Laramie County Man Arrested For Murder In 2017 Death Of Burns Man
The Weld County Colorado Sheriff's Office has announced the first-degree murder arrest of a Laramie County man earlier this month in connection with the 2017 death of a Burns man whose body was found in Colorado.
That's according to a post on the Weld County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. According to the post, the case started on May 18, 2017 when deputies were called to a report of a possible fatal traffic accident near Hereford.
The initial report indicated that it appeared that a truck driver had been working on his rig when the vehicle had apparently moved, running over the driver, who was declared dead at the scene.
But the post says investigators soon found that the victim, 49-year-old Nathan Combs of Burns, had in fact died of gunshot wounds that were not self-inflicted.
The post says that while no one was immediately arrested in connection with the death, investigators continued working the case over the last few years, interviewing people and following up on leads. The investigation eventually led detectives to focus on Mark Dean Switzer, a 71-year-old Laramie County man.
The agency got a search warrant for a home in Carpenter, getting assistance from the Laramie County Sheriff's Office in executing the warrant. The post says several firearms and some ammunition were found in the search.
Lab analysis of the evidence led to Switzer's arrest on March 9 on charges of Murder in the First Degree. If convicted, Switzer faces a mandatory sentence of life without parole. Switzer had been held in the Laramie County jail as of last week, but it's not immediately clear whether he has been extradited to Colorado.