After the death of Elliott Blair in Mexico, the family ordered the body to be handed over to the morgue

The body of an Orange County attorney whose death in Mexico remains unsolved has been returned to Southern California, where his family has ordered an independent autopsy, their attorney said.

Elliott Blair, 33, was found dead on January 14 at the Las Rocas Resort and Spa in Rosarito Beach, a popular tourist area in Baja California. He and his wife, Kimberly Williams, also an Orange County assistant public defender, were on vacation to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

Mexican authorities have attributed Blair’s death to an accidental fall from an open-air catwalk on the hotel’s third floor, but Blair’s family says she was the victim of a “brutal crime.”

The family’s attorney, Case Barnett, said an independent autopsy will be held Wednesday in Los Angeles.

The family “would like to know what happened to him that night, whether it was a fall or an assault,” Barnett said.

Baja California Attorney. General Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez called Blair’s death a “terrible case” and cited an autopsy by the state’s forensic medical examiner’s office. managed it Blair died of head injuries. The report showed no visible injuries consistent with a gunshot or sharp weapon, Carpio said.

Blair’s family members, meanwhile, said they were left to sort through conflicting information and had no direct contact with Mexican authorities, mostly getting information about Blair’s death from intermediaries or local media.

Through their attorney, the family told undercover detective Williams that Blair was shot in the head the night Blair died. About a day later, the family said, a liaison at the coroner’s office said documents in the case indicated that Blair had been “shot in the head” and that her death was being investigated as a homicide.

The family also said a coroner’s liaison said prosecutors ordered Blair’s body embalmed, dashing their hopes of an independent toxicology report to disprove claims Blair was in poor health. drunk to death. Authorities at the scene said Blair was drunk the night of her death, which Williams has repeatedly denied. (The couple had previously been drinking at the hotel bar.)

Carpio denied ordering the remains to be embalmed without permission.

Blair’s family is conducting its own investigation into her death, Barnett said. Through investigators, the family learned that Mexican authorities are investigating the case as a possible homicide and are “investigating it more thoroughly than originally believed.”

It’s unclear whether the case is still open, Barnett said.