California public defender, 33, dies after falling from fourth floor while in Mexico resort to celebrate first wedding anniversary – and friends claim he was MURDERED
- California public defender, Elliot Blair, fatally fell in a coastal resort in Mexico
- Reports of how he fell are mixed but his family have suggested he was murdered
- He and his wife were celebrating their first wedding anniversary when he died
A California public defender fatally fell from the fourth floor of a resort hotel on the Pacific coast of Mexico in what his friends and family speculate was not an accident.
Elliot Blair, 33, was celebrating his first wedding anniversary with his wife about 20 miles south of the US border when he fell to his death in the early hours of Saturday morning.
It was initially reported that Blair was involved in a ‘crime‘, but Mexican police have said the fall was accidental and small local news sites said he had been drinking.
In a GoFundMe page set up by his family it was said that he was ‘killed’ and ‘the victim of a brutal crime.’
‘We wish we could provide everyone with more information, but very limited information has been disclosed by authorities in Mexico,’ read the webpage.
Public defender Elliot Blair, 33, was celebrating his first wedding anniversary with his wife when he mysteriously fell to his death in the early hours of Saturday morning
Reports of how he fell are mixed, but Mexican police said he fell from the fourth floor of Hotel Las Rocas
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, also a public defender, were celebrating a year since their marriage in California in January 2022.
Local news site Patrulla 646 Código Rojo reported that hotel staff notified 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.
Staff from the state attorney general’s office dealt with the removal of the body and were conducting an investigation.
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.’
He and his wife Kim (both pictured) were married in California in January 2022
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
His wife Kim (left) is also a Public Defender in Orange County
‘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.
The GoFundMe page had raised more than $70,000 as of Sunday night – one anonymous donor offered $4,000. According to the page the money will be spent on helping his grieving wife deal with the bureaucracy and the transport of his body back to the US.
On the page his family and colleagues implicitly reject the idea that Blair fell accidentally and have hired lawyer David Craig Scarsone, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hotel Las Rocas was not answering phone calls on Sunday night.
‘He was the victim of a brutal crime. His family is working with US Officials to gain more information,’ read the GoFundMe statement, which also alluded to his good character.
‘Elliot and Kim have been dedicated Public Defenders in Orange County, CA since 2017. Elliot was a compassionate lawyer who dedicated his life to serving indigent clients. Elliot was known as a patient and caring advocate,’ the statement read.
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