Probe into teen hunter's death inconclusive

MANILA, Daggett County — State and local investigators have been unable to determine who fired the bullet that killed a 15-year-old hunter in October.

Daggett County Sheriff Rick Ellsworth said deputies from his office and investigators from the state Medical Examiner's Office and state crime lab have settled on two possible scenarios in the death of Nick Joynt of Farr West.

Under the first scenario, the sheriff said, Joynt was hit by a stray bullet from someone in another hunting party nearby.

"We played out that possibility, and though it's unlikely, we still can't discount it," Ellsworth said. "It is a possibility."

In the second scenario, investigators looked into whether the bullet that killed Joynt came from his father's rifle. Joynt and his 55-year-old father were hunting elk on Oct. 19 in Rifle Canyon near Dutch John at the time of the teen's death.

"With all the factors played in — the evidence, the statements, crime scene reconstruction — it seemed to indicate there was also the possibility that the shot came from Doug Joynt, the father," Ellsworth said. Investigators were never able to have a ballistics test performed because the slug was not recovered, despite an extensive search of the area.

"In any case it seems it was just accidental," the sheriff added.

Ellsworth said he contacted the Joynt family on Thursday with the results of the investigation.

A call to the Joynt home on Friday seeking comment was unanswered.

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E-mail: geoff@ubstandard.com