One-year update on the death of Rhys Coppens
By Nelson Daily Staff
After an exhaustive year-long investigation was completed, all that is known about the death of a 20-year-old Alberta man is that foul play was not a factor.
When Rhys Alexander Coppens, 20, was found unconscious in an alley behind a Fernie nightclub where he had been drinking last March 21, investigators initially thought he had fallen off the building.
But a B.C. coroner has since found that Coppens did not likely fall.
What they believe happened was Coppens was knocked to the ground, rendering him unconscious. The position that he was in cut off his airway, and so the cause of death was positional asphyxia.
What caused Coppens to hit the ground remains unknown.
Coppens was found around 2: 30 a.m., suffering from severe injuries, and died shortly after arriving at hospital via ambulance.
The RCMP have exhausted all leads and collected statements from every witness known. Now they are calling on the public to help investigators figure out exactly what happened.
Sgt. Dave Dubnyk, with Elk Valley RCMP, said while the police investigation did not suggest Coppens died because of foul play, they still don’t know how he became wedged in the narrow space between the two buildings.
The autopsy showed Coppens didn’t suffer any broken bones typically associated with a fall of that distance.
Shortly before he died, Coppens was scouted by the University of Calgary Dinos and planned to play with them in the fall of 2010.
