I am writing in response to the front page article in the Dec. 6 Herald reporting on the two murders in Durango 30 years ago that remain cold cases.
One of those cases is that of Dennis Sleater. I want you to know that I think you have done a great disservice to the Sleater family in the manner in which you recounted his life and death. I was roommates with Dennis Sleater’s sister while working on the Front Range for the Forest Service around the time that Dennis was murdered.
Dennis was a 24-year-old Fort Lewis College student interested in studying law who took a part-time job at a liquor store. His sister recounted to me that his mother was concerned that Dennis was working at a liquor store and that she replied to her mother’s worries with, “Oh, c’mon Mom, it’s Durango. It’s a small town. He will be fine.” Those words haunt her to this day.
He was the youngest of five siblings and the apple of the family’s eye. My friend was devastated from not only the loss of her beloved brother but also its violent nature.
The Herald did absolutely nothing to help this still-grieving family by printing lines such as “Both Sleater and Tyler seemed to have much in common. Reports at the time suggested the two men were drug users, gay and knew each other.”
This suggests the idea that they were both somehow associated with the “underbelly” of Durango, making it easy to discount this tragedy as something that could never happen to the more “normal” population. Violent murder happens. As we are all aware, it happens all too commonly these days. This kind of reporting that makes true victims out to be less than the actual victims they are is inexcusable.
Mary Oswald
Durango
