Columnist Dean Juipe: Son’s death leaves dad asking why

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 1998 | 11:06 a.m.

People die or are killed under mysterious conditions every day. Predictably, their loved ones are saddened and, sometimes, disturbed.

Terry Koch is saddened, disturbed and angry. His son, professional boxer Cody Koch, died July 26 in Michigan -- less than a month before he was scheduled to appear on a fight card at the Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas.

As of Monday, the attorney general's office in Michigan has closed the book on the case. District Attorney Mike Thomas said a series of interviews held with employees and customers at a bar, Shooters, in Saginaw County led him to believe Koch's death was accidental.

He said no criminal charges would be filed but that the Kochs may have grounds for a civil suit against the bar, claiming its bouncers were poorly trained and/or negligent.

That civil suit has already been filed.

"I'm not ready to let this rest," Terry Koch said from his home in Wasilla, Alaska. "As far as I'm concerned, my son was murdered."

He said his next step is to petition the governor of Alaska to pressure Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley to reopen the case.

Given Thomas' appraisal of Cody Koch's final moments, it seems unlikely.

He claims Koch -- 26 years old and a 6-foot-2, 240-pound heavyweight with a 25-2 professional record and a former national Toughman champion -- was involved in a hassle with his girlfriend inside Shooters; that he followed her outside and then shoved her; that he returned to the bar's entrance but was denied readmittance; that he struck a bouncer and loosened his teeth with two left-handed punches to the face; that he became further unruly as five bouncers attempted to subdue him; and that he collapsed into unconsciousness with township police en route. Efforts to revive him through CPR were unsuccessful.

"Koch was combative," Thomas said of a fighter who appeared regularly in Las Vegas and used the nickname The Alaskan Assassin. "The only thing that's unclear in my mind is whether he was still alive when the police arrived.

"Our feeling is that it's a closed matter. It's one of those things. There's insufficient evidence to support the belief that the tavern's security personnel intended to harm him."

Thomas is sympathetic and comes across as sincere, yet Terry Koch isn't impressed.

"I think there's a whole lot more involved in this," he said. "People don't get killed and then have it be called an accident. I've got the feeling that this was whitewashed a little bit, for whatever reason.

"It's just not adding up."

An autopsy indicated Cody Koch died of asphyxiation. Thomas added that the fighter's blood-alcohol level was .14, or over the legal limit in Michigan.

While Captain Robert Rae of the Saginaw County Sheriff's Dept. said there were "more than a few questionable circumstances" surrounding the death, he was unable to satisfy Thomas that criminal charges should be filed.

Stymied, Terry Koch -- who has been undergoing therapy in an effort to help him accept the unexpected loss of his son -- will solicit the governor.

"I'd like to have this looked at harder," he said. "Maybe a different district attorney could find something else. One thing about it, I'm not going to settle for no charges being filed when the district attorney in Michigan tells me 'You've got a really good civil case.'

"When he told me that, I was kind of dumbfounded."