The discovery of two African-Americans found dead hanging from trees ten days apart last month in California had sparked speculation. The death of Robert Fuller is not linked to a racist crime as feared by his relatives but was a suicide, investigators concluded on Thursday.
The 24-year-old was found on June 10 in a city park in Palmdale, a rope around his neck, which reminded many of the racist lynchings of thousands of African Americans in the late 19th and early years of the 20th century. A very painful period in American history revived by recent demonstrations against police brutality against ethnic minorities.
Local authorities concluded shortly after the death that Robert Fuller had committed suicide. But his family, supported by thousands of protesters who suspected a racist crime, had obtained the reopening of the file.
Absence of trauma
An autopsy was performed and the police, who resumed investigations, examining in particular clues and images from video surveillance, "considered it to be a suicide," Chris Marks, chief, said at a press conference. investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office.
According to the investigation, Robert Fuller had a history of mental disorders and had been violent towards himself before. From 2017, he had notably been hospitalized in California and two neighboring states after having expressed the intention of committing suicide on several occasions.
"The possibility that Mr. Fuller was hanged by one or more other people has been examined. The absence of significant trauma to the extremities or the neck (…) does not give credence to the involvement of others, ”writes the medical examiner in his autopsy report, of which AFP obtained a copy. "The cause of death is suicide," concludes the expert.
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