Megan Trussell's Parents Press for Transparency as State Reviews CU Boulder Student's Death
Story and Photos by Paige Miltenberger
Graphics by Andrew Fraeili
Vanessa Díaz and Joe Trussell stand outside the Colorado Capitol on Mar. 16, 2026, after the senate unanimously passed SB 26-120, “Missing Person Training & Higher Education Reporting,” spearheaded by Sen. Janice Marchman.
Vanessa Diaz nd 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 also 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 the 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.”
Megan Trussell at her Northfield High School graduation in 2024 | Photo Courtesy of Vanessa Díaz.
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.”
Megan practicing bass | Photo Courtesy of Vanessa Díaz.
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 one-of-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.
Footage provided by CUPD shows Megan Trussell on the evening of Feb. 9, 2025, near Folsom Field heading west on Colorado Avenue, before the video glitches. Near the end of the video, a figure can be seen walking north on the Buff Walk, though it has not been identified as Megan.
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.”
A security camera near Colorado Avenue and Folsom Field, next to a bus stop, captured footage of Megan Trussell on Feb. 9, 2025, as she walked west on Colorado Avenue.
“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.
Six University of Colorado cameras beyond the crosswalk could have captured Megan Trussell’s movements: 1) Department of Geological Sciences; 2) behind the Stadium Ticket Building; 3) northwest end of Franklin Field; 4) outside Folsom Field by Gate 13 and Building 2290; 5) entrance to the Sports Medicine and Performance Center; 6) in front of the Buffs Team Store..
Boulder High School cameras along the Boulder Creek path could have captured Megan Trussell’s movements: 1-3, on the main campus; 4-5, on Recht Field. Camera 5 is shown in both a wide shot and close up to illustrate how visible the creek path is from that location.
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
The 40-mile marker on Boulder Canyon Drive.
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 self-harm.
“This narrative, that she was this heartbroken, crazed, fragile 18-year-old, we believe that’s based on the fact that she wore baggy jeans and Smashing Pumpkins T-shirts and black eyeliner,” Trussell said. “That was her style. She dressed like that because she chose it. She loved the irony of it.”
Trussell said he believes investigators jumped to conclusions based on Megan’s appearance and age that do not reflect who his daughter was and the way she lived.
PHONE, PURSE, AND MISSING ITEMS DEEPEN FAMILY’S DOUBTS
The May 27, 2025, BCSO news release states that cellphone data indicated Megan traveled west toward Boulder Canyon Drive, where her phone’s last signal was recorded near the 40- mile marker. The phone stopped connecting to networks on Feb. 12.
Díaz said the FBI’s role was limited to analyzing cell phone data, which she said showed only that Megan’s phone was in the area, not where Megan was herself, or how fast she was moving.
She added, “The only thing they have proof of is that her phone was in that location,” and “it’s only phone pings,” not GPS.
The BCSO release also states that on March 2, 2025, Megan’s phone was traced to a resale kiosk at a Boulder grocery store and that it had been sold by an unhoused individual who reported receiving it from another unhoused man.
“Her phone, one of the most critical pieces of evidence in any missing person case, was not properly entered into the pawn system,” Díaz wrote in an Instagram post.
The press release continues that Megan’s purse was found on March 5, 2025, by a community member near the 39.6-mile marker of Highway 36 along the bike path.
In a Facebook post, Díaz shared images of the location where Megan’s crossbody purse was found several feet away, with its strap torn off. She also wrote in a separate post that Megan’s right shoe was missing from her body when she was discovered. The shoe has not been recovered to this day.
The culvert area near mile marker 40 on Boulder Canyon Drive, where Megan Trussell’s body was found Feb. 15, 2025. Accessing the site on foot required crossing Boulder Canyon Drive.
UNEXPLAINED INJURIES AND LACK OF FORENSIC TESTING
When Díaz received Megan’s autopsy report, she said it documented multiple injuries, including a missing left canine, a badly broken incisor, and bruises and abrasions across her body.
Díaz said those injuries were initially minimized, adding that her teeth “are not where they’re supposed to be. She has a gash across her face. She has bruising on her mouth.”
