By GREG RUSSELL, Register Staff Writer
Marietta, Okla. —
Police officials confirmed Friday’s train impact death of Dennis Gregory Sampson, a 49-year-old resident of Lone Grove, Okla., now suspected of committing suicide.
Marietta Police Department Chief Dustin Scott said Sampson evidently took his own life around 7:40 p.m. Friday at the city’s Creek Street Crossing by stepping in front of the “Heartland Flyer” Amtrak train.
Sampson, the chief said, was employed in Marietta and was reportedly observed by co-workers to have made plans for his death.
“All the evidence we have now indicates he intended to take his own life,” Scott said Monday, adding that officials from Burlington Northern Santa Fe are involved with the investigation. “We’re still waiting for the video recording from Amtrak, which we think will help close the case.”
Scott said video footage is expected to be made available today and fluids were taken from the scene and sent to Oklahoma medical examiners for a toxicology report.
The incident reportedly had only one witness, the train’s engineer, whose account of the incident matches others suggesting the death was suicide.
Scott said Marietta’s three train crossings have been stage to several such incidents in the past.
“It’s the first time in several years,” he said. “There have been at least 10, and I know it’s happened here before. But that was well before my time.”
