Saratoga Springs

Derrick Rockenstire said he was momentarily consoled over his father's death last week when a police investigator invited him to pick up an uncashed voucher worth $1,040 that his dad had won at Saratoga Casino and Raceway. At least, the son thought, he'd have money to help bury his father, who died of a possible heroin overdose.

But when the Milton man showed up at the Saratoga Springs police station on Jan. 8, an officer handed him his dad's belongings, including five losing Win 4 Lottery tickets but nothing from the casino. There must have been a misunderstanding, Rockenstire recalled the officer telling him. Confused, the son tried to cash the lottery tickets, but they were all losers.

"The situation is making me crazy," Rockenstire, 34, said Thursday. "I was initially told something, then told something else. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just saying what's happening."

The story of what happened to Donald Rockenstire, a 53-year-old Saratoga Springs man whom police found unconscious in a hotel Jan. 6, has grown into a Saratoga mystery.

On Thursday — 10 days after the death of Donald Rockenstire— police still couldn't verify if he had visited the casino off Crescent Avenue or won money there. They said there was no indication the man was killed or targeted for winnings. The cause of death won't be determined until completion of a toxicology report, which police said would take months.

But Derrick Rockenstire, an employee at Xtra Mart on South Broadway, says Saratoga Springs Investigator Jack Barney told him twice that police recovered a casino voucher among his father's possessions. His mother, Kathy Tyrel of Ballston Spa, said she heard Barney tell her son that police recovered a casino voucher worth $1,040 while they talked on a speaker phone in a funeral home. The son said Donald Rockenstire showed the $1,040 casino voucher to his landlord, who confirmed its existence. He said police changed their story about the voucher when he went to the police station to pick it up and an officer instead handed him the losing lottery tickets.

"I feel like I have been getting railroaded, the runaround," Rockenstire said.

On Thursday, the police department released a statement saying one person they interviewed told them they had seen Donald Rockenstire holding a winning ticket of some kind. But the department denied Barney confirming that it existed. Asked about the case Thursday, Rita Cox, a vice president at the casino, said company officials were working with police.

"We can't comment on an ongoing investigation," Cox said.

Police said they found Donald Rockenstire unresponsive in room 238 of the Hilton Garden Inn on South Broadway just after midnight on Jan. 6 after responding to a call for medical assistance.

Lt. Robert Jillson said the man likely died of a heroin overdose and police were investigating if he had won money at Saratoga Casino and Raceway or in the lottery. Police on Tuesday had refused to identify the deceased man, citing privacy concerns.

On Wednesday, they released his name after reporters requested the information under the state Freedom of Information Law. The Saratogian newspaper first reported Derrick Rockenstire's concerns on Thursday.

In an interview, Derrick Rockenstire said a city police officer called him and visited his father's landlord after a Saratogian reporter inquired about a lost gambling voucher. "It seemed like they were annoyed at me for talking to reporters," he said. The landlord couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.

Donald Rockenstire's death is the latest instance in which area residents have questioned city police actions and the department's communications.

Last fall, crowds of people protested six officers' aggressive pursuit of Darryl Mount. The 21-year-old was severely injured Aug. 31 when he fell about 20 feet off scaffolding while trying to elude arrest. Police said Mount assaulted a woman and they had not caused his fall.

Last month, police were forced to withdraw hate crime charges that they lodged against two men after the Saratoga County district attorney said the police erred in pressing the charges. The department did not issue a news release last month about a 54-year-old woman who died of exposure while spending the night outside in frigid temperatures.

Police did not send out a statements about Donald Rockenstire's death, although the call for assistance was mentioned in its daily blotter.

Donald Rockenstire worked at the Saratoga Hilton on Broadway, lived on Spa Circle and struggled with drinking and debt, his son said. "My father had nothing," Derrick Rockenstire said. "He had cats."

Derrick Rockenstire does not accuse anyone of killing his father or stealing from him. For him and his mother, their time of grieving has been marked by nagging questions and nervousness. Donald Rockenstire was cremated. Services were Tuesday in the Armer Funeral Home in Ballston Spa.

dyusko@timesunion.com • 518-454-5353 • @DAYusko