In a GoFundMe update, Díaz said she has been unable to obtain the official autopsy photos, X-rays, and internal images because she was told they would not be released out of respect for the deceased and over concerns they could be shared with the media.
Díaz also said investigators collected potential forensic evidence, including fingernail clippings, and completed a sexual assault evidence kit. However, this evidence was not sent in for DNA testing.
A family member wrote on the official Instagram, “Only toxicology and histology were ever sent for forensic analysis. Nothing else was tested: no swabs, no trace evidence, no clothing fibers, no DNA, no chemical confirmation of the ‘pill material.’”
“They did not investigate anything that didn’t reinforce their suicide [determination],” Díaz said. “Everything they sent in for testing was toxicology because that’s the only thing that they wanted to prove.”
In a GoFundMe update, Díaz wrote that while the coroner said Megan’s stomach was filled with pill material, toxicology found amphetamine in only 5% to 7% of that material, leaving 93% to 95% unidentified.
The family was later told by authorities they would have to pay for any additional testing themselves.
“We don’t have that kind of money,” Trussell said. “The state has these resources at their disposal. As citizens and taxpayers, we should not be having to do that. They should.”
CBI’S STATUTORY REVIEW
On Jan. 9, 2026, CBI announced their review of the case after Díaz and Trussell invoked a Colorado law that requires the agency to independently review deaths of Indigenous people ruled suicide or overdose under suspicious circumstances.
“I feel like it was written just for Megan,” Díaz said. “This information came at exactly the right time… I was starting to lose hope.”
The family said CBI’s lead investigator approached them with compassion, and Trussell said they were assured the review would not simply confirm earlier conclusions.
Díaz said the review does not reopen the case or shift jurisdiction away from BCSO. She said that CBI can make recommendations, but any additional steps concerning the case would still be up to BCSO.
Carrie Haverfield, senior communications specialist for BCSO, said the agency declined an interview request with the Denver VOICE: “As for any actions we may take, we are not going to speculate on the outcome of their review and let their process conclude before making any decisions.”
Díaz said she was told by the CBI review team that the review would not normally be public, but she stated the findings should be released if investigators identify problems with the case because “that’s why this law exists.”
She added that “we have to make sure we get this right” so the results do not return to the same agencies without accountability or transparency.
MEGAN’S CASE LEADS TO POSSIBLE NEW LEGISLATION
Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat, has worked alongside Megan’s parents since the beginning of the case and hopes their advocacy prompts a broader reckoning in Colorado over how missing college-aged people are treated.
Marchman has since co-sponsored SB 26-120 with Sen. Katie Wallace, another Longmont Democrat. The proposed legislation would create mandatory steps universities and law enforcement must follow when a student goes missing.
Vanessa Díaz and Joe Trussell stand outside the Colorado Capitol on Mar. 16, 2026. Since then, the House passed SB 26-120 on Apr. 27, 2026, and the bill is on its way to the governor.
“We cannot give Megan back to her family, but we can make sure no other family faces the same silence,” she said.
Marchman said the bill would set timelines and accountability structure for how these cases must be handled going forward.
WHAT PARENTS NEED TO KNOW
Public awareness remains essential. Díaz said she is shocked when people who have lived in Boulder their whole lives tell her they have not heard about Megan’s death.
Díaz added that they want the public to keep pressure on Boulder County and support fundraising efforts for legal and forensic testing expenses.
“Megan wasn’t a celebrity,” Trussell said. “She was just a cool kid going to Boulder, you know? Her story needs to be out there. I don’t want this to happen to another CU parent.”
“For families who find themselves in this situation or any situation that involves a crime with a loved one, don’t immediately have blind faith that the institutions are going to support you or do what they are allegedly mandated to do,” he said.
Díaz hopes other families will take a look at a tool that’s been helpful to them, called The Advocacy Blueprint, provided by Haley Gray Research.
“Reach out for help because there are people out there who can provide guidance in these situations,” Díaz said.
Tips can be submitted by calling or texting 678-636-9771 or by emailing TrussellTips@Vigilante-PR.com.