyright Infringement,” underscoring her offbeat humor. When her father pressed her about where she wanted to go to college, Megan told him, “I don’t really care where I go. The only reason I’m going to college is that there might be bands that need bass players.” Trussell said Megan loved watching movies from the comfort of her bed. She loved a wide range of films, including everything from “The Birdcage” to “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.” Megan loved the movie so much that Díaz made her a oneof-a-kind Ramona Flower’s purse, which was later found torn and separated from the strap along a bike path, approximately 5 miles from the location her body was discovered. Above all, Díaz said Megan was “brilliant and beautiful, and she made everybody feel like they were her best friend.” Her parents said their goal remains unchanged. “Number one, Megan didn’t kill herself, and her name needs to be cleared,” Trussell said. “Number two, somebody else is responsible, and I don’t want this to happen to another family.” THE MISSING INDIGENOUS PERSON ALERT Díaz requested that CU issue a Missing Indigenous Person Alert on Feb. 12, 2025, but she believes her request was not handled promptly. “The law says it’s supposed to do that within eight hours,” Díaz said. “They did not do that. They didn’t submit it until the 14th, and that was after they had searched.” Díaz said she and Megan were not affiliated with a tribe, but their family carries Navajo and Apache lineage and can trace their heritage back seven generations, with documented roots stretching to the 18th century in what is now Colorado and New Mexico. When asked for an interview about CU Boulder’s role during the initial missing-person period in February 2025, CU spokesperson Nicole Cousins Mueksch referred Denver VOICE to previous University of Colorado Police Department statements. CUPD said in a Feb. 18, 2025 update that Megan was first reported missing on the afternoon of Wednesday, Feb. 12. In a Feb. 14 update, the department said it “released information as soon as Megan’s missing status was confirmed, and it was determined releasing such information would be helpful in the search.” The Boulder Daily Camera later reported that CBI issued the Missing Indigenous Person Alert at 9:31 p.m. on Feb. 14. The newspaper quoted CBI Strategic Communications Director Rob Low as saying such alerts are issued only when requested by law enforcement and only when the missing person is Indigenous. When reached for comment, Low said CBI doesn’t grant interviews regarding pending investigations or case reviews. FAMILY CHALLENGES CLAIM THAT MEGAN LEFT CAMPUS Díaz and Trussell said they have major unanswered questions involving surveillance footage from CUPD. According to the May 27, 2025, BCSO news release, Megan was last seen leaving the CU Boulder campus on the night of Feb. 9, 2025. She left her dorm at 9:36 p.m. and was seen walking alone on campus. The release also states, “the last visual confirmation came from security footage at 9:52 p.m.” “When they say that she was last seen leaving campus, that is absolutely not true,” Díaz said. “The only video footage they’ve provided is right next to Folsom Field. That’s still in the middle of campus.” Díaz explained that the family’s private investigator identified six additional cameras that should have captured Megan’s movements. Trussell said CUPD told them some cameras were not working. He also said CUPD downplayed the extent of camera coverage beyond campus, including near Boulder High School, where he said the family’s private investigator observed multiple cameras that may have captured footage of Megan. Since February, the family has been pursuing records requests for additional campus CCTV footage under the Colorado Open Records Act. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LOCATION WHERE MEGAN’S BODY WAS DISCOVERED Megan’s body was found Feb. 15, 2025, near mile marker 40 on Boulder Canyon Drive. In a Feb. 15, 2025, update, BCSO said the body was found in “hard-to-reach terrain,” requiring “a technical evacuation including the need to rappel.” The terrain is part of what troubles the family. “To get to the spot that she was found at, she would have had to hustle there,” Díaz said. “She would have had to know where she was going.” Díaz believes it is unlikely that Megan would have known about the spot. Additionally, Díaz said two Boulder Emergency Squad searchers were near the culvert area on Feb. 13, 2025, two days before Megan’s body was found there, and she questioned how neither reported seeing her. She said only one of the two searchers was interviewed by BCSO, while the other was not made available to the family’s private investigator without a subpoena, which Díaz said leaves a potentially important account unexplored. Trussell said FBI phone analysis pointed searchers to the culvert area by the morning of Feb. 13, and that it remained a primary search area for two days involving multiple agencies, drones, and dogs. “They didn’t find her body because we believe it wasn’t there,” he said. Trussell also said investigators failed to consider that Megan, according to him, had no history of suicidal thoughts or selfharm. Megan Trussell’s parents described their daughter’s passion for music, humor, and creativity, and said she had a way of making people feel seen. | Photo courtesy of Vannessa Díaz 10 NEWS
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