Family orders post-mortem after Elliot Blair’s loss of life in Mexico

The physique of an Orange County lawyer whose loss of life in Mexico remains to be clouded by questions has been returned to Southern California, the place his household has ordered an unbiased post-mortem, in keeping with their lawyer.

Elliot Blair, 33, was discovered useless Jan. 14 at Las Rocas Resort and Spa in Rosarito Beach, a well-liked vacationer space in Baja California. He and his spouse, Kimberly Williams, additionally an Orange County deputy public defender, had been on trip celebrating their first marriage ceremony anniversary.

Mexican authorities attributed Blair’s loss of life to an unintentional fall from an open-air, third-floor walkway on the lodge, however Blair’s household stated they consider he was the “victim of a brutal crime.”

The unbiased post-mortem is more likely to be performed Wednesday in Los Angeles, stated Case Barnett, the household’s lawyer.

The household needs to know “what happened to him that night, whether it was a fall or an attack, we want to know,” Barnett stated.

Baja California Atty. Gen. Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez known as Blair’s loss of life a “terrible case” and stated an post-mortem performed by the state’s Forensic Medical Service dominated that Blair died of a traumatic mind damage. The report didn’t point out seen accidents according to a firearm or sharp weapon, Carpio stated.

Blair’s relations, in the meantime, stated they’ve been left to decipher conflicting data and haven’t had direct contact with Mexican authorities, usually receiving reviews about Blair’s loss of life from intermediaries or native media.

Through their lawyer, the household has stated that on the night time of Blair’s loss of life, a plainclothes detective advised Williams that Blair suffered a gunshot wound to the pinnacle. About a day later, in keeping with the household, a contact on the coroner’s workplace stated that the paperwork within the case indicated Blair sustained a “blow to the head” and that his loss of life was being investigated as a murder.

The household additionally stated the coroner liaison advised them prosecutors had ordered for Blair’s physique to be embalmed, which eradicated their hopes of conducting an unbiased toxicology report back to refute statements that Blair was inebriated when he died. Authorities on the scene on the night time Blair died steered he was drunk, which Williams repeatedly denied. (The couple had beforehand been consuming on the lodge bar.)

Carpio has denied that the stays had been ordered to be embalmed with out permission.

Blair’s household is mounting its personal investigation into his loss of life, Barnett stated. Through its investigators, the household realized that Mexican authorities “are conducting a more thorough investigation than we had initially believed” by probing the case as a attainable murder.

It was unclear whether or not the case was nonetheless open, Barnett stated.