The family of a public defender who mysteriously died after falling from the third story of a hotel in Mexico have suggested authorities are trying to cover up a murder by cremating his body.
Elliot Blair, 33, was celebrating his first wedding anniversary with his wife in the resort town of Rosarito, 20 miles south of the US border, when he fell to his death at around 1.15 am on Saturday morning.
Soon after the incident local news websites reported that ‘authorities’ considered his death to be an ‘unfortunate accident’ and that he was drunk at the time.
However his family have said that he was not intoxicated and was in fact discovered on the ground in clothes he would have been sleeping in – underwear and a t-shirt.
Blair was staying in a room on the third floor of Hotel Las Rocas with his wife Kim, who is also a public defender, when he fell from the public walkway outside his room and not from its private balcony.
The couple has stayed that same room on ‘multiple occasions’ in the past five years, his family said.
It is unclear where his wife was when he fell, but his family said she had been provided multiple versions of what happened and that Mexican authorities have not been forthcoming.
The family of Elliot Blair (right) , 33, who mysteriously died after falling from of a hotel walkway in Mexico have suggested authorities are trying to cover up a murder by cremating his body. He is pictured with his wife Kim
Blair was celebrating his first wedding anniversary with his wife in the resort town of Rosarito when he fell to his death from the third floor of his hotel
‘The family, which has extensive training in criminal law, wholeheartedly believes that based on their initial investigation, that Elliot was the victim of a brutal crime,’ wrote the family’s attorney David Scarsone in a statement.
According to the family the ‘Mexican authorities’ that were cited in initial news reports have not been in touch with them directly and ‘little to no’ investigation was done by the Rosarito Beach Police Department.’
‘No one from the Rosarito Beach Police Department, their district attorney’s office, or any other Mexican official have reached out and spoken to them directly,’ read the statement.
According to Scarsone the only contact the family has had with local authorities came through the coroner’s office, which had not completed a toxicology report as of Monday at 2pm.
It was also suggested the funeral home that has Blair’s body has been pushing to cremate him, thereby eliminating the possibility of a proper death investigation.
‘Yesterday, during a conversation with the funeral home it was suggested he be cremated and the family insisted his body not be cremated in order to conduct a through, complete, independent investigation,’ the family said.
At around 1.15am on January 14 authorities were notified that Blair fell from the balcony of Hotel Las Rocas in the town of Rosarito, just south of Tijuana and off the Tijuana-Ensenada highway.
Blair was a public defender for the Orange County Public Defender’s office. He and his wife Kim were celebrating a year since their marriage in California in January 2022.
Local news site Patrulla 646 Código Rojo reported that hotel staff told authorities of the accident and that when police arrived, Blair was lying face down and unconscious. It was said that when paramedics arrived he was found to be dead.
A Facebook page dedicated to sharing news from the Rosarito area, Rosarito en la Noticia, shared an account of what happened and noted that information was being withheld by local authorities and cited reporting in Californian newspaper The Orange County Register.
The first suggestion that Blair was murdered seems to have been published by The OC Register on Saturday afternoon. The claim in not attributed but reporters spoke with Orange County Public Defender Martin Schwarz.
Schwarz told the outlet: ‘We have been in communication with the family and are doing what we can to support them in this difficult time, including working with local and federal officials to help provide them with answers.’
A worker at the Los Rocas Resort and Spa found California public defender Elliot Blair lying on the ground around 1:15 am Saturday. According to his family he was found in a t-shirt and underwear
His family insist he was not drunk when he fell from the walkway in the early hours of Saturday morning
The couple has stayed that same room in Hotel LAs Rocas on ‘multiple occasions’ in the past five years, his family said
‘Here in Rosarito, the information was not released,’ wrote the author of the Rosarito en la Noticia post.
‘An employee of the hotel reported the unfortunate event to the authorities, who took it upon themselves to hide information,’ they wrote in Spanish.
‘Elliot was a loving husband, son, and brother. Elliot’s tragic, untimely, and suspicious death has left his family and community with a huge hole in their hearts that will never be repaired,’ wrote Scarsone.