(U-WIRE) CHENEY, Wash. – The 9-1-1 tapes involving the dragging death of an Eastern Washington University student were released by authorities.
Test results were also released that showed Jerid Sturman-Camyn’s blood alcohol count was 0.23 on the night of his death.
While out on a camping trip, Sturman-Camyn was dragged to death by a pickup truck driven by 17-year-old Justin Sinn Nov. 24 after his father, Wendell Sinn Jr. had placed a rope around the EWU student’s neck and then attached it to a trailer hitch.
Authorities said he then told his son to drive off in the pickup truck, but the son said he was unaware that he was dragging Sturman-Camyn behind him because it was dark out and the truck had a canopy that obscured his view.
Authorities first received a call from Justin Sinn, the son/driver, who told a 9-1-1 dispatcher that he was being chased by someone wielding an ax.
Sinn: I’m being chased right now.
Dispatcher: What’s your location?
Sinn: He wouldn’t leave our camp.
Dispatcher: What’s your location sir?
Sinn: And they came at my dad with an ax and it was…
Dispatcher: Where are you at, sir?
Other witnesses then called 9-1-1 to report that a pickup was dragging somebody behind it. Dispatchers quickly connected the two reports.
Dispatcher: Hello, sir?
Sinn: Yes?
Dispatcher: Are you dragging someone behind your pickup truck?
Sinn: Uh, not that I know of… I might be.
Dispatcher: You might be? Can you see anyone back there?
Sinn: Uh…no.
Deputies found the body of Sturman-Camyn behind the pickup truck. The Sheriff’s Department said that he had been dragged for nearly 13 miles before the truck stopped. He had to be identified through his finger prints.
Other witnesses from the campsite where the incident took place told dispatchers that Sturman-Camyn was out of control.
“He got all drunk and then he was going on a ‘roid rage,” Kurt Cuzzotto said in a call to 9-1-1. “He grabbed a gun, stuck it to his head and kept saying ‘Shoot me, shoot me.’ So we put a rope around him and drug him out of camp. There was just a blood streak all over the road.”
Wendell Sinn Jr., 45, pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering Sturman-Camyn. Sinn is facing charges of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. His trial is set to start on March 31.
If Sinn Jr. is convicted of first-degree manslaughter, then he could be sentenced from six to eight years.
The suspect is free on $100,000 bail, and his son, who drove the truck, was not charged.