Thad Trujillo was inside his house Tuesday morning when he heard the boom.
It was obviously a lightning strike, and from the sound of it, it was right on top of him.
“I didn’t see the flash, I just heard it because I was inside,” he said. “I could tell by just the sound that it was close – you can tell.”
The strike occurred about 9 a.m. Tuesday at his ranch along County Road 302, which is on the Florida Mesa about 4 miles south of Durango.
He had two workers on the ranch, including Lorenzo Rodriguez, who was doing carpentry work, and JD Corley, a longtime ranch hand who was cleaning up after the previous night’s storm.
Trujillo didn’t think too much of the lightning strike. He and Rodriguez marveled at the proximity of the strike, but then went about their business.
“I asked if he (Rodriguez) had seen JD and he said no, so we figured he was taking shelter somewhere in back,” Trujillo said.
Trujillo, a real estate broker who co-owns the Wells Group in Durango, is usually in the office on Tuesday mornings. But his usual meetings had been canceled, so he was at home making phone calls.
The previous night, a “horrific storm” that included hail, wind and torrential downpours knocked down branches and made a mess of leaves across the ranch, he said.
Corley of Aztec had stopped by “bright and early” to assess the damage, Trujillo said. Corley is 6 feet 2 inches and can throw hay bales like no other, Trujillo said.
He and his dog, Cowgirl, a red Aussie who accompanies Corley almost everywhere, were surveying the ranch and tidying up.
At the time, Trujillo noticed clouds to the north and blue skies above.
“That’s the mystery of the lightning, really,” he said. “It could have just been a rogue cloud that moved in pretty fast.”
After the lightning strike, Trujillo went back to making phone calls.
About 45 minutes later, it began to rain. He went outside to speak with Corley and Rodriguez. Rodriguez was in the barn working and Cowgirl was lying in front of the barn. But there was no sign of Corley.
“They (Corley and Cowgirl) are always together, so that’s when I got worried,” Trujillo said.
Rodriguez and Trujillo went to look for him. They walked about 300 yards behind the barn and caught sight of a figure lying in the back field.
“At first, I couldn’t tell what it was, but I saw movement and I told Lorenzo, ‘I think that’s JD lying out there!’ He said, ‘No way’ and we both took off running toward him,” Trujillo wrote in an email to The Durango Herald.
They found Corley lying facedown in the wet grass, clothes completely shredded and the bill of his baseball cap separated from the rest of his cap. Scraps of clothing were scattered 30 to 40 feet from Corley’s body.
“It was a bad scene to walk up on,” Trujillo said.
Trujillo, who has 15 years volunteering with La Plata County Search and Rescue, began first aid. He found Corley breathing and conscious, but incoherent.
He was in severe pain and in a state of shock. A sheriff’s deputy later explained that a lightning strike can cause all the muscles in the body to contract, causing one large cramp that won’t relent.
Trujillo called 911. He and a neighbor loaded Corley onto a UTV to meet an ambulance. A sheriff’s deputy helped calm Corley and tried to explain to him what had happened.
“I don’t think he really knows what happened to him,” Trujillo said. “That’s always hard when you wake up somewhere and you’re like, ‘What the heck happened?’”
Before being taken to Mercy Hospital, Corley grabbed Trujillo’s hand and nodded.
Later that day, he was able to recognize family members in his hospital room. But because of his critical condition, he was flown to CU/Denver Anschutz in Denver to be treated for his injuries, including burns.
Trujillo thinks Corley’s dog, Cowgirl, may have also experienced some of the jolt, because the next day she was stiff and sore. She has since recovered.
Trujillo drove to Denver on Thursday and visited with Corley on Friday.
“He’s doing much better,” Trujillo said Friday night. “... He knew God could take him right then, but he didn’t, so he has more purpose in life (and that’s) basically what his outlook is. He was just very, very thankful.”
Corley is hooked up to an IV and doctors are closely monitoring his heart because of the jolt that passed through his body.
Doctors believe the lightning struck the ground and then passed through Corley’s body, from feet to head. His lower legs suffered the worst burns, and he has two fractures in the skull, one on each side of the head, with the bone fragments facing outward – suggesting the electricity exited through his head.
He ruptured an eardrum and has some bleeding, both of which are expected to heal on their own.
“He suffered a lot of trauma, but he’s tough, man,” Trujillo said.
A GoFundMe account has been set up in Corley’s honor. The account, which can be found by searching Support JD's Recovery After Lightning Strike, had raised $4,215 of its $20,000 goal as of Friday night.
Trujillo described Corley as a kind, gentle spirit who is always smiling. He is a hard worker and “tough as leather,” Trujillo said. His family refers to him “Cowboy.”
“I swear, if you look up ‘ranch hand’ in the dictionary, his picture will be there,” Trujillo said.
Corley was raised in a Christian household in Bloomfield, where his mom and dad, Ron and Jean Corley, did missionary work and raised more than 40 foster children. His father was a minister who worked with Navajo elders to translate the entire Bible into the Navajo language, Trujillo said.
“How such an unlikely event can happen to such a wonderful man is a mystery to me, but I know God has his plan,” Trujillo said.
shane@durangoherald.com
