US attorney Elliot Blair ‘victim of brutal crime’ in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, death, family claims



CNN

An American public defender who died this month. during the celebration his first wedding anniversary in Mexico “was the victim of a brutal crime,” his family said, noting that a coroner’s representative told them the case had been forwarded to the local prosecutor’s office “for a possible murder investigation.”

Elliot Blair, 33, deputy public defender for Orange County, California, died of a “severe head injury,” a spokesman said, citing an autopsy, according to a family statement provided by their attorney, David Scarsone.

Blair was found dead Saturday at the Las Rocas resort in Rosarito Beach, 45 miles south of San Diego, where he and his wife Kim were staying.

The Baja California Attorney General’s Office said the death appeared to be “the result of an accidental fall from the third floor,” its statement to the Orange County Register said.

The agency did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. Rosarito Beach Police did not immediately return calls from CNN.

According to them, Blair’s family did not contact Mexican law enforcement about his death.

“The family, who have extensive legal training in criminal law, sincerely believes, based on their initial investigation, that Elliot was the victim of a violent crime,” the statement said.

Las Rocas Resort & Spa Rosarito is visible in this aerial photograph.

Although Blair’s relatives do not provide any concrete evidence of the crime, they dispute his death on the balcony of the resort suite and say it happened outside the suite’s front door in an open-air passageway, according to the statement.

“Elliot was not intoxicated at the time of this incident,” family members said, adding that they told the coroner’s representative that they would hire a private firm to conduct an independent investigation, including toxicology. According to them, the representative informed them that the toxicology report had not been completed.

family against cremation Blair’s body, they said, noting that they had been told several times in conversations with the funeral home that the authorities had recommended the process.

The Blair memorial fundraiser was organized by a colleague to help Blair’s wife with the “cumbersome process of transporting Elliot’s body from Mexico to the US and handling all the bureaucratic red tape,” according to a donation page created by Annie Rodriguez. , which was approached by CNN.

“We would like to provide everyone with more information, but the Mexican authorities have disclosed very limited information,” the message says.

Elliot and Kim have worked in the Orange County Public Defender’s Office since 2017, the page says.

“Elliot was known for a smile on his face and a smart mind,” the website says. “Words are not enough to express the level of love he felt for Kim. Kim was his life. They just started building a life together in their first year of marriage.”

Orange County Public Defender Martin Schwartz directed CNN to Scarsona.