SPOKANE — The bizarre story of a college student who died when he was dragged 13 miles behind a pickup truck by a rope around his neck has numerous gaps in logic, Pend Oreille County Deputy Prosecutor Tony Koures said Wednesday.
Statements that the teenage truck driver was not aware he was dragging 20-year-old Jerid S. Sturman-Camyn that far defy belief, Koures said.
“There is more to this story than what is out there,” Koures said, adding he is continuing to investigate as he prepares court documents for criminal charges.
According to witnesses, Sturman-Camyn, a martial arts enthusiast, became violent and out of control at a northeastern Washington hunting camp late Saturday and had to be restrained with a rope.
Pend Oreille County sheriff’s Sgt. Alan Botzheim said witnesses reported the victim was drinking heavily with his father, Jerry “Scott” Camyn, when the two engaged in a playful fight that got out of hand at the camp near Ione, about 75 miles north of Spokane.
Witnesses told authorities that Sturman-Camyn grabbed an ax and began threatening the others.
Investigators allege that Wendell C. Sinn Jr., 45, of Newman Lake, placed a noose around the victim’s neck when he was distracted, and attached the rope to the trailer hitch of the truck.
Sinn had told his son, 17-year-old Justin Daniel Sinn, to get in the truck and prepare to leave, authorities said. Justin Sinn apparently didn’t know he was dragging Sturman-Camyn by the neck when his father told him to drive away, Sheriff Jerry Weeks has said.
But Koures said that made no sense, because the youth presumably saw Sturman-Camyn being roped, and should have seen the victim knock Wendell Sinn down when the truck sped away.
“I think the kid was supposed to stop and he panicked,” Koures said.
Wendell Sinn Jr. was arrested for investigation of second-degree murder or first-degree manslaughter.
Koures said he plans to charge Wendell Sinn Jr., who is free on $100,000 bail, with second-degree murder and, as an alternative, first-degree manslaughter.
The elder Sinn’s lawyer, John Nollette, agreed that the whole story is not yet known, but said that when it is it will show his client acted in self-defense and to protect the others at the campsite.
“He ought to refrain from statements until he gets the facts,” Nollette said of the deputy prosecutor. “I think there is a logical explanation for what occurred here.”
Justin Sinn was not arrested and no charges have been filed against him.
Sturman-Camyn was dragged nearly 13 miles before the truck stopped near the Kalispel Indian Reservation. Koures said the body was dismembered during the dragging.
The encounter involved two groups from Spokane Valley and the Newman Lake area who were hunting deer. The groups, camped about two miles apart, consisted of four people each — two father-and-son teams, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported Wednesday.
Jerry Camyn and his son, Jerid, were camped with Kelly Cuzzetto and his son, 17-year-old Kurt Cuzzetto. The Sinns were camped with Kerry Torske and his son, Dillon, the newspaper said.
An exchange of text messages between Kurt Cuzzetto and Justin Sinn prompted everyone in the Camyn-Cuzzetto camp to go to the Sinn-Torske camp for a visit, the newspaper said.
Camyn and his son began wrestling, at first in fun but later more seriously.
Eventually, Wendell Sinn fired a rifle in an effort to separate the combatants, the newspaper reported. But Sturman-Camyn became more confrontational, witnesses told investigators.
“We’ll drag you out of here,” Sinn allegedly told Sturman-Camyn, according to the newspaper.
Sturman-Camyn reportedly responded: “I’ll take that rope and choke you with it.”
Authorities said Wendell Sinn slipped a noose around Sturman-Camyn’s neck when members of Sturman-Camyn’s group went to their all-terrain vehicles and he turned his back to see what they were doing.
Justin Sinn drove out of the camp, and eventually called 911 on his cell phone about 11:35 p.m. Saturday to report he had been chased by someone with an ax. Kurt Cuzzetto called 911 about 11:40 p.m. to report someone was being dragged.
Relatives of Jerid Sturman-Camyn issued a statement Tuesday saying they hope justice will be done for the “big-hearted kid” who had five younger brothers and sisters.
“No one deserves what happened to Jerid,” the statement said. “And we expect justice for the inhumane treatment that he had to endure.”
An autopsy Monday showed Sturman-Camyn died of strangulation and from being dragged over graveled and roughly paved roads.
Sturman-Camyn, who previously attended Washington State University, was attending Eastern Washington University in Cheney. He had also been training at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu club of Spokane for about eight months.
He was on the football and wrestling teams at Klahowya Secondary School in Silverdale, west of Seattle, finishing second in the Class AA high school state wrestling tournament in the 189-pound weight class as a senior in 2005.
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