Walking into a Reno wrestling match to cheer on their daughter Sammy, Nick and Lindsay Jordan were hard to miss.
The couple wore orange plaid and green pinstriped track suits to cheer on their 12-year-old, who proudly wore a matching ensemble.
Nick, in cheetah-print sneakers, helped coach before the match. Lindsay recorded videos from her phone for parents who couldn’t be there to watch.
Helping out -- in outrageous matching outfits -- was normal for the couple who were well known in the Northern Nevada youth wrestling community, said their three children, Sammy, Haley Jordan, 19, and Deven Simms, 21.
The Sparks couple were found dead in their hotel room in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on July 14. They had traveled with work friends to celebrate Lindsay’s 46 th birthday.
Deven said he has spent the last week trying to figure out what happened to his parents.
“I know now we will never know,” he said.
Deaths ruled not suspicious
Through what information Deven has gathered by translating police reports and medical records, he said Mexican authorities believe their parents’ deaths involved drugs.
“But everything I’ve seen, the amounts of what was found and tests are different in every document,” Deven said.
Deven said because their deaths were not ruled as suspicious, the option to run independent autopsies or tests in the United States wasn’t allowed.
His parents’ bodies have been embalmed and are expected to be flown to a funeral home in Reno this week.
Couple traveled with work friends
Deven said his father didn’t drink, so the idea of them overdosing on drugs is impossible to believe.
“They were there with work friends, too,” he said. “They weren’t going to go and do that.”
Deven said the friends went to his parents' room after they didn’t show up early that morning to talk about plans. Police and hotel staff ushered them away.
“They were so happy to be going on this trip. It’s all my mom talked about,” Haley said.
The first two days of the trip, they sent pictures from the Mexican resort to a family group chat. In her last Facebook post, a picture overlooking the pool and ocean, Lindsay wrote, “Not too bad from our room for our long weekend!”
The last photo of the couple, looking happy and smiling as they had lunch at the Mexican resort, was taken by their friends.
“They were just happy and happy to be on this trip,” Haley said.
Telling Sammy the worst news
Deven said the work friends called him first after his parents were found dead.
Then he called Haley.
Telling Sammy, who still lived at home and depended on her parents for everything, would be harder.
Devon and Haley agreed to meet at their parents' house to tell Sammy when she came home from a trip to Disneyland with her grandmother.
Deven and Haley walked Sammy to their backyard.
“We just said it as bluntly as we could," Deven said. "I didn’t want her to have questions or not know right away they were no longer with us.”
Sammy ran from the backyard, through the house and climbed into her mom’s car. She sat in the passenger seat in the driveway.
“It’s where, at that moment, she felt closest to my mom because she drove Sammy everywhere,” Haley said.
Deven climbed into the driver’s seat and Haley stood by the door next to Sammy.
“We just wanted to surround her,” Haley said. "We just wanted her to know she wasn't alone."
A GoFundMe set up for the children had raised over $85,000 as of Thursday. Nevada Elite Wrestling is hosting a fundraiser to help the family from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 28 at Bowers Mansion Pool in Washoe Valley. Donations accepted.
This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: Children of Sparks couple found dead on vacation in Mexico may never get answers
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