Family of OC public defender who died in Mexico hire a new attorney to get answers
The family of an Orange County public defender who died while vacationing in Mexico last week are not satisfied with what government officials are telling them about the cause of his death and have a new attorney fighting for them.
Mexican authorities say Elliot Blair died in an accidental fall from his Rosarito Beach hotel balcony onto a sidewalk below. His family does not believe this narrative, they think the 33 year old was the victim of a crime.
His death has been recorded as a tragic accident, falling two stories to his death as his wife slept in the other room. But at the scene of the accident, Blair's family attorney, Case Barnett said that a plainclothes detective there at the death scene had said there was a wound inconsistent with the fall. He said there was a gunshot wound to Blair's head according to Barnett.
Barnett says the family is still trying to get his body back into the United States for a private autopsy. A toxicology examination cannot be done because per procedure the body was embalmed.
Mexican authorities indicated that Blair's blood alcohol level was very high at the time of his death – a claim Blair's wife disputes.
Attorney Barnett shared happy pictures of Blair and his wife celebrating their one year wedding anniversary in Mexico and a video of them dancing just hours before his death.
The family claims that Mexican authorities have contradicted themselves. Barnett said a coroner's liaison in Mexico told Blair's wife Kim, that autopsy results do not have a gunshot wound documented, but that the report would be forwarded to the prosecutor's office as a homicide case. Barnett says all of this is causing the family great pain.
"Because of the way it was handled initially, we are never going to have the information. There are facts that existed then that don't exist now, that aren't attainable now," said Barnett.
Blair's body remains in Mexico. It was reported that officials said it'll be about another week before his remains are returned to the U.S.
Baja California Attorney General Ricardo Ivan Carpio Sanchez said his office is cooperating with the Department of Justice and the FBI on the investigation.