Found Deceased CO - Adam Gilbertson, 29, Denver, 14 Dec 2017

[lalalins]

Huoi - I understand you are coming from a psych background but you are making ALOT of assumptions here and basically taking it as fact that he committed suicide, when we have no announcement from the ME of that finding. You even say he left a “suicide video”. I don’t think it is fair or responsible to make all these unsubstantiated conclusions based solely on looking at Adam’s social media, IMO.

 

[Huoi]

This is a place to posit theories and ideas. Why would your suggestions be any more different than mine?

I feel like people try to understand then dislike if you speak too logically about it.

 

[Elainera]

This is a place to posit theories and ideas. Why would your suggestions be any more different than mine?

I feel like people try to understand then dislike if you speak too logically about it.

It is okay to speculate and offer your thoughts, observations and opinion. Just make sure that you always add "Just my opinion" or "Just speculating" to your posts.

Your posts are insightful and well thought out, certainly as valuable as other opinions here.

 

[Steelslady]

I don't need to know if he committed suicide, I don't care to go through his social media which now should be private.

All I want to know is if we need justice for Adam, and if so, I will do whatever I can to help Adam's family and friends accomplish this.

Whether he committed suicide or drowned accidentally, "accidental drowning" will be a good enough COD for me.

 

[lalalins]

Huoi— I am not attacking your suggestions, I just think that people viewing your post on this feed could assume that an official determination was made that he committed suicide. With that not being the case, I wouldn’t want a false rumor to circulate that the manner of death was suicide. In my opinion, homicide is just as likely at this point, and the autopsy results may be being held back pending a police investigation. Ultimately, none of us know and one possibility is just as likely as any other.

 

[LK7]

The side door doesn't make sense to me either...

As I stated in another post, I live in the same neighborhood, and have left my front door unlocked..

AG was from a small town in Minnesota. It’s very common not to lock houses. We also leave our cars running unattended when it’s cold.

 

[lalalins]

AG was from a small town in Minnesota. It’s very common not to lock houses. We also leave our cars running unattended when it’s cold.

I couldn’t agree more. In my opinion, leaving the door unlocked means nothing. Practically every boyfriend I have ever had never locked the doors to their house, both in big cities and suburbs. I only mention that because it seems that men are more likely not to lock up, in my personal experience, alhough I have no idea if that is in fact true. I always lock everything, but many men I know do not.

 

[FindHG]

...

Thanks for this info. Where did you see it? Like many other WS posters, I have been greatly affected by Adam as well. I had abanded my dreams of becoming a nurse after flunking out of school 15 yrs ago due to a bout of depression. Hearing and reading about Adam has inspired me to go back to school to become a nurse. Thank you Adam!

WB, Magz...

And a huge

:welcome: :welcome:

to you

Lbee787

... ​

This thread is blessed with such good hearts shaped to feel and find answers, some truths, perhaps meaning even. Thank you for your thoughts and considerations. And very much appreciate your sharing your purpose, Lbee787, and your joining WS to share how Adam touched you. Best of luck and I hope you keep sharing with WS.

AG was from a small town in Minnesota. It’s very common not to lock houses. We also leave our cars running unattended when it’s cold.

:welcome3:

LK7​

Thank you so much for join WS and for sharing this information about Minn. Good to know.

 

[KWest51]

Someone replied to one of his Instagram pics that they wanted to be with his 24/7 cheerfulness, and he replied he definitely wasn't always cheerful, but tried to see the good in things. The longtime friends who spoke at his funeral mentioned he was the one who would cheer others up, nothing about him ever being so down like you describe your bipolar friend and needing cheering up or hiding away from them (but maybe they wouldn't at the service. There certainly wasn't anything but one offhand remark regarding his homosexuality.) I also didn't pick up from his public posts much of any idea of boyfriends and break-ups, so maybe he kept all that private or had issues there.

Adam did have gaps in his public posts and it is possible he mainly posted good things publicly and others just to close friends, or he just didn't care to post that often, like many people. I saw one somewhat down post when he learned just after the 2016 elections that almost all his family voted Republican, but just said he was okay, just needed to trail run to try to help process that info. So still not convinced he was that up and down. His friends and family that he seemed so close to would know, I'd expect, but we'll likely never know.

I was just using my friend as an example of how what people post on social media shouldn’t be taken at face value.

 

[dspdenver]

I was just using my friend as an example of how what people post on social media shouldn’t be taken at face value.

Understood. I think I mentioned that in my posts. I now see that I was wrong earlier that he went off social media (in mid-August) just after his board certification tests. Instead, his nursing schooling was ending then, I guess, finishing up his required hours in the ICU, then sometime later his board certs would follow. Which offers a simple explanation for his social media blackout - he was concentrating on preparing for and passing his RN certifications, rather than some personal issue in his online or real life. He also had been accepted for a Doctor of Nursing Practice three-year program with a focus on rural mental health nursing practices, at the University of Wyoming, that he said he could do from Denver.

Despite Adam's photo and caption about "Everything changed" on Aug. 2, I do not really see after that time the deadpan smiles Huoi mentioned, but then no one ever accused me of being very perceptive!

