Family Of Army Veteran Who Died In Jail Says Body Was Returned To Them With Vital Organs Missing

Source: Facebook

The family of the victim believes his death was a homicide.

The family of Everett Palmer Jr., an army veteran who died while in jail last year, claimed that when Palmer's body was returned to them it was missing his brain, heart, and throat.

In a report from The Washington Post, Palmer had traveled from Delaware to Pennsylvania to resolve an outstanding DUI warrant from 2016. Two days later, he died in York County Prison. An autopsy report claimed that the 41-year-old, who was being held in a single cell at the prison, "became agitated and began hitting his head against the inside of his cell door."

From there, he was restrained and taken to the prison's clinic, where he was "noted to be unresponsive." The coroner's office ruled Palmer's official cause of death as "complication following an excited state, associated with methamphetamine toxicity, during physical restraint." The coroner also stated a sickling red cell disorder might have contributed to his death.

"My son was a perfectly healthy young man, and my son is not going to bang his head on a cell," Rose Palmer, Everett's mother, told NY1. "My son was not a troublemaker, not at all, he was a very gentle, kind man."

Dwayne Palmer, Everett's brother, also claimed that he didn't have sickle-cell anemia (although the family were carriers for the disorder).

The family also claimed that Palmer's body was returned to them with its brain, heart, and throat missing. The body parts were missing for several months and had not been returned to the family. The family learned of the missing organs through an independent pathologist they hired.

"It's not uncommon to remove body parts in an autopsy in order to perform a test," Lee Merritt, an attorney who is representing the family, said. "The only thing that's highly uncommon is to not know where they are."

The Pennsylvania State Police York Station is conducting an investigation with the York County district attorney.

The family is pursuing criminal and civil cases and believe that Palmer's death was a homicide. They have since statted a Justice4Everett Facebook page and hashtag to help bring awareness to Palmer's story.

Source: The Washington Post