Autopsy: Bloodstains in hotel room where CA public defender found dead

Bloodstains were found in the hotel room and hallway of the Rosarito Beach resort where Elliot Blair (pictured right), a California public defender, was found dead. Wife Kimberly Williams (pictured left) and Blair, 33, had been celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary at the Las Rocas Resort and Spa in Mexico, just south of Tijuana and off the Tijuana-Ensenada highway. Authorities have continually claimed that his death was an ‘accident’ while his family say that he was the victim of a ‘brutal crime.’ But the presence of blood in the bathroom has now raised questions about the cause of his death, with the autopsy report indicating that Blair may have sustained an injury before he died. 

The report, prepared by a coroner in the state of Baja California, Mexico, stated that reddish-brown spots were found on the internal surface of the bathroom door and hallway, and on the concrete floor outside the room. Williams, discovered her husband’s body on the ground below the couple’s hotel room balcony at around 1.15am on January 14. The autopsy listed the death as an ‘aggravated homicide,’ but Mexican authorities have continued to claim it was an accidental fall from a second floor balcony. The family and friends of Blair, who worked as a public defender in Orange County are seeking answers regarding his death.

‘It’s odd, confusing and we just want answers,’ said Case Barnett to the New York Post, an attorney representing Blair’s family. ‘The report said there was blood in different places but it’s unclear exactly which samples were taken where … and some of the samples came back as animal blood, which is super weird.’ Williams says her husband had consumed six drinks in the hours before his death but she insists he was not drunk when the couple retired to their room for the night at around 11:45pm. 

The couple (pictured on their wedding day) had massages before heading to dinner together, with Kim saying that she had ‘never seen’ her husband ‘sloppy’ after drinking. The next thing she knew, she heard two voices outside the hotel room at around 1:40am – his sweatpants were at the edge of the bed – and she found her husband’s body on the ground floor. ‘I know 1,000 percent know he was murdered because none of this adds up. I know my husband and he would never walk outside our room in his underwear and T-shirt. The only reason he would be outside of our room only in his underwear is if he heard something or someone came to the door,’ Williams said. 

‘Our goal in all of this is to get answers for Elliot. I have no idea who would do this to him, nor his family, and that’s why we are trying to get these answers. I know in my heart, and based on the autopsy report and injuries found on him, it doesn’t make sense to be anything else but murder.’ She believes he was murdered and that the evidence does not support an accidental fall. The family want to know how Blair’s body came to be found bloodied and face down on the resort walkway.

Williams said called for hotel staff to summon an ambulance but was told medics and been and gone an hour ago after determining Blair was already dead and nothing could be done for him. Williams maintains she remained in the hotel courtyard and was questioned by police, all the while her husband’s body remained exposed and uncovered.

She notes how she did not see Mexican police interviewing anyone at the resort for the four hours she was out of the room. The family is now planning a second private autopsy, but Blair’s body was already embalmed before it was returned to the U.S., in accordance with Mexican law. Pictured: The couple had been out for dinner and drinks before heading back to the hotel, where Elliot Blair was found dead hours later.

Case Barnett, the attorney representing Blair’s family, stated that preliminary findings from the second autopsy showed that Blair suffered at least 40 skull fractures and a toe injury, with evidence of ‘road rash’ on his knees suggesting he may have been dragged. Private investigators hired by the family are searching for more evidence in Mexico, but the trail has gone cold. 

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Earlier this week Williams told how she struggled to sleep in a bed because ‘the last time I was in bed I was woken up to find my husband dead.’ Speaking to ABC, Kim said: ‘They said it was an accident. [Taking his own life], gunshot wound. It was a roller coaster. I mean, everything under the sun except for what I think happened. Someone did this to him. I just remember him telling me how beautiful I looked that night. He was my rock, my everything. I still can’t go in a bed. I can’t — I sleep on the couch because the last time I was in bed I was woken up to find my husband dead.’ 

On their way home they were reportedly pulled over by Mexican police, who said that they went through a stop sign and demanded cash from them. Kim said: ‘Elliot has always told me when we go down there to kind of not engage, he’ll handle whatever needs to be said with them.’

‘Elliot had said, had told him we don’t have the amount of cash that you want. The other officer came up and started talking to us, you know, where are you staying? Elliot told them we were saying at Las Rocas. Elliot stood his ground, showed him his work badge and said, look, we’re attorneys. We’re not down here to mess around. But we’re also not going to be taken advantage of. We didn’t have the amount they wanted. We were both rattled but at the same time we both had this feeling of, thank god they didn’t do anything more to us.’ She says the couple handed over all the cash in their wallets – $160 – before returning to the hotel and going up to the hotel room. 

Blair went to take a shower, and Kim fell asleep before being woken up to a security guard and a hotel manager in her room when the tragedy was Blair’s body was revealed to her. ‘I want the world to know who my Elliot is. I want to make sure he’s remembered.’ An expert for the family believes that his death was ‘not an accident,’ and released images of his injuries – showing bruises on the front of his body. Pictured: The lawyer reportedly watched an Instagram video at 12:35am, and an ambulance was called to report the incident at the hotel at 12:50am

Dr Rami Hashish said: ‘There’s indications of potential of being dragged on the front of the body. There’s fractures to the back of the skull. Nothing really points to the fact that it was necessarily an accident.’ Mexican authorities have refuted the claims, and a spokesperson for the Baja California Attorney General told the LA Times that there was ‘no sign of violence’ – and rejected the evidence of a gunshot wound. 

After his wife was informed of the incident, a family friend came and translated for her – with the family lawyer claiming that a police officer told Kim that her husband had been shot in the head. When the coroner’s office contacted the family days after his death, they were told that the cause of death was trauma to the head and that his death would be referred as a suspected homicide to prosecutors. 

The family are ‘disappointed’ that they cannot conduct a toxicology report to disprove claims that Blair was drunk when he died. Family and colleagues said on a GoFundMe page for Blair he was ‘tragically killed’ and died due to a ‘brutal crime.’ In a brief statement, Mexican authorities said they are investigating his death and are in contact with American authorities through the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI, which in turn is informing Blair’s family. Pictured: The happy couple on their wedding day in January 2022. 

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