Megan Trussell Case Explained: Colorado Teen’s Mysterious Death Spurs State Review

One year ago, eighteen-year-old Megan Trussell was found dead in Boulder.

No one had seen or heard from the University of Colorado freshman in six days by the time park rangers discovered her body on February 15, 2025, on a rocky slope above Boulder Canyon Drive. She was covered in a thin layer of snow. Her purse, cell phone and a single shoe were missing. A mass of pill material the size of a softball was later found inside her stomach.

Investigators ruled the death a suicide. As the report goes, surveillance footage shows Trussell walking off campus alone on the night of February 9, shortly after getting into a fight with her roommate and having her boyfriend break up with her. Her cause of death was the toxic effects of amphetamine, a key ingredient in Adderall, with hypothermia as a contributing factor, according to the Boulder County Coroner’s Office.

But Trussell’s family does not accept that version of events. They believe their daughter may have been killed, and that her investigation was mishandled.

Parents Vanessa Diaz and Joe Trussell have spent the last twelve months pushing for a closer look at Trussell’s case. They started a petition to reopen the investigation, raised money to hire a private investigator, connected with state Senator Janice Marchman to advocate on their behalf, and even distributed hundreds of care packages to the local homeless population in hopes of gathering information about what may have happened to their daughter. Along the way, their efforts attracted national media attention and became a focus of true crime podcasters.

The persistence paid off. On January 9, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation accepted the parents’ request to conduct a statutory case review into Trussell’s death.

“The original investigation left critical questions unanswered,” Diaz said in a statement on February 9. “The timeline doesn’t hold, records are missing or inconsistent and the conclusions reached early on were not supported by the full evidence. Megan’s death deserves an independent examination.”

As Coloradans await the results of the state review, here’s a rundown of the case so far:

Trussell had ADHD and an Adderall prescription. Multiple empty pill bottles were found in her room and another was later found in her purse, according to law enforcement.

“We have found no evidence to suggest that Megan was physically harmed or killed by another person,” the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said in a release on May 27.

However, Trussell’s parents believe someone may have forced their daughter to take the pills. They have questioned other injuries noted in the autopsy, including chipped teeth and bruises, suggesting that Trussell sustained the injuries during an attack, perhaps by someone who stole her purse and phone, which were missing from her body.

The coroner’s office said Trussell’s injuries did not contribute to her death and could be consistent with a fall, as Trussell’s body was found about twenty feet down a steep, rocky slope.

Three different independent forensic pathologists told People magazine and Boulder Reporting Lab that they agreed with Boulder County’s suicide determination after reviewing the autopsy records; “Rarely can you force-feed someone that many pills,” Dr. Priya Banerjee told People in September.

The mass of pill material found in Trussell’s stomach was not initially tested by the coroner’s office. Officials agreed to test the mass only after pressure from the family and broader community.

It was Trussell’s family, not investigators, who located the missing cell phone. According to a 9News report, a friend of Trussell’s mother spent weeks asking members of Boulder’s homeless community what they would do if they found a phone, learning that they may try to sell it at an ecoATM kiosk. Diaz filed a missing phone claim with ecoATM and located it within days, after investigators had told her the phone was probably lost in the elements.

Their discovery of the phone led to the arrest of fifty-year-old Elliot Michael Beafore, a homeless man who’d sold the phone to the kiosk. He faces charges of theft and false declaration to a pawnbroker. According to the sheriff’s office, Beafore claimed to have gotten the phone from another homeless individual; investigators do not believe that either of them had any direct contact with Trussell.

Trussell’s purse was discovered by a community member on March 5 while biking miles away from where her body was discovered. Diaz said the purse was ripped, contributing to her theory that her daughter was attacked and robbed. Trussell’s missing shoe was never located.

Investigators have pointed to digital evidence to support their conclusion that Trussell committed suicide.

Surveillance footage shows Trussell leaving her dorm at 9:36 p.m. on February 9 and walking alone on campus before going out of the range of cameras at 9:52 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office. Cell phone pings then indicated that she walked toward Boulder Canyon Drive; her phone’s last signal was recorded near the 40-mile marker where her body was found, according to the sheriff’s office. The phone stopped connecting to networks on February 12, three days after she was last seen, suggesting it could have been taken from the scene long after her death.

Family and friends have also pointed out that Trussell disliked the cold, hiking and the dark, questioning why she would end her life in a manner that is so out of character.

However, Trussell may have been in a particularly distressed state leading up to her death. On the night of February 9, shortly before she went missing, Trussell got into an argument with her roommate. The roommate told People that she was upset after walking in on Trussell and Trussell’s boyfriend being intimate in their shared dorm. The roommate then left and went to work.

Trussell and her boyfriend subsequently got into an argument about the situation. The argument resulted in the boyfriend ending their relationship and blocking Trussell on his phone, according to law enforcement reports.

Neither the roommate nor the boyfriend have been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.

The roommate told People that Trussell had talked about suicide in the past, though her family disputes that. Trussell’s sister told investigators that they had discussed suicidal ideation but Trussell expressed that she wouldn’t do that, according to law enforcement reports.

The reports also indicate that Trussell had dealt with some issues regarding her grades and her parents’ divorce two years prior.

Despite securing the review, Trussell’s family shared continued concern in a statement on January 9.

“Our experience to date has left us cautious. We are deeply concerned that this review could simply re-examine existing police and coroner reports without addressing the serious discrepancies and, frankly, lack of investigation that have persisted since the beginning. We are asking for a meaningful, independent review — not just a box check.”

In a statement, the CBI specified that it is reviewing, not re-investigating, the case. The sheriff’s office and coroner’s office have both expressed support for the review.

“We recognize the concerns this case has raised in our community and believe transparency is essential to public trust,” Sheriff Curtis Johnson said in a statement. “We welcome this independent review and stand by the thoroughness and outcome of our investigation.”