Everett Palmer Jr. was a United States Army Veteran and a father of two before he died mysteriously in police custody earlier this year. Now, the local coroner is claiming that the cause of death is still undetermined, and Palmer’s family is demanding to know what happened and why several of his organs were taken without notice.

The family was not notified that the 41-year-old dad was in critical condition, and it was not until they were being informed of his death that they found out he had been spent the last two days of his life in jail, according to a report from the York Dispatch. Palmer had been in custody for two days on a driving under the influence charge.

The York County coroner said Saturday that 41-year-old Everett Palmer Jr. of Seaford, Delaware died early April 9 of “complications following an excited state, associated with methamphetamine toxicity, during physical restraint.” The report said “sickling red cell disorder” was probably a contributing factor. Initial reports said he died after he began hitting his head on his cell door.

The manner of death — such as homicide, suicide, accidental or natural — hasn’t been determined. Coroner Pam Gay said a state police investigation may allow a determination later.

Palmer turned himself into the police on April 7, and just two days later, he was pronounced dead. The details of what happened over the course of those two days are still disturbingly scarce. Staff at the York County Prison claim that they found Palmer “hitting his heard against his cell door” at 4:20 a.m. on April 9.

The prison guards took Palmer to the in-house medical clinic where he was physically restrained for the next hour, and he apparently became unresponsive. He was then moved to the York Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5:46 a.m.

The claim is notable because Palmer voluntarily turned himself in two days before and he was fine. So if he did have a high level of meth in his system, how did he gain access to it, and when?

Surveillance footage of the final hours before Palmer’s death has yet to be released, and Palmer’s family claims that they have yet to be informed of the manner in which Palmer was “physically restrained” before his death.

The family has attempted to hire a forensic pathologist in order to conduct an additional investigation, but they claimed that Palmer’s organs were needed—and they have mysteriously disappeared. According to a report from the York Daily Record, the family

“questioned how some of Everett’s organs, including his brain and heart, were removed without notification and were not yet returned.”

Marlon Kirton, an attorney for the family, told the York Dispatch that Palmer’s family is seeking justice and demands to know what caused his death and how staff members at the York County Prison played a role.

Each year, hundreds die in the nation’s prisons and jails.

Drugs, suicide, homicide, and more natural causes, like age or heart disease, are often to blame for the fatalities, but exactly how many pass away while in custody each year is not completely clear. The Bureau of Justice Statistics, the federal agency tasked with keeping track of nationwide data for the Department of Justice, has used its Deaths in Custody Reporting Program to compile a report on mortality at local jails and state prisons, but the numbers gathered are neither comprehensive nor recorded and reported in real time. Last year, the Huffington Post underwent an extensive effort to determine the number of deaths in local jails, finding that a complete record was prohibitively difficult to obtain and highlighting the importance of keeping such statistics for very-short term facilities.

Sources:

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/family-begs-for-answers-after-vetran-dies-in-police-custody-claim-his-organs-are-missing/

https://fox56.com/news/local/coroner-manner-of-death-of-man-at-jail-undermined-07-30-2018

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/apr/13/how-many-die-each-year-prisons/