A Cody man found dead in a car in the parking lot of Yellowstone Regional Airport after being missing for nearly two weeks died of blunt force injuries to his shoulder combined with prolonged exposure to the elements.
Shawn Hughes, 36, disappeared on Easter morning and was found by police on April 16 in an airport patron’s car.
His official cause of death has been determined to be a combination of the effects of a right shoulder injury and prolonged exposure to the cold while in the vehicle, according to a report released by Park County Coroner Cody Gortmaker.
The shoulder injury was from an apparent fall and led to internal bleeding that, in combination with being in the car exposed to the cold without heat, resulted in Hughes’ death, Gortmaker said.
Gortmaker said the timeline of the man’s death is unclear as to when exactly he got into the vehicle and ultimately died.
Spring weather conditions on April 5 plummeted from a high of 62 degrees in Cody down to 30 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The following day was slightly cooler with a high of 52 and low of 30 degrees.
A person can succumb to the elements when his core body temperature falls to between 94 to 95 degrees, said Crook County Coroner Mike Frolander.
How quickly someone dies from exposure depends largely on their surroundings and what that person is wearing, he said.
“It is anytime that the body cannot produce enough heat that the core temperature starts to fall,” he said, adding that isn’t wholly reliant on outside temperature.
A subsequent toxicology report determined that drugs and alcohol played no factor in Hughes’ death.
Police determined there’s no suggestion of self-harm or foul play, Lt. Juston Wead with the Cody Police Department previously told Cowboy State Daily.
More Questions Than Answers
Knowing how Hughes died does little to answer his family’s questions about how and why he ended up in that vehicle, said his sister, Delicia Pagan.
Hughes had been living in Cody for the past four years after moving with his longtime girlfriend, Diaka Kaba, from North Carolina to take a summer job at an area resort.
The couple liked the area and decided to stay after the season ended.
That changed for Hughes in the days leading up to his death, Pagan said, which he revealed in an early morning phone call to his cousins in North Carolina on April 5, telling them he wanted to come home.
Kaba reported that Hughes had been experiencing undiagnosed seizures for about a year and had recently begun acting differently, including having hallucinations.
On the morning he went missing, Hughes had been having a mental health episode early the morning he disappeared in which he was out in the street shirtless and knocking on neighbors’ doors, according to Kaba and police.
He was taken to the hospital by ambulance but refused care and instead asked to be taken to the airport.
He sat in the airport for an indeterminate time before going into the parking lot where police were called by staff concerned about his behavior, Wead earlier stated.
By the time police arrived, however, Hughes was not visible. He was last seen on surveillance camera heading southeast away from the airport and was initially thought to have left the parking lot.
It’s now believed that he ducked off camera and into a vehicle, where he was ultimately found on a subsequent search of the parking lot by police.
Detectives had earlier walked up and down rows looking into cars when Hughes was first reported missing but did not see him at that time, Wead said.
Families Helping Families
Pagan said she still has questions about how Hughes hurt his shoulder and why it wasn’t treated for that injury at the hospital, but she takes some consolation in the fact that they now have his remains home.
Earlier this month, the family held a funeral for him in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Hughes’ cremation was paid for through a donation to WyoFind, a Gillette-based nonprofit that provides support to families of the missing while also raising awareness through its missing person coffee sleeve campaign.
The anonymous donor had a missing son who was later found dead in another state and knows the difficulties and cost of having their loved one returned, said Stacy Koester, founder and president of the group.
The donor specifically asked that the money be applied for Hughes’ funeral costs, Koester said, noting that donations such as this one allows them to help families.
For Hughes’ family, it was a kindness that is greatly appreciated, Pagan said.
“They helped us in our time of need,” she said, “and Stacy has gone above and beyond everything and has become like a good friend.”
His life, and death, in Wyoming will likely forever remain a mystery, Pagan said, but the family is grateful at least to have him back in North Carolina.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
