A man accused of a double-homicide died in custody after experiencing a “medical emergency” at the Missoula County Detention facility last Wednesday and audio of the 911 call from this alleged medical emergency was captured and released to the public.
For more context on how local media reported this death, here’s an article from KPAX:
The suspect arrested after the deadly shooting of a Lincoln Co. deputy and a woman died after experiencing a medical emergency in the Missoula County Detention Facility on Wednesday, according to the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office.
50-year-old Kalispell resident Matthew Dye was charged with two counts of deliberate homicide in connection with the deaths of Lincoln County Deputy Ryan Terpsma and Merissa Walker, along with one count of attempted deliberate homicide.
Wednesday evening, officers responded to Dye’s cell after he appeared to have a medical emergency. The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office says Dye was transported to the hospital after detention medical staff assessed him.
Dye became unresponsive during transport, and life-saving measures were initiated. He was pronounced dead at St. Patrick’s Hospital, according to the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Jeremiah Peterson requested that the Missoula Police Department investigate the death. Video and documentation have been given to the police department while Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy coroners conduct coroner duties.
The 24 second audio clip was NOT officially released by authorities, like I originally thought. Instead, according to this article, the audio clip was captured by an app that monitors first-responder audio channels. Here’s the audio clip:
After listening to this clip several times and reading the account of what the media has been told, something is off. To explain what I mean, let’s start with the sequence of events that led to Matthew Dye being placed in a “wrap” restraint. Did this happen BEFORE the thrashing or AFTER? Because the only scenario that makes sense is that the wrap was used BECAUSE of Dye’s conduct.
To explain what I’m talking about, here’s the excerpt from the link that includes the language of the 911 call:
“On the evening of November 4, officers at the Missoula County Detention Facility responded to Matthew D. Dye’s cell, after observing he appeared to be experiencing a medical emergency,” the press release stated. “Detention medical staff responded, assessed Mr. Dye and requested he be transported to the hospital via ambulance. During transport by EMS, Mr. Dye became unresponsive and life-saving measures were initiated. Mr. Dye was pronounced deceased at St. Patrick’s Hospital.”
The audio of the emergency dispatch call was captured from an app that records publicly available emergency broadcast signals. That app listed the call as being made at 5:28 p.m.
The audio reveals that the 50-year-old inmate was conscious when he was found.
A dispatcher can be heard saying that an emergency response, including medical, was needed at the Missoula County Detention Center.
“This is for a gentleman, a 50-year-old male, who’s conscious and breathing, has a traumatic injury, bleeding,” the dispatcher says. “He is being put in a wrap and violently throwing himself around.”
Some obvious questions come to mind, like whether or not Matthew Dye was alone in his cell, but those questions won’t be answered any time soon. That said, at least someone at the Missoulian did ask them:
The Missoulian asked Smith if Dye had a cellmate, if there were cameras in his cell and if a wrap is a typical restraint used by officers.
Smith said she was unable to answer those questions but that more information will be released in coordination with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Missoula Police Department as it becomes available.
Smith said Dye was being held at the Missoula County Detention Facility at the request of Flathead County.
I don’t have to speculate that plenty of people are VERY HAPPY that Matthew Dye died in the manner that he did because all anyone has to do is read the Facebook comment section of any of the articles about this death and you’ll see that sentiment expressed.
While I don’t consider every armchair commentator on Facebook to be relevant for their expressions of joy over Dye’s death, one person’s commentary DID get my attention, since retired Detective, Guy Baker, is no mere armchair commentator. That’s why I think it’s pretty interesting Baker had this to say:
Another place I saw this sentiment pop up is from an X account handled by multiple people who are trying to be Montana media influencers.
Who is “we” I asked these anonymous wannabes?
While I didn’t get a direct response, this account’s opinion is interesting to me because the people who operate it are trying to be an official news publication, according to their pinned tweet:
Who are these social media influencers in Montana pitching paid work to write for them while celebrating the death of a homicide suspect?
Since “theSOURCE406” hides behind anonymity, I don’t know who they are, but they’re definitely on my radar after I saw their business pitch to pay writers while also claiming how politically diverse “they” are in a curious post defending Governor Gianforte as a self-made example of successful business acumen.
Going back to the dead people law enforcement are responsible for either killing or allowing to die, like Dye, south of Missoula, in Ravalli County, an old man pressed a medical alert device and the response he got from the FEMALE Sheriff Deputy was a bullet, killing him in the doorway of his own home.
While this happened in 2024, the Coroner’s Inquest a year later gave Deputy Cassi Kopsa the ALL CLEAR for killing an old man in medical distress, so now the family is suing:
In the early hours of Nov. 20, 2024, Laurence “Larry” Conklin Sr. pressed his medical alert device. The device was designed to protect his health, but court filings indicate it played a key role in Conklin’s death.
Soon after the medical alert was sent to local first responders, a Ravalli County sheriff’s deputy arrived at Conklin’s home outside of Stevensville.
