Accused police killer Ronnie White was murdered in his Prince George’s County solitary jail cell in June, Maryland’s chief medical examiner said in a final autopsy report Thursday.
The report confirms initial findings that White, 19, was strangled in his cell with an unknown object — possibly a bedsheet, towel or arm — just two days after he was arrested for allegedly running down and killing police Sgt. Richard Findley with a stolen truck.
The report also confirms, as previously reported by The Examiner, that fibers from the sheet found near White’s body match fibers found on White’s neck.
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey called the findings “a significant step in the investigation,” but added they are not definitive.
“We haven’t ruled out anything yet,” he said, including the possibility that White committed suicide.
The medical examiner’s report, though, indicates that White was killed by someone other than himself.
Investigators have focused their attention on three corrections officers who had access to White the morning he was found slumped against his bunk. The corrections union has consistently said that White committed suicide.
On Thursday, union attorney Clothilda Harvey declined to comment on the case. But when she was questioned about the sheet fibers in July, she told The Examiner, “If they found fibers on his neck, that would reinforce my theory; it’s indicative of a hanging.”
The medical examiner’s report suggests otherwise.
The final report says White’s hyoid bone was broken. The horseshoe-shaped bone supports the airway and plays a role in speech.
Doctors say it’s not an easy bone to break, and if it is broken, it’s likely the result of violent strangulation and not suicide.
Blood vessels in White’s eyes and face had also burst open, the report said, another indication of extreme bodily distress, doctors said.
Ivey said the investigation will continue and the latest evidence, along with statements from corrections officers, guards and medical personnel, will be sent to the grand jury.
But, “It’s premature to say we’ll seek a homicide indictment,” Ivey said.
Meanwhile, a review of the oft-criticized jail by the American Correctional Association, which County Executive Jack Johnson requested at the end of July, has been finished, a county spokesman said, and county officials are awaiting the association’s report.
The spokesman said Johnson will not comment on jail issues until the investigation of White’s death is finished, but “that’s not to say changes haven’t been implemented or possibly implemented,” the spokesman said.
