Latest news with #MarkSwitzer
CBS News
12-05-2025
- CBS News
Wyoming man sent to Colorado prison for killing friend who wanted to avoid prison
A 73-year-old Wyoming man was sentenced Friday for aiding in the suicide of a co-worker in Colorado. Mark Switzer received a four-year prison term in the Colorado Department of Corrections from Weld County District Court Judge Audrey Galloway. Switzer pleaded guilty in February to a manslaughter charge. Prosecutors, in turn, dropped the first degree murder charge which Switzer was originally arrested on. Switzer was accused of shooting 49-year-old Nathan "Tom" Combs in May of 2017. Combs's body was found near a tractor trailer parked west of Hereford, Colorado. Combs was shot twice in the head. The two men were friends and co-workers at a Laramie trucking company. Mark Switzer following his arrest in 2023. Weld County District Attorney's Office Combs was facing a possible prison sentence. He had been arrested a year earlier, according to a Wyoming news outlet's report, on child sexual exploitation charges. Combs, who was married and 48 years old at the time, allegedly exchanged explicit photos with a 16-year-old Laramie County girl over a three-month period before his arrest. The two also had consensual sex at the girl's home and in Combs's semi truck while parked at an Interstate 80 truck stop, the victim told authorities, per the news report. In the weeks leading up to his death, Combs purchased a life insurance policy, later doubled its payout to his wife, and signed a will leaving all his possessions to his wife, according to the affidavit. Combs also had a telling conversation with another friend before his death. Investigators learned Combs had told the friend he "wasn't goin' back to jail" and "I know what they do to people like that," an apparent reference to the treatment of sex crime offenders by other inmates, per the affidavit. Combs also told his friend, "Don't tell anybody but I've got it arranged," as stated in the affidavit. "Look after (my wife), stop in say hi to her and see how she's doing," Combs allegedly continued. The friend told Combs, "You're scaring me," according to the affidavit. Combs responded, "Don't be. I'm not." Investigators keyed in on Switzer after Combs's wife conveyed the details of a conversation between the two days after the murder. In it, according to the affidavit, Switzer told Combs's wife that Combs had asked Switzer to kill him. Switzer admitted to her that he shot Combs in the head while Combs was kneeling and praying. Combs was killed in Colorado eight miles south of Switzer's residence near Carpenter, Wyoming. Investigators recovered a .22 caliber rifle from Switzer's truck with a search warrant. The forensic analysis to compare the shell casings found at the scene to the gun took extraordinarily long. A regional laboratory initially found its test results to be inconclusive. An FBI lab then determined the casings to be a match to those extruded by the Ruger rifle -- four years after forensic testing began. Weld County investigators also uncovered text messages between Switzer and Combs leading up to the event. Switzer eventually confessed to investigators to telling Combs's wife that he shot Combs because that was what Combs wanted. Switzer was arrested in March 2023. "This was not a momentary lapse in judgement or a mistake," 19th Judicial Deputy District Attorney Katherine Fitzgerald said during Friday's sentencing hearing (according to the DA's Office). "This was a calculated plan and a deliberate action. Regardless of whether the victim asked him to assist in his death, this defendant still killed Nathan Combs and this type of behavior won't be tolerated in our community."
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
Colorado man sentenced to 4 years in prison for assisting friend in suicide
DENVER () — A Weld County District Court Judge sentenced 73-year-old Mark Switzer to four years in the Colorado Department of Corrections on Friday for assisting his friend in suicide in 2017. The sentence comes after Switzer pleaded guilty in February to manslaughter – aiding in suicide in the May 2017 death of 49-year-old Nathan Combs. Dates set for Menendez brothers' resentencing hearing Investigators initially believed Combs death was the result of an accident involving a truck, after he was found dead on May 18, 2017, near a semi-truck west of Hereford, however investigators later determined he had been shot. The Weld County DA said the investigation also revealed Combs had increased his life insurance policy in the months leading up to his death and had arranged for Switzer, a then-friend, to carry out the killing. 'This was not a momentary lapse in judgement or a mistake,' Deputy District Attorney KatherineFitzgerald said, during Friday's sentencing hearing. 'This was a calculated plan and a deliberate action. Regardless of whether the victim asked him to assist in his death, this defendant still killed Nathan Combs and this type of behavior won't be tolerated in our community.' Free on Your TV • New FOX31+ App for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV Switzer was arrested in March 2023. He was originally charged with first-degree murder but had that charge dismissed as part of his plea agreement. —Find .If you are thinking of hurting or killing yourself:Call or text 988 or chat at .Please get help immediately. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
