Purgatory Chasm death ruled a suicide

SUTTON, Mass. (AP) -- Authorities say the death of a 39-year-old hiker who fell 80 feet at the Purgatory Chasm State Reservation in south-central Massachusetts has been ruled a suicide.

A spokesman for the Worcester district attorney's office says Matthew Felts of Uxbridge died of blunt-force trauma to the torso in the July 4 fall. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Telegram & Gazette reports that the medical examiner ruled the death a suicide based on all of the evidence, including interviews with people who knew Felts.

Police think Felts was alone when he plunged from Fat Man's Misery, one of the highest peaks in the Sutton park.

Felts' is the eighth death in 136 years at Purgatory Chasm.