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TOOELE — A fight between two roommates Sunday night over "a mess in the house" ended with one man dead from an apparent asthma attack and another in jail and charged with manslaughter, police said.
Monty Shane Degelbeck, 53, and Christopher Warr, 28, were in their Tooele home, 70 S. Broadway Ave. Apt. B, when their verbal argument turned physical about 9:30 p.m., police said. During the fight, Warr "stopped breathing, possibly suffering from an asthma attack," said Tooele police spokeswoman Tanya Turnbow.
"Mr. Warr and Mr. Degelbeck separated and Mr. Warr attempted to treat his asthma attack but lost consciousness," Turnbow said in a statement.
Warr was taken to Mountain West Medical Center where he died late Sunday. Degelbeck was arrested and was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
Turbow said Degelbeck and his girlfriend told police officers that the roommates were in "an altercation" before Warr's asthma attack.
Degelbeck was initially booked into the Tooele County Jail for investigation of murder. But further investigation Monday, Turnbow said, made it apparent that the death was a case of manslaughter, which is a lower offense.
"As our investigation continued today … we started to find that the element of (murder) was not there," she said, adding that Warr suffered no obvious trauma as a result of his fight with Degelbeck.
Degelbeck and Warr were in "an argument over a mess made in the house," according to a Tooele County Jail report. Degelbeck held Warr on the floor "with one hand on (Warr's) throat," the report states. Degelbeck told police that Warr lunged at him before he pinned Warr to the ground.
"The suspect stated he grabbed the victim by the shirt, near the collar, and pushed him to the ground," police wrote. Degelbeck claimed he let Warr go after he reported he was having trouble breathing. Degelbeck's girlfriend told investigators she "separated the two and assisted with getting the victim with his asthma treatment," according to the report.
"The victim got to his feet, but continued to struggle breathing," the report states. "The victim sat in a chair and attempted a nebulizer treatment, but lost consciousness."
The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office has been asked to assist police in the investigation.
Utah state court records indicate that Degelbeck, a longtime Tooele resident, was convicted of misdemeanor theft charges in 2013, retail theft in February 2014, and two misdemeanor counts of drug paraphernalia possession in December of that year.
