The official investigation into the death of Kathleen Rafferty Petrocco, who was found unresponsive in her Brighton home on July 14, is now closed. On October 1, the Adams County Coroner's Office released a long-awaited autopsy report that concludes Petrocco committed suicide, asphyxiating herself on a weight machine in her basement exercise room. But family members say they still have questions about the way Adams County officials handled the death investigation and a domestic-violence complaint that Petrocco made last year.
The case had attracted widespread attention, in part because of Petrocco's prominence in the community. The daughter of former district court judge Gerald Rafferty, she was married for twelve years to David Petrocco Jr., vice president of Petrocco Farms, a multimillion-dollar family farm empire. The couple had been separated since David Petrocco's arrest on domestic-violence charges in early 2018 and were in the process of finalizing their divorce at the time of Kate's death. In documents filed in the divorce case, she also disclosed a romantic relationship with Adams County District Attorney Dave Young that ended last spring.
On January 25, 2018, Kate Petrocco called 911 to report that her husband was throwing things, making threats, and had ripped a phone out of her hands; responding Adams County deputies took David Petrocco to a hotel, an action the sheriff's office has declined to explain. David returned to the residence the next day and was arrested after smashing a television. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and received a deferred sentence; more serious allegations raised by Kate concerning past incidents of sexual and physical assault were never prosecuted. (Despite the guilty plea, David Petrocco's lawyer told Westword that his client denies ever assaulting his wife and only took the plea deal to avoid the risk of a permanent conviction on his record.)
Kate's parents refused to believe that she took her own life, noting that she and her husband had resolved financial issues in the divorce and custody arrangements for their two children and that her life seemed to be improving. "There's no way she would have abandoned those kids," Eileen Rafferty, her mother, told Westword. "They were her life."
The link to the full news article is here: https://www.westword.com/news/kate-petroccos-death-ruled-a-suicide-family-questions-result-11499811
The case had attracted widespread attention, in part because of Petrocco's prominence in the community. The daughter of former district court judge Gerald Rafferty, she was married for twelve years to David Petrocco Jr., vice president of Petrocco Farms, a multimillion-dollar family farm empire. The couple had been separated since David Petrocco's arrest on domestic-violence charges in early 2018 and were in the process of finalizing their divorce at the time of Kate's death. In documents filed in the divorce case, she also disclosed a romantic relationship with Adams County District Attorney Dave Young that ended last spring.
On January 25, 2018, Kate Petrocco called 911 to report that her husband was throwing things, making threats, and had ripped a phone out of her hands; responding Adams County deputies took David Petrocco to a hotel, an action the sheriff's office has declined to explain. David returned to the residence the next day and was arrested after smashing a television. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and received a deferred sentence; more serious allegations raised by Kate concerning past incidents of sexual and physical assault were never prosecuted. (Despite the guilty plea, David Petrocco's lawyer told Westword that his client denies ever assaulting his wife and only took the plea deal to avoid the risk of a permanent conviction on his record.)
Kate's parents refused to believe that she took her own life, noting that she and her husband had resolved financial issues in the divorce and custody arrangements for their two children and that her life seemed to be improving. "There's no way she would have abandoned those kids," Eileen Rafferty, her mother, told Westword. "They were her life."
The link to the full news article is here: https://www.westword.com/news/kate-petroccos-death-ruled-a-suicide-family-questions-result-11499811
The official investigation into the death of Kathleen Rafferty Petrocco, who was found unresponsive in her Brighton home on July 14, is now closed. On October 1, the Adams County Coroner's Office released a long-awaited autopsy report that concludes Petrocco committed suicide, asphyxiating herself on a weight machine in her basement exercise room. But family members say they still have questions about the way Adams County officials handled the death investigation and a domestic-violence complaint that Petrocco made last year.
The case had attracted widespread attention, in part because of Petrocco's prominence in the community. The daughter of former district court judge Gerald Rafferty, she was married for twelve years to David Petrocco Jr., vice president of Petrocco Farms, a multimillion-dollar family farm empire. The couple had been separated since David Petrocco's arrest on domestic-violence charges in early 2018 and were in the process of finalizing their divorce at the time of Kate's death. In documents filed in the divorce case, she also disclosed a romantic relationship with Adams County District Attorney Dave Young that ended last spring.
On January 25, 2018, Kate Petrocco called 911 to report that her husband was throwing things, making threats, and had ripped a phone out of her hands; responding Adams County deputies took David Petrocco to a hotel, an action the sheriff's office has declined to explain. David returned to the residence the next day and was arrested after smashing a television. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and received a deferred sentence; more serious allegations raised by Kate concerning past incidents of sexual and physical assault were never prosecuted. (Despite the guilty plea, David Petrocco's lawyer told Westword that his client denies ever assaulting his wife and only took the plea deal to avoid the risk of a permanent conviction on his record.)
Kate's parents refused to believe that she took her own life, noting that she and her husband had resolved financial issues in the divorce and custody arrangements for their two children and that her life seemed to be improving. "There's no way she would have abandoned those kids," Eileen Rafferty, her mother, told Westword. "They were her life."
The link to the full news article is here: https://www.westword.com/news/kate-petroccos-death-ruled-a-suicide-family-questions-result-11499811
The case had attracted widespread attention, in part because of Petrocco's prominence in the community. The daughter of former district court judge Gerald Rafferty, she was married for twelve years to David Petrocco Jr., vice president of Petrocco Farms, a multimillion-dollar family farm empire. The couple had been separated since David Petrocco's arrest on domestic-violence charges in early 2018 and were in the process of finalizing their divorce at the time of Kate's death. In documents filed in the divorce case, she also disclosed a romantic relationship with Adams County District Attorney Dave Young that ended last spring.
On January 25, 2018, Kate Petrocco called 911 to report that her husband was throwing things, making threats, and had ripped a phone out of her hands; responding Adams County deputies took David Petrocco to a hotel, an action the sheriff's office has declined to explain. David returned to the residence the next day and was arrested after smashing a television. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and received a deferred sentence; more serious allegations raised by Kate concerning past incidents of sexual and physical assault were never prosecuted. (Despite the guilty plea, David Petrocco's lawyer told Westword that his client denies ever assaulting his wife and only took the plea deal to avoid the risk of a permanent conviction on his record.)
Kate's parents refused to believe that she took her own life, noting that she and her husband had resolved financial issues in the divorce and custody arrangements for their two children and that her life seemed to be improving. "There's no way she would have abandoned those kids," Eileen Rafferty, her mother, told Westword. "They were her life."
The link to the full news article is here: https://www.westword.com/news/kate-petroccos-death-ruled-a-suicide-family-questions-result-11499811
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