Newly released police recording reveals timeline details in Sgt. Drenth's death

PHOENIX - A newly released police recording reveals new details about the timeline of events on the mysterious night Phoenix Police Sgt. Sean Drenth was shot to death on duty.

Drenth was killed with his own shotgun in October, 2010. Homicide detectives are not certain who pulled the trigger.

Drenth had plans, according to his wife, to meet a friend for coffee around 10:30 p.m. the night he died, but he never made it to coffee with his friend. His body was discovered around 10:55 p.m.

According to a recording just released by the Phoenix Police department, the friend, Lt. Chris Moore, told a homicide detective that he tried to call Drenth around 10:29 p.m., and he received no answer from Drenth on the night he died.

Police reports and surveillance video indicate Drenth was alive just three minutes earlier, at 10:26 p.m.

“I didn’t receive a response, and then I heard the radio broadcast (announcing an officer down) 20-25 minutes later,” said Moore, who was also on duty, working in a different part of the city.

Moore said he went to the scene and found his friend. A blanket had already been placed over his body.

“I looked at the blanket, and looked at him just briefly – in my mind – just to really make sure it was him,” said Moore, who told a homicide detective he knew he would be the one to break the news to Drenth’s wife.

“That was not the scene, in my opinion, of a suicide, because it appeared as if something else had happened,” he said. “Something had happened,” he remembered, explaining the odd circumstances of the scene – including seeing Drenth’s handcuffs, flashlight, and duty-cell phone around his body.

“It appeared as if there was some evidence of a struggle,” he said.

Phoenix homicide investigators told ABC15 they have received two tips about Drenth’s death in the last month, but neither provided any good leads.