Anthony E. Mackey was 84 when he died at his Larimer County home on August 12, 1991. He had been in a fragile state for about five months after a fall that caused significant blunt trauma to his central nervous system, leaving him bedridden with paralysis, aphasia, and loss of bladder and bowel control. His niece, Darlene Goddard, and her college‑aged son, Kristopher Koetteng, were caring for him in the residence.

An autopsy was performed to document trauma from the earlier fall and revealed a fractured hyoid bone and fresh bruising of the neck muscles consistent with recent manual strangulation. That finding reclassified the death as a homicide. The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office lists the case as open and unsolved; no arrests or publicly identified suspects have been announced.