New details have emerged in the case of an American man who mysteriously died at a Mexican resort last week. Public defender Elliot Blair, 33, and his wife, Kimberly Williams, celebrated their first wedding anniversary at the Las Rocas Resort in Rosarito Beach, about 45 miles south of San Diego. Blair died during the trip, and his family is looking for answers about what really happened to him.
Earlier this week, CafeMom reported that Blair died outside his hotel room in the early morning hours of January 14. Mexican officials reportedly provided minimal information about the cause of Blair's death at time. His family believes he was the "victim of a brutal crime," but Mexican officials contend that Blair was drunk and he fell from a third-floor balcony.
In a new report from the New York Post, Williams claims officials at the scene told her that Blair had been shot in the head the night of his death. Now, all the family wants is the truth.
An autopsy conducted by Mexican authorities indicated that Blair died from a fall.
The Baja California attorney general's office reported that the autopsy found Blair's death was the "result of an unfortunate accident from a fall by the now deceased from a third-story floor," according to the Orange County Register.
The family is not satisfied with that conclusion and is investigating. Blair's family's attorney, Case Barnett, told the New York Post Blair's family agrees that he fell, but they are unsure what happened to cause that fall.
Blair's family claims that he was embalmed.
According to Barnett, the family could not perform an independent toxicology report on Blair's body because the district attorney in Mexico ordered his body to be embalmed. Mexican authorities claim that is not true.
Authorities believe that Blair was intoxicated, causing his fall. The Baja California attorney general's office told the Los Angeles Times that the autopsy determined "there was no sign of violence." They also allege there was no bullet wound.
Williams needed help communicating with officials at the scene.
Barnett said there was a language barrier, and Williams needed an interpreter's assistance. She called on a family friend near the area to help.
"The cop at the scene — the lead investigating officer, he's in plain clothes wearing a badge around his neck, tells Kim that there's a bullet hole in Elliot's head," Barnett said. "And that kind of starts this whole thing with the violence of it all."
From this point on, information from authorities was often conflicting and led the family to question what actually happened.
The coroner's office contacted the family days after his death to report its findings.
When the family spoke with the liaison from the coroner's office, they were told Blair died from head trauma. They also stated that his death would be reported to prosecutors as a suspected homicide. At this time, the family questioned the appearance of a bullet wound, and all the office would say was that there was head trauma, according to Barnett.
"The liaison says if it was a gunshot to head, it wouldn't say head trauma, it would say gunshot wound to the head," Barnett said. "So the family is confused."
The family still doesn't have Blair's body.
Mexican authorities reportedly embalmed Blair's body, so no additional toxicology reports will be conducted. This is a disappointment to his family, which wants to prove that he was not drunk at the time of the fall. Barnett alleged that the mortuary told the family that the prosecutor's office ordered Blair's embalmment.
The Baja California attorney general's office told the LA Times it is the family's prerogative to decide what to do with the body. The representative contends that authorities would not decide to embalm. The New York Post stated that the family previously alleged officials wanted Blair's body cremated.
What happened before Blair fell is still a mystery.
The New York Post reported that the Baja California attorney general's office believes Blair went to the balcony to shoo pigeons. Barnett said Williams was talking to a family friend on the scene about Blair scaring pigeons away from the balcony at some point during the vacation. He believes the attorney general's office took that to mean he was scaring pigeons at the time of his fall.
Williams fell asleep before Blair, Barnett said, and was woken by hotel staff who told he was dead. She called out for help, but the staff told her an ambulance had been at the hotel hours before and that police were on the way.
"We don't know what he was doing out there," Barnett said of Blair. "We're trying to find out." The investigation remains open and active with the family's private investigators.
"We wish we could provide everyone with more information, but very limited information has been disclosed by authorities in Mexico. He was the victim of a brutal crime. His family is working with US Officials to gain more information," a GoFundMe for the family stated.
