Runner's autopsy results unknown

An autopsy was scheduled Friday in Arizona for a former long-distance runner from Utah who died under mysterious circumstances.

The results of the autopsy were unknown Friday afternoon.

Heikki Ingstrom died Dec. 22 at a Phoenix hospital after apparently collapsing from a massive brain hemorrhage.

But there were conflicting stories on the circumstances surrounding his death.

Longtime friend Dwight Anjewierden, who lives in Salt Lake City, said one story was that Ingstrom was beaten up Dec. 21 in Flagstaff by people who did not approve of his marriage to a Hispanic woman. The next day, the alleged attacker came back to finish him off, he said.

Anjewierden said he personally wasn't sure of the validity of that story.

Another story, he said, was that police were dispatched to Ingstrom's trailer on a call of a possible assault but they only found him very intoxicated and uncooperative with them.

Either police or a neighbor reportedly checked on him the next day and he was again very drunk, Anjewierden said. It was then he fell into a coma.

"It's a mystery," he said.

Anjewierden remembered his friend as a very athletic, extremely bright man who "had everything going for him."

His mother, Senja Ingstrom, who still lives in Salt Lake City, said she didn't believe her son had any enemies.

"I think he got along with everybody," she said.

One of her first memories of her son was when they had just moved to Utah from Finland when he was 8 years old. Heikki was sitting on his porch and said "hi" in English to other children as they walked by. They said "hi" in return, Senja said.

"He was so excited to be speaking English," she said. "He made friends everywhere."

Heikki Ingstrom excelled in long-distance running as he grew up, competing in the Wasatch Front 100-mile race for nearly a decade and winning it in 1994.

Senja said her son was very athletic ever since he was a young boy. Now the recent tragedy has consumed her thoughts.

"I just can't even think about anything else. I'm just in shock," she said.

---

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com