Page 9 - Michael Fleeman News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: and especially in light of toni's death, they wished lynn's case had been investigated more thoroughly. the douglas county sheriff's office declined to speak with us. but michael fleeman who has written a book about the henthorn cases says sheriff's detectives did investigate, at least initially. >> everything was progressing as if this was suspicious, and then all of a sudden the brakes were put on the investigation. it was declared an accident and forgotten for nearly 20 years. >> reporter: detective charlie mccormick thinks the reason for that was the coroner's quick ruling tha...

>> reporter: what did you think when she said she fell? >> i just said, is she okay? no, she died. and i fell to my knees. and my husband said, oh, my gosh, what's going on? and i said, dr. henthorn fell off a cliff. >> reporter: everyone was heartbroken for toni. harold. and, most of all, the henthorns' 7-year-old daughter haley. >> i put myself on the mountain and at the moment that she probably knew, well, this is it, you know. i know her thoughts were of haley. >> reporter: about 150 people die in national parks each year. in rocky mountain national park, the leading cause of death is fall...

An investigator -- i said, that sounds worse than my sister's case >> reporter: and especially in light of toni's death, they wished lynn's case had been investigated more thoroughly the douglas county sheriff's office declined to speak with us but michael fleeman who has written a book about the henthorn cases says sheriff's detectives did investigate, at least initially. >> everything was progressing as if this was suspicious, and then all of a sudden the brakes were put on the investigation it was declared an accident and forgotten for nearly 20 years. >> reporter: detective charlie mccormi...

>> reporter: journalist michael fleeman covered the death of toni henthorn. >> i just thought the extent of their police work was to tell you to put out a rogue campfire or something, or don't park here, don't feed the bears >> reporter: but there's more to it every death in our national parks is investigated. and in toni's case the same emt ranger who came to rescue her now switched roles from rescuer to cop >> people wear different hats at the park service the guy who schlepped out there in the middle of the night and tried to both save toni's life and get harold off the mountain the next da...

>> reporter: friends and family were suspicious of harold for many reasons, including that he couldn't seem to get his story straight about what happened to toni. the night she died, harold told toni's older brother barry on the phone that toni had lagged behind on the trail and he lost sight of her until he saw her at the bottom of the cliff where she fell. but later, when he spoke to toni's younger brother todd, harold added several new details. >> toni was taking a picture and he had gotten -- received a text. it was that haley was playing in a soccer game and it was a picture of haley play...