Less than five minutes later, that officer fired a single, fatal shot through Conklin’s screen door, killing the 85-year-old who suffered from severe hearing loss, according to documents and video obtained by Lee Montana.
…
“Without any cause or justification,” Conklin’s family alleged in their lawsuit, the deputy “shot and killed Conklin through his glass storm door as he stood in the entry of his own house.”
When asked for comment on the incident, the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office referred Lee Montana to the Montana Association of Counties, which is representing the office in court. Attorneys for the MAC did not respond to a request for comment from Lee Montana.
Efforts to reach a lawyer representing Deputy Cassi Kopsa, the officer who fired the fatal shot, were also unsuccessful.
Further down in this article, which is behind a paywall and therefore NOT being widely read, the reporter admits how a dead white man killed by a Sheriff Deputy barely got any attention, despite Conklin being one of four men shot and killed over the years in Ravalli County by law enforcement.
Conklin is one of four people who have died in law enforcement encounters in Ravalli County since 2016, according to data provided by the sheriff’s office to Lee Montana.
Conklin and one other man, Zachary Athearn, were shot by law enforcement officers.
Besides an initial story announcing the officer-involved shooting, Conklin’s case has received scant coverage since it occurred.
It’s no mystery to me why “scant coverage” occurs when law enforcement kills people. These types of deaths can become very explosive, as we’ve seen in the highly publicized deaths of black men, like George Floyd, so of course this is where narrative control flexes its toughest muscles.
One of those muscles is the Montana Association of Counties, the entity named in the article above as doing the PAID work (I’m assuming) to defend the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office in court from this wrongful death lawsuit. For those who don’t know, Missoula’s own County Commissioner, Juanita Vero, is leading this organization after Mineral County’s Commissioner, Roman Zylawy, led it a few years ago.
Hmmm.
Juanita Vero ran unopposed this election cycle, just like Missoula’s Sheriff AND County Attorney. Add Sheriff Petersen’s wife to the mix–who can help with narrative control from her position at Saint Patrick’s hospital, where Matthew Dye officially died–and you’ve got an impressive amount of concentrated power to control how narratives emerge for public consumption.
Is that why Lake County wanted Missoula to take Matthew Dye?
If Sheriffs in Montana think they’re untouchable, well, they pretty much are, as evidenced by the writ of Mandamus/Brady cop/nothingburger fiascos overseen by the judge that just awarded Sheriff Funke’s lawyers $25,000 grand.
At least Mineral County citizens had a choice this election cycle!
If you want to know more about where my extreme cynicism comes from, here are some of the posts I’ve paid a heavy price for writing over the last few years:
“The Extensive, Yet Incomplete, Collection Of Articles On Sean Stevenson And The Magic Chokehold + Sheriff’s Office Act That Killed Him” (October 26th, 2023)
“Pulp Dictation? MIA Sheriff? Dead Grandma?” (January 31st, 2024)
“Mineral County: The Fucked Up Western Gateway To The Failed State Of Montana” (April 10th, 2024)
“The Curious Text Exchange Between A Detective Guy And A Journalist Guy” (May 31st, 2024)
“Reddit Does Better Investigations Than The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office” (July 23rd, 2024)
“What The Funke Is Wrong With Mineral County, And Is It Spreading?” (January 16th, 2025)
“Scoop Confirmed: Detective Guy Baker “On His Way” To Retiring” (July 24th, 2025)
“AMERICA UPSIDE DOWN, Part II: The High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area And Law Enforcement Inversion” (April 28th, 2026)
“Enjoy Nibbling Sheriff Funke’s Nothingburger, Judge Mandamus” (May 15th, 2026)
“Mineral County Elects New Sheriff To Fight The Demons!” (June 4th, 2026)
“How Is Lance Jasper Going To Run His New Law Firm?” (September 10th, 2026)
“What Does Missoula’s Police Chief, Mike Colyer, Know About The Death Of Sean Stevenson?” (September 21st, 2026)
“Looking At Jack Maxvill’s Role In The Setup To Kill Johnny Lee Perry With New Eyes” (October 1st, 2026)
“If Cameras Inside The Mineral County Courthouse Have Ears, Who, Besides Sheriff Funke, Could Be Listening?” (October 27th, 2026)
“Montana Democrats, Political Bribery, And The Problem Of The Political Sheriff” (October 29th, 2026)
With all this close watching of local power’s total lack of accountability over the years, do I think Matthew Dye was set up to die?
Yeah, I sure do, and I think Guy Baker’s commentary is representative of how brazenly the people with qualified immunity think they can kill people, whether it’s in a private hospital room, a “secured” jail cell, or out in the woods where the guns out numbered the machete many to one.
Tomorrow, before my “jury conference” hearing in Justice Court, I’m going to put up a post about what I think the value of this blog is, in terms of hard numbers, then I may go dark for a week while I work to make some changes behind the scenes before the WordPress business account that I can’t afford fails to renew and freezes me out from an asset I’ve spent 10 years developing, with over 3,000 posts and well over a half million views.
So stay tuned, and thanks for reading.
