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11-Year-Old Durango Boy's Death Was Accidental, Coroner Says

The death of an 11-year-old boy in Durango has been ruled accidental after his body was found in his home Tuesday night. La Plata County Coroner Jann Smith toldthe Durango Herald Wednesday that the child apparently died from asphyxiation, though the full cause of his death remains under investigation. He was a student at Miller Middle School, and the school’s principal has notified families of the incident.

Austin Cope is a former Morning Edition host for KSJD and now produces work on a freelance basis for the station. He grew up in Cortez and hosted a show on KSJD when he was 10 years old. After graduating from Montezuma-Cortez High School in 2010, he lived in Belgium, Ohio, Spain, northern Wyoming, and Himachal Pradesh, India before returning to the Cortez area. He has a degree in Politics from Oberlin College in Ohio.