At this point I am tapped out on speculation, so unless the coroner report tells a tale, I guess I'll never have a good idea what happened to Adam.

 

[LK7]

Do we know if his phone and/or wallet were found on or near him? Was he walking toward an open restaurant after leaving syntax? If suicide is a possibility, why/how would he end up in a river? IDK... suicide in a river (except in a case of jumping off a bridge) just doesn’t seem plausible to me.

 

[Steelslady]

Do we know if his phone and/or wallet were found on or near him? Was he walking toward an open restaurant after leaving syntax? If suicide is a possibility, why/how would he end up in a river? IDK... suicide in a river (except in a case of jumping off a bridge) just doesn’t seem plausible to me.

The only thing at this point that I can think of is that the coroner has already ruled out foul play. I believe we would have heard something by now from the family if someone harmed him and that LE is investigating the matter. I haven't seen any updates on the family page, so I am gathering it was either suicide or an accidental drowning.

 

[LK7]

Does Syntax serve food? Did AG ask for a menu when he was there? My theory is that after arriving home, he realized he was hungry and was not impressed with what was in his fridge. Being an active, outdoors kind of guy, he would prefer walking over driving. He walks to the nearest open facility - Syntax. There’s no food available, but since his battery is about to die on his phone, he spends the last 15 minutes of battery juice trying to connect with familiar friends. Perhaps he’s a bit lonely and homesick. Just before his battery dies, he sends out a sweet “I love you” instagram to those he misses and blows out the candle. Off he walks to find somewhere to buy a burger or breakfast food. He has to work in a few hours and he’s been drinking. He’ll need to consume a good meal. That’s my theory ... I truly hope they find out how this sweet man ended up in the river. Accident? Foul play? Unfortunately, the location of where he was found (at least from the pictures - I’ve never been there myself) seems to indicated the body was dumped. Thoughts?

 

[LK7]

I’ve read that autopsies can take anywhere from 30-90 days to be released, but I agree with you that I would assume the family would know the cause of death by now, right? (i.e. homicide, accident, natural causes, or suicide). Or maybe the condition of the body hindered that? Maybe they are being tight lipped for the purpose of investigating?

 

[cluciano63]

I don’t see how suicide vs. accident can be determined, unless he left a note, or had rocks in his pockets, for example. I do think that he if was murdered, autopsy might reveal injuries that being in the water could not have caused, generally. But the final manner of death is likely to be unclear, imo.

Any amount of alcohol combined with depression or depressive thoughts could result in either an accident or suicide. (If he had alcohol and was depressed.) in any event, his death is a great loss.

 

[dspdenver]

Does Syntax serve food?

They do, with a table area separate from the front bar area where the security video showed Adam talk to a bartender, but not sure if he got a drink. Their kitchen might be closed that late, though. I would guess Adam might have been there before since they have open-mic nights (not that night) and he liked to sing, as one friend's remembrance post said he keeps thinking Adam will text him to sing at a karaoke bar they frequented.

 

[dspdenver]

... he spends the last 15 minutes of battery juice trying to connect with familiar friends.

My thought was he was going back through his Instagram posts one final time, then he blew out the candle....

 

[dspdenver]

Was he walking toward an open restaurant after leaving syntax? If suicide is a possibility, why/how would he end up in a river? IDK... suicide in a river (except in a case of jumping off a bridge) just doesn’t seem plausible to me.

The only open food joint is a 24-hour Dennys at the intersection where he would have walked west under the rail lines above Alameda Ave. Just across the street south from the walkway. He was found another two short blocks west and two blocks south of Alameda. The river runs north, and there is a highway overpass another couple blocks south over the river from where he was found, which I don't think is accessible from the east side of the river, but would be from the west side where a bike path follows the river.

I read only 2 percent of suicides choose drowning, and if he realized that you quickly sink to the bottom and don't drift out of the area far even in swift waters (not the South Platte in this area) until decomposition gases buoy you (per some forensic website), I wouldn't think Adam would choose the uncertainty his family and friends ended up going through.

 

[dspdenver]

Any amount of alcohol combined with depression or depressive thoughts could result in either an accident or suicide.

The pic Huoi mentioned is the only sign I saw he may have been struggling. He was lying down listening to music, a face close-up, where he seemed to be in emotional distress. Posted in late October, referencing something three months earlier( a week plus after moving to Denver.) Maybe just a coincidence that #MeToo went viral in October?

 

[dspdenver]

Just a note that I was looking for any new info on the web last night about his death and found Adam's blogspot.com blog he started when he did his sophomore college year abroad in Spain. Liked all the crosses everyone had since he was also religious. Hated how everyone smoked over there. All the students were rich and way older than him(20-23) and he was 19 then! Got bored because classes were so easy and didn't have to study, but he liked to be busy. Had never walked so much in his life, as everyone did there, which I find ironic considering how much he loved to hike later in life. Mentioned he was glad he and his friends didn't get into a club, as they were expensive and evil. He seemed to realize he had been sheltered growing up in America and I don't think he was out yet.

He was a funny, good kid, it seems.