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TUF 10’s Zak Jensen Faces Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Posted by Cory Brady on Friday, October 30, 2009 at 6:43 pm• 13 Comments
The Stillwater Gazette has reported that the family of the late Josh Gunderson filed a wrongful death lawsuit against The Ultimate Fighter 10 cast member Zak Jensen in a Washington County Court late Thursday, along with a man by the name of Jason Jones and Sterling Systems, which is owned by Jones. All of which have been accused of negligence in Gunderson’s death.
The lawsuit was formally filed by Elizabeth Gunderson Koll, mother to the deceased Josh Gunderson on his behalf.
According to published reports, Gunderson died in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico during a March vacation along with Jensen and a female by the name of Ashley Jones. Apparently Jensen was working for the Jones family as a bodyguard.
While details surrounding exactly what happened that fateful day in Mexico are still coming to the surface, below is an account of what went on by the Stillwater Gazette:
A statement included with the court documents offers the first accounts of what happened prior to Gunderson’s death.
Concierge Ma de Lourdes Becerra Perez said she got involved when she heard a woman talking loudly on the phone, saying “There is nothing I can do, he is not breathing.” She then saw Jensen run down the stairs in a bloody white shirt.
Ashley Jones was trying to close her suitcase and talking on her cell phone when Perez arrived in the room. She said, “I’m going to the airport now,” and Jensen added that “Her parents are trying to get a flight to go back home,” Perez said.
When Perez asked what happened, Jensen told her he woke up to Jones’ screaming, “Get off of me.” He said he got up and saw Josh on top of her and attacking her. Jensen told Perez he took Gunderson away from her but had to defend himself when Gunderson turned on him.
Gunderson walked toward the bathroom and Jensen went to console Jones, Perez recalled Jensen saying. They then heard a “strong noise” in the bathroom. Jensen walked into the bathroom and found Gunderson.
Perez said his head was on the edge of the shower and his right leg was elevated and in the toilet when she saw him.
Jensen began crying and saying the he just defended himself, Perez recalled. He then said that he tried to give him mouth to mouth and CPR.
Perez said she had to tell the bell boy to stop Jones when she saw her walking fast toward the lobby. She later disappeared after she allegedly told a security employee that she had to make a phone call.
Jensen remained in the room “pulling his hair and crying,” said Perez, who recalled him saying, “He shouldn’t be with her … He was liking her but she didn’t.”
“I’m speaking for my son,” said Elizabeth Gunderson Koll. “I just don’t know how these people can live with themselves and go on with their lives and not speak to us.”
Jensen’s management was not immediately available for comment. Stay tuned to FiveOuncesofPain as we keep you up to date on this still developing story.
As Josh Gunderson lay dead in a pool of blood in a hotel bathroom in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, his friend Ashley Jones tried to arrange a flight home to Minnesota, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed Thursday in Washington County District Court.
When a concierge at the Sheraton Hotel entered the room where Gunderson and Jones were staying on spring break, she saw Jones "squatting, trying to close a suitcase and talking on her cell phone," she told authorities.
The concierge, Lourdes Becerra Perez, asked what Jones was doing and was told: "I'm going to the airport now." Zachary Jensen, who was traveling with Jones and Gunderson, told Perez that Jones' parents were "trying to get her a flight to go back home."
The concierge's statement was included in a lawsuit filed against Jensen; Jason Jones, Ashley's father; and Jones' company, Sterling Systems, of Golden Valley.
Gunderson, 20, a University of St. Thomas freshman from Stillwater, died March 24 after he apparently slipped and hit his head on the bathroom floor. A spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico, said in March that it appeared to be an accident.
But the Gunderson family's civil suit alleges that Jensen and Gunderson "had a physical struggle or confrontation" and that Jensen caused Gunderson to "aspirate on gastric contents, asphyxiate and die." Gunderson had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12, according to a forensic pathologist's report included in the lawsuit.
(By comparison, a Minnesota driver is legally drunk with a level of 0.08.)
Jensen told Perez he was awakened by Jones screaming "Get off of me!" Jensen said he saw Gunderson attacking Jones and that when he intervened, Gunderson attacked him.
He told Perez: "That's why I came down here, to protect her."
Jensen, 27, a mixed-martial arts fighter who has appeared on Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter," was Jones' father's chauffeur and was in Mexico working as Jones' bodyguard, according to the attorney for the Gunderson family.
Jensen had bloodstains on his T-shirt, hands, arms and right leg when Perez came into the hotel room, according to her statement.
"I just defended myself, he was attacking me and it just happened, I tried to give him breath from my mouth and tried to give him CPR but he didn't respond at all. I can't believe! This should not happen," Perez said Jensen told her.
The Gunderson family claims Jensen and Jones were the last people to see Josh alive and the pair have refused to communicate about the events leading to Josh's death.
Jones left Mexico before police could question her and has been served with a subpoena compelling her deposition testimony, said John Magnuson, the attorney for Liz Gunderson-Koll, Gunderson's mother.
Attempts to reach Jones and Jensen by phone were unsuccessful Thursday night.
Gunderson-Koll said not knowing what happened to her son has been heartbreaking.
"It tears you up inside," she said. "Here she is packing her suitcase as my son is lying there. Now, I'm just angry. Josh, right now he doesn't have a voice, so we're his voice, so we will find out what happened and we will get justice for him."
Gunderson-Koll, who lives in Stillwater, said more information about Gunderson's death — including Jensen's statement to Mexican police — would be released this morning at a news conference at Magnuson's law office in Stillwater.
Gunderson was a hockey captain at Stillwater Area High School, where he graduated in 2007. He attended St. Mary's University of Winona before transferring to St. Thomas.
Gunderson and Jones had a class together at the University of St. Thomas and had become friends, Gunderson-Koll said. Gunderson had spent time with Jones at her house in Minnetonka and they had watched the movie "Twilight" together.
"I hadn't met her, but he had talked about her," Gunderson-Koll said. "He said, 'I don't want a girlfriend right now, but she's nice.' "
Gunderson's family is asking for more than $50,000 in the lawsuit, but the ultimate goal of Thursday's legal action is to find out what happened to Josh, Magnuson said.
"They are seeking the truth as to how and why this very special and promising young man ended up dead in a pool of blood on the floor of a Mexican hotel room," he said. "The ultimate goal of the family is ... making sure that justice is done in his memory."
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