Undetermined.
It’s a word that succinctly describes the status of the investigation into the death of Betty Halverstadt, a woman who fell 27 feet from a railroad overpass southwest of Winfield more than five months ago.
And it’s the word used in her final autopsy report ? which Cowley County Sheriff’s investigators received last week ? to describe the manner of her death.
Cowley County undersheriff Bill Mueller says new information is scarce and acknowledges leads in the investigation into her death have all but dried up.
But, he hesitates when asked if the case is open ended, and balks just the same when asked if Halverstadt’s death was an accident. It’s not entirely unthinkable, Mueller says, that someone, someday may come forward with evidence or information that reveals the 42-year-old woman’s fall was no accident.
Not a likely scenario, he says, but not an impossible one either.
Certainly a reasonable person could casually view the facts of the case and find the elements of a freak accident:
Halverstadt had car trouble Jan. 31 and stopped along U.S. Highway 77 southwest of Winfield, about a mile from the bridge where she fell. It was sometime after midnight and she was returning to town after a night of gambling and drinking at casinos in Oklahoma.
Eventually she decided to walk, local trackers have confirmed that. It was dark, and, according to the autopsy report, Halverstadt’s blood alcohol level was just under twice the legal limit allowable for driving.
It’s plausible to think Halverstadt began walking and stopped at the bridge to rest. Maybe she hopped up on the rail to take a break, was impaired by the alcohol, and fell. Perhaps a semi truck whizzed by and set her off balance and over the bridge.
Maybe that happened, Mueller says, but even though investigators have considered those possibilities, it’s more speculation than fact.
Nearly half a year later, after chasing down numerous leads and disproving just about any and all rumors, the only thing Mueller can say definitively about the case is something he said from the start: Nothing authorities have learned during the investigation of the case points to foul play.
"We have not yet been able to determine, conclusively, the nature of her death," he says. "At the same time we’ve found no evidence of any criminal activity related to her death."
Mueller explains the difference in manner of death as opposed to cause of death. The autopsy confirms that the cause of death was a blow to the neck, back and skull that occurred as Halverstadt hit the ground. Manner of death speaks more to the nature of how the injuries occurred. Natural causes, accident, homicide and suicide are options that can be listed as a manner of death.
For Halverstadt the manner of death in the autopsy report reads: Undetermined.
DOUBT LINGERS
Nothing that investigators have turned up so far has been enough to quiet speculation about how exactly it is that Halverstadt fell from the overpass. Friends and family have expressed doubt ? both to investigators and to NewsCow ? that Halverstadt’s death was an accident.
Mueller acknowledges the family and even investigators hold "lingering doubts" about what exactly happened that night out on the highway. Speculation continues to be fueled by a handful of factors that have raised the suspicions of those who knew Halverstadt.
Among those suspicions is the fact that Halverstadt was the alleged victim of a sexual assault said to have occurred in Winfield in July 2008. Despite her death, a suspect, Gregory D. Jordan, will go to trial on a rape charge in late August, Cowley County Attorney Chris Smith says.
Halverstadt already had testified during Jordan’s preliminary hearing and that testimony has been ruled admissible at Jordan’s trial.
He is accused of entering a home in the 3500 block of Lakeshore Dr. uninvited and forcing himself sexually upon Halverstadt, who had been sleeping and heard someone come in the house. Jordan, 45, was an acquaintance of the family.
He fled when a relative of the woman showed up at the house but later surrendered to police. He was released on bond.
The incident has led some family and friends to speculate that Jordan may have been connected in some way to Halverstadt’s death. Mueller would not say if Jordan had been interviewed by sheriff’s investigators but did say that investigators knew of the case for sometime.
Mueller said no evidence in the case would indicate any connection between Jordan and Halverstadt’s death.
And investigators still have yet to find a cell phone that Halverstadt used to make phone calls and text friends with the night of her death. Mueller admits he would like to find the phone. Investigators have hypothesized that it may have run out of batteries, causing Halverstadt to throw it somewhere it couldn’t be found.
Her cell phone records have been monitored and no calls have been made since the time when she fell from the bridge.
