A story at Cycling Weekly sums it up as "mysterious but horrific," and it's hard to disagree. What's not in dispute is that 28-year-old Dillen Mauer—a former pro bicyclist who is now a renowned frame builder in New Mexico—lost a foot over Labor Day weekend. What is in dispute is how it happened. Mauer called 911 last Sunday and reported he had been struck by an ATV while cycling, reports the Guardian. But in a GoFundMe post, wife Jenn Mauer says the local sheriff reached a shockingly different conclusion hours later. She said he told her: "The case is closed. There was no hit and run. Your husband cut his own foot off with a chainsaw.'"
The Taos News reports that Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe did indeed retract the initial report of a hit-and-run and said the 911 caller had actually cut off his own foot. The sheriff's office was still investigating the case. Cycling Weekly reports that blood trails suggest whatever happened occurred just 600 feet from the Mauers' house and that Mauer's bicycle was found inside the garage. However, Mauer explains that by saying he had left his phone at home and used the bike to prop himself up as he went back there to retrieve it and call for help, per Cycling Weekly.
"Self-harm is wildly inconsistent with his character," says wife Jenn (who was out of town the day her husband lost his foot), adding that "his whole life is being active" and that he was in good spirits the previous night. However, she acknowledges that her husband struggles with his memory because of a head injury he sustained years ago. "Unless he gets his memory back, I fear we'll never know what actually happened." Mauer remains hospitalized. (More bicycling stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
