A Delaware man who traveled to Pennsylvania last year to resolve an outstanding warrant for a DUI ended up dead in jail with many unanswered questions after his throat was inexplicably removed during the autopsy.
“Makes no sense, unless you’re trying to maybe avoid people knowing how he died; which was maybe by asphyxiation,” attorney Marlon Kirton of Manhattan, who is representing the man’s family, told Spectrum News.
Everett Palmer Jr., 41, died in the York County Jail on April 9, 2018 after arriving in Pennsylvania two days earlier.
The York County Coroner initially said Palmer “became agitated and began hitting his head against his cell door” before determining the cause of death to be from “complications following an excited state, associated with methamphetamine toxicity, during physical restraint.”
His mother, Rose Palmer, does not believe that.
“My son was a perfectly healthy young man and my son is not going to bang his head on a cell,” Rose Palmer told Spectrum News.
Also, a second autopsy conducted by a doctor hired by the family determined Palmer died of a homicide, according to the York Daily Record.
Adding to the mystery is the fact that Palmer’s body was badly bruised and missing its brain, heart and throat when it was turned over to his family.
Kirton, the family’s attorney, said it is common to remove the heart and brain during an autopsy but not the throat, which is why he suspects Palmer was choked to death.
The family are also skeptical of the coroner’s finding of “methamphetamine toxicity” because they say that would have meant he was using the drug inside the jail.
The family is considering suing but it is still waiting for the investigation to be completed, which so far has lasted longer than a year. The family launched a Facebook page titled Justice4Everett to provide updates in the case.
