Persistent Parents Get Probe Into Son’s Death Restarted Private Investigator Turns Up Irregularities In Alleged Suicide

One hundred forty days.

Mike Struckman knows exactly how long it has been since his 19-year-old son died. That’s also how long Struckman says he and his wife, Jody, have been waiting for the truth about the cause of their only son’s death.

Nicholas “Nick” Struckman’s death officially has been classified as a suicide. A Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department investigation determined the 1995 Lakeland High School graduate shot himself June 13 after drinking heavily. The coroner ruled it a suicide.

His parents refuse to believe that scenario. They have criticized sheriff’s detectives and the coroner for rushing to judgment, claiming their conclusions were based on a shoddy Friday night investigation.

Too many questions were left unanswered to ease the family’s suspicions that their son’s girlfriend may have been involved in his death, the Struckmans said.

“We need to know the truth, and we need people to be treated with respect,” Jody Struckman said. “Nicky deserves that.”

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas has reopened the investigation at the family’s urging. He said it’s too soon to tell whether his findings will differ from the Sheriff’s Department.

“We’ve got our investigator working on it just to make sure there’s no stone unturned on this,” Douglas said. “We will go wherever the evidence leads us.”

Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said he sympathizes with the Struckmans, but detectives found no evidence to support the family’s claims.

Detectives concluded Nick Struckman had killed himself, but they were unable to determine whether the shooting was accidental or intentional, according to sheriff’s reports. They suspect he was distraught over an arrest on alcohol and drug charges a couple of days before his death, the thought of his parents finding out and a fight he had had with his girlfriend.

Sgt. Jerry Wiedenhoff’s report noted residue on Nick Struckman’s left index finger that was believed to be a powder burn. The nature of his injury - a gunshot wound to the mouth - the proximity of the gun to his body, a mostly empty bottle of whiskey found in the refrigerator and statements made by his girlfriend also pointed to suicide, according to the report.

Nick Struckman’s 16-year-old girlfriend, the only other person in the house when the shooting occurred, told detectives the two had argued moments before his death. Nick Struckman was furious because she had called his parents to tell them about his drinking problem, Wiedenhoff’s report said.

The Struckmans dismissed those findings, saying the investigation was conducted carelessly. Their criticisms include failures by the coroner and deputies to: test Nick Struckman’s blood alcohol level, test the gun found in his room, question their son’s girlfriend in a timely fashion, photograph his girlfriend to document her appearance the night of the shooting, find the empty bullet shell casing before the body was removed.

“They had no concern when they came to our house,” Mike Struckman said. “It may be just a body to them, but it’s not to us.”

Wolfinger said deputies treated the shooting as a crime until Coroner Robert West ruled it a suicide two hours after it was reported. Tests are not typically conducted on a weapon once the coroner has ruled the death a suicide.

West could not be reached for comment.

The Struckmans said they began to question the findings after their son’s funeral and hired a private investigator.

Paul Morton said his investigation pointed out inconsistencies in the girl’s account of the shooting, which she allegedly talked freely about to friends, and said she should have been investigated as a suspect.

Also suspicious to the Struckmans were reports from neighbors and sheriff’s deputies who came to the house that the girl repeatedly screamed, “I killed him!” Nick Struckman had kicked her out the night of his death, Morton said.

“These things bother me being a former law enforcement officer, criminal investigator,” said Morton, who has nearly 30 years of local, state and federal law enforcement experience. “You just don’t take things for granted in a death scene investigation. Nothing can be assumed.”

Detectives, who interviewed the girl 12 days after Nick Struckman’s death, attributed her statements to grief and guilt caused by her boyfriend’s death, and determined there was no evidence of a crime.

The Struckmans say they will accept whatever the prosecutor’s investigation finds, provided it is backed by a thorough investigation.

“All we wanted was the truth,” Jody Struckman said.

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