{"id":92884,"date":"2019-07-20T00:45:41","date_gmt":"2019-07-20T00:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bayfield-family-mourns-son-who-died-of-broken-heart\/"},"modified":"2019-07-20T00:45:41","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T00:45:41","slug":"bayfield-family-mourns-son-who-died-of-broken-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bayfield-family-mourns-son-who-died-of-broken-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Bayfield family mourns son who died of \u2018broken heart\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Chloe
Chloe Wiebe walks around her son\u2019s apartment Tuesday in Bayfield. The Wiebe family held a memorial service Friday for Scott Wiebe at Bayfield Church of Christ.<\/span>Shannon Mullane\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

BAYFIELD \u2013 Chloe Wiebe walked around her son\u2019s apartment. In the main room, the furniture was sparse and the door hung open on an empty, recently cleaned refrigerator. In his bedroom, rows of baseball hats hung on the wall. A jug of glue sat next to a completed puzzle, ready to be applied.<\/p>\n

It is a scene of life in motion. But it is also a scene that came to a sudden stop.<\/p>\n

Scott Wiebe, 39, of Bayfield, was found dead June 24<\/a>, nine days after his fianc\u00e9e, Roberta Rodriguez, 37, of Colorado Springs, fell into the South Fork River. Rodriguez\u2019s body was recovered June 25, a day after Scott died.<\/p>\n

Family members said Scott took his own life. In an obituary, they said he \u201cdied of a broken heart.\u201d The La Plata County Coroner\u2019s Office has not made a final determination on cause of death, saying autopsy and toxicology results are pending.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, it doesn\u2019t even feel real,\u201d said Brian Wiebe, Scott\u2019s younger brother.<\/p>\n

\"Scott
Scott Wiebe takes a photo with his fianc\u00e9e, Roberta Rodriguez. Roberta died in June after falling into the South Fork River. Scott of Bayfield took his own life nine days later.<\/span>Courtesy of Tanya Basye<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Wiebe family memorialized Scott on Friday at Bayfield Church of Christ, struggling through a whirlwind of grief just weeks after his and his fianc\u00e9e\u2019s sudden deaths.<\/p>\n

Chloe Wiebe said Roberta and Scott hit it off instantly. The couple met through mutual friends in 2017. Roberta, a mother of four, was an avid puzzler \u2013 decorating their shared upstairs apartment at Chloe and Ken Wiebe\u2019s house with finished pieces. She was an adventurer and made \u201camazing\u201d tacos and chicken tortilla soup, the Wiebe family said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were always like a magnet,\u201d said Tanya Basye, a family friend.<\/p>\n

Brian, Chloe and Tanya sat at the kitchen table in the Wiebe\u2019s house. On the table next to them, Scott\u2019s childhood cowboy boots and a picture of him as a child were surrounded by sympathy cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my goodness, I\u2019m way thankful for the time I got to spend with her,\u201d said Chloe, referring to Roberta. Scott\u2019s father, Ken, and Roberta had developed a close bond. Ken, whose health declined since the search for Roberta began and Scott died, is now in hospice care.<\/p>\n

Scott was a father of three and a stepfather of one. He was a locksmith, and in his free time, he coached for the Young American Football League, led a Boy Scout troop and volunteered at school. Scott was an avid outdoorsman, often camping, fishing, hunting or off-roading in a rock crawler.<\/p>\n

\"Brian
Brian Wiebe holds a plaque given to Scott Wiebe by the Young American Football League team that he coached. Next to him are sympathy cards, Scott\u2019s childhood cowboy boots and photos of Scott and his fianc\u00e9e, Roberta Rodriguez, who died June 15.<\/span>Shannon Mullane\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cA lot of people are worried about Brian,\u201d Tanya said, patting Brian\u2019s arm. \u201cThey were extremely tight, and Brian really admired and looked up to Scott.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two brothers, 1\u00bd years apart, went through Bayfield High School together until Scott graduated in 1998. They worked together as pipeline surveyors afterward.<\/p>\n

Scott, who was extremely competitive, was a wide receiver on the football team and a track athlete. At school, he looked out for his \u201clittle\u201d brother. Brian was taller, often reminding Scott as kids that he could touch the ceiling first. \u201cHe got better grades than me,\u201d Brian said.<\/p>\n

The days after Roberta fell into the river, Scott looked broken, Tanya said, his eyes red and swollen from crying.<\/p>\n

Roberta and Scott were driving home from Colorado Springs when they stopped in Wolf Creek Pass to look at the river, which was flowing at 1,800 cubic feet per second, nine times its seasonal average, according to SnoFlo<\/a>. They had climbed over rocks near the riverbank and began to leave as it was getting dark. Scott heard Roberta splash into the water behind him and tried to catch up to her but the water was too fast, he told the Mineral County Sheriff\u2019s Office at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could tell he was very upset, he was extremely distraught. He communicated great. He never got really frustrated with us, but he was clearly distraught over it,\u201d said Mineral County Sheriff Fred Hosselkus.<\/p>\n

Chloe and Scott stayed at a motel in the area for several days. Mineral County Search and Rescue let them walk the river with the victim\u2019s advocate. They asked how they could help, and the sheriff said they should find someplace more comfortable. The next day, Scott said he wanted to go home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last few days, Scott kept saying, \u2018I just don\u2019t know how to do this. I don\u2019t know how to do it. I don\u2019t know how I could live without her,\u2019\u201d Chloe said. He couldn\u2019t be in the apartment, staying for hours at a time before having to leave. He couldn\u2019t sleep. Chloe told him, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to sleep. You\u2019re not thinking straight. You can\u2019t make choices and decisions without sleeping.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Scott
Scott Wiebe plays with two of his sons in 2009.<\/span>Courtesy of Chloe Wiebe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On Tuesday, just days before her son\u2019s memorial service, Chloe couldn\u2019t contain her grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely thankful for the 39 years I\u2019ve had with him,\u201d Chloe said between the sudden sobs that seemed to come from deep inside her chest. Tonya\u2019s eyes welled with tears, and Brian tilted his head down, the brim of his baseball hat shielding his face. \u201cI\u2019m thankful that he found true love,\u201d Chloe said. I\u2019m thankful that he found true happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

died nine days after his wife fell into a river and disappeared<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5737,5736,5735],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-92884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-local-news","category-news","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92884"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=92884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}