The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Preliminary hearing February 14
More details about the man suspected of killing his 70-year-old uncle in Gunnison last month were released in court documents ahead of a preliminary hearing Thursday, February 14. A gag order on the case, however, has cut the flow of information between investigators and the public.
Police found Gunnison resident Zachary Hurley on January 6 after he wrecked the vehicle he was driving and fled on foot through the cemetery east of Gunnison. When confronted by police, Hurley admitted that the vehicle belonged to his uncle, who had been killed earlier in the day, and told officers he was trying to kill himself.
According to a police affidavit made available to the public, Hurley confided in the responding officer. “I need to tell you something,” he said. After an EMT came to tend to Hurley, who refused treatment, Hurley told the officer, “I killed him.” The officer asked whom he had killed and Hurley responded that he’d killed his uncle.
The officer asked him why he had done it and Hurley responded, “For doing the same [stuff].” According to the affidavit, the officer knew what Hurley was talking about after speaking with Hurley’s mother during an earlier incident when she told the officer Hurley’s uncle had sexually assaulted him when he was younger.
Two Gunnison Police officers then went to Hurley’s apartment on South 11th Street and found the uncle, Gilbert Harrison, dead on the floor of the spare bedroom with a shoelace draped over his neck.
According to a statement from police, Hurley and Harrison, who had been in Gunnison visiting family for a few days prior, were “watching television and drinking when they became involved in an argument related to events in the past.” During the fight that ensued, Hurley allegedly strangled his uncle to death.
Hurley was charged with second-degree murder, indicating an acknowledgement of a history between the two men. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday, February 14.
