Man found dead along I-25 after ‘physical altercation’ Wednesday identified
FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO) - The name of the victim in a death investigation along I-25 was released Friday.
On Oct. 11, the El Paso County Communications Center received reports of a "physical altercation" between two people on the northbound side of I-25 at mile marker 133; this was just north of the Mesa Ridge Parkway/Highway 16 exit and south of the South Academy Boulevard exit.
According to the Fountain Police Department, law enforcement and medical personnel responded to the scene and found a man lying on the side of the interstate who wasn't conscious or breathing; the FPD said that life-saving measures were performed, but the man ultimately died.
On Oct. 12, the El Paso County Coroner identified the man as 57-year-old Cecil Freeman, of Pueblo West; investigators have yet to release his cause of death, and have yet to identify a suspect.
According to his wife of 13 years, Tami Freeman, he was a Navy veteran who served aboard the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor, then retired as a lieutenant at the Florence Correctional Complex, a federal prison, after 23 years of service.
She said that he had spent the past eight years working security in Pueblo.
"I don't know anything yet," she told KRDO from her home Friday. "We awoke early as we always did, and he went to work. I don't know why he was in the Fountain area, but he occasionally went to Colorado Springs to see his doctors or to visit family and friends. I was sitting at my kitchen table when authorities came to my door and told me what had happened."
Tami believes that the confrontation between Cecil and an unidentified person may have been a case of road rage.
"When two people get out of their cars on the Interstate -- one of them being my husband -- that's not a good situation," she said. "I wouldn't know what else (may have happened). So, it's for all of us -- I get angry in a car -- don't get out of your car. I don't know, it's not good."
Tami said that she's originally from Lamar, and Cecil was from Salida; later, they both attended Florence High School and dated there.
"We got married 13 years ago and moved to Pueblo West eight years ago," she recalled. "He was a widow. His wife died and I remarried. We loved our family and friends and we loved to travel. He was young and fun."
Cecil leaves behind Tami, his son, two stepchildren and two grandchildren; his son, Chris, posted an appeal to the other person involved in the altercation, on KRDO's Facebook page ; he asked the person to "be a man and step up and take accountability for your actions."
The area where the altercation occurred is in a construction zone -- a narrow corridor only two lanes wide with concrete barriers on each side and no convenient shoulder for vehicles to pull over.
Tami said that family and friends are planning to organize a memorial to celebrate Cecil's life.
"He was a wonderful person," she said. "This was just a tragic accident. I hope we all learn from whatever comes out of it."
Her husband's untimely death is not her first recent brush with tragedy; she works at a school near the Penrose funeral home where 115 decomposing bodies were found; and some of her family knew Dakota Miller, 17, who died in a car crash last week on Highway 115 near the El Paso/Fremont county line.
The FPD said this is still an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 719-382-4200 or the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 719-634-7867 or by clicking here.
