Leroy Drieth case

[MediaHoarder]

This is an interesting case on a number of levels.

First, this is one of the few cases I have seen of the formula "officials say X committed suicide but X's family says it was foul play" where there has actually been a change in the official ruling. In general these cases are unsolved and the official line has remained unchanged due to the unwillingness of officials to admit fault, but this case breaks with that trend.

I'm not sure that UM withheld any information here so much as there isn't a lot of information to go on. Definitely seems like Patty's family had something to do with his death. And I'm not convinced the police simply missed the obvious here, seems much more like they were afraid of the family which led them to rule it a suicide. At the time this happened Mead was a small town of ~200 people, LE likely consisted of the county sheriff and a few deputies. A group that kills a family member's boyfriend at a barbecue and won't testify against each other is going to be both very dangerous and largely pointless to confront.

Hard saying what the origin of the dispute was, but the possibility that she was pregnant at least gives some justification for being hostile to Leroy if that was in fact the case. This seems to be somewhat likely, as if the racial angle was the issue its a bit hard to see them allowing the relationship in the first place, since that would have always been a factor, whereas pregnancy would be a change in circumstances.

I highly doubt this ever gets solved, Patty has stayed quiet all this time after dangling something in front of Leroy's sister. Seems like someone wants her to stay quiet.

[Hambone2421]

I just saw this one for the first time. It's very clear that he was murdered, but due to how much time has passed and the fact that it was clearly a member of his girlfriend's family, this will likely never be solved.

[ogapogadots]

Originally Posted by chacha6581

Ok, correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't there some type of underlying racial issue or something?

yes I remember him being Caucasian and his in-laws were racist towards him. As if its ok for them to be racist to him because "they experienced racism already". I remember thinking what a bunch of hypocrites. they did something to him. He was murdered imo.

[JannTosh]

what episode is this case included in on Youtube?

[Dogface82]

Originally Posted by JannTosh

what episode is this case included in on Youtube?

I went to the UM site. When you read the case the Robert Stack episode is in different print. Touch it and it takes you to Amazon where you pay for the episode. In the next sentence a different print is used mentioning the Dennis Farina version. Touch it and it takes you to U-tube. I just watched the Dennis Farina version on U-Tube.

First there are families where the boyfriend is considered not good enough for their daughter regardless of class, race etc.
Self segregation was common up into the 1980s. On the great plains it was common to have a WASP White Anglo-Saxon Protestant town of primarily UK descent. Another of Swedish Lutherans, another of German Lutherans, a Mexican town primarily Catholic etc. They didn't mix unless they had to. Was Mead a Mexican town? Or was it divided?
Hispanic or Latino is a blanket term. There are racial differences within: Native American,European Spanish and all sorts of mixes. Even if both parties were pure european you have cultural and religious differences. Apparently he offended one of the men in the family and provoked an attack.

I am not saying it was right or logical but a man in his home under the influence of alchohol has less inhibitions about defending his "honor". Leroy crossed a line that day whether he realized it or not and paid the ultimate price.
I don't think this will be solved. But I don't want to discourage his sister. She could get lucky. But please be careful.

[schmave]

Originally Posted by JannTosh

what episode is this case included in on Youtube?

Season 8, episode 8.
This was one of those cases that was just infuriating. Patty's family came off as totally despicable and there is no excuse for what they obviously did. Leroy did not deserve it. He called a spade a spade and he didn't "cross a line" other than defending himself.

[Dogface82]

Originally Posted by schmave

Season 8, episode 8.
This was one of those cases that was just infuriating. Patty's family came off as totally despicable and there is no excuse for what they obviously did. Leroy did not deserve it. He called a spade a spade and he didn't "cross a line" other than defending himself.

I am not defending Patty's family. In fact the attack on Leroy violates all of the "hospitality customs" White, Indian, Latino I grew up with. When a person was no longer welcome they were asked to leave or escorted out. We don't know what happened except that Leroy ended up with 2 throat wounds crashed into a tree.
1) Self inflicted wounds and suicide? Probably not
2) Wounded by family member and crashed? Probably
Leroy was 18, a grown man and responsible for his own safety. He obviously misread the situation and misjudged the consequences. We don't have a reliable detailed accounts of his actions so we don't have any idea what went wrong. For some reason people refuse to accept there are cultural differences within the US. When I was stationed back east I was shocked to hear people say things or behave in ways that would get them shot where I grew up.

[Rayroy]

Originally Posted by 5thBeatle

The actor playing Patty looked white to me, that's why I always thought she was white. UM never went into detail about that. Still confused

The actress looked white? Wow.

[Rayroy]

Originally Posted by justins5256

Just saw this one for the first time in awhile. I wonder if he had an argument at the party, drove off in a huff and hit a tree on accident. The wounds on his neck could have been caused by impact with some part of the car.

As far as the family not cooperating, it could be that either

A. They didn’t like the guy or don’t care
B. They were afraid of somehow being implicated in his death

Also, would be curious to know if they checked for alcohol in his system?

Her hit a tree BY accident and it caused a stab wound in his neck and slashed his throat? This has got to be one of the weirdest threads here. Some of these posts sounds like they were made by people who were drinking. What part of a steering wheel stabs the driver or slashes his throat? Did you read what you typed before you entered it?