‘Someone did this to him’: Widow of California public defender, 33, says Mexican cops demanded money for ‘driving through stop sign’ before he ‘fell to his death from hotel room’ – but experts say ‘nothing points to it being an accident’
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The heartbroken widow of a California public defender has spoken out on his death for the first time – and believes that he was murdered. Kimberly Williams (pictured) and Elliot Blair, 33, had been celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary at the Las Rocas Resort and Spa in Mexico. Authorities have continually claimed that his death was an ‘accident’ while his family say that he was the victim of a ‘brutal crime.’
![His wife Kim says that she still can't sleep in a bed because 'the last time I was in bed I was woken up to find my husband dead.' She says 'someone did this to him' and previously, lawyers for his family said that they were told he suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Speaking to ABC, Kim said: 'They said it was an accident. [Took his life], gunshot wound. It was a roller coaster. [He killed himself]. 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.'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/02/09/16/67505863-11732367-His_wife_Kim_says_that_she_still_can_t_sleep_in_a_bed_because_th-a-60_1675959644065.jpg)
His wife Kim says that she still can’t sleep in a bed because ‘the last time I was in bed I was woken up to find my husband dead.’ She says ‘someone did this to him’ and previously, lawyers for his family said that they were told he suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Speaking to ABC, Kim said: ‘They said it was an accident. [Took his life], gunshot wound. It was a roller coaster. [He killed himself]. 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.’
The couple had got massages and five or six drinks before heading to dinner together, with Kim saying that she had ‘never seen’ her husband ‘sloppy’ after drinking. 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.’
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She continued: ‘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.
Elliott went to take a shower, and Kim fell asleep before being woken up to a security guard and a hotel manager in her room. 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. She added: ‘I ran out the front door and they’re pointing over the side of our front door area to the ground. It was my Elliot down there. I just was yelling at them to call an ambulance, call an ambulance. Call an ambulance. They said an ambulance came an hour ago. 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. 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. They also plan to do their own autopsy when they get his body back, with the mortuary telling the family that bodies are only embalmed under family or prosecutors’ orders.
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 US Justice Department and the FBI, which in turn is informing Blair’s family. 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.
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