The California public defender, 33, dies after falling from the fourth floor while at a holiday resort in Mexico to celebrate their first wedding anniversary – and friends claim he was MURDERED
- California public defender Elliot Blair has died in a fatal fall in a coastal town in Mexico
- Accounts of how he fell are mixed, but his family has 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 Mexico’s Pacific coast in what his friends and family described as a murder.
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 originally reported that Blair was involved in a “crime”, but Mexican police said the fall was accidental and small local news sites said he was drinking.
A GoFundMe page set up by his family said he was “killed” and “a victim of a brutal crime.”
“We wish we could provide more information to everyone, but authorities in Mexico have disclosed very limited information,” the website reads.
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
Reports of how he fell are mixed, but Mexican police said he fell from the fourth floor of the Las Rocas hotel
At around 1:15 am on January 14, authorities were notified that Blair had fallen from the balcony of the Las Rocas hotel in the town of Rosarito, south of Tijuana and adjacent to 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, have been celebrating a year since their wedding in California in January 2022.
Local news site Patrulla 646 Código Rojo reported that hotel workers reported the accident to authorities and that Blair was lying face down unconscious when police arrived. When paramedics arrived, they said he was found dead.
Employees of the Attorney General’s Office dealt with the removal of the body and conducted investigations.
A Facebook page dedicated to sharing news from the Rosarito area, Rosarito en la Noticia, shared an account of what had happened, noting that information was withheld by local authorities and citing reports from the California newspaper The Orange County Register.
The first clue that Blair was murdered appears to have been released by The OC Register on Saturday afternoon. The claim is not attributed, but reporters spoke to 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 during this difficult time, including working with local and federal officials to help provide answers.”
He and his wife Kim (both pictured) married in California in January 2022
At around 1:15 am on January 14, authorities were notified that Blair had fallen from the balcony of the Las Rocas Hotel in the town of Rosarito, south of Tijuana
His wife Kim (left) is also a public defender in Orange County
“Here in Rosarito, the information has not been published,” wrote the author of the post Rosarito en la Noticia.
“An employee of the hotel reported the unfortunate incident to the authorities, who made it their mission to hide information,” they wrote in Spanish.
The GoFundMe page had raised more than $70,000 as of Sunday night — an anonymous donor offered $4,000. According to the site, the money will be spent to help his grieving wife navigate the bureaucracy and transport his body back to the United States.
On the site, his family and colleagues implicitly reject the idea that Blair accidentally fell and have hired attorney David Craig Scarsone, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hotel Las Rocas did not answer calls Sunday night.
“He was the victim of a brutal crime. His family is working with US officials to get more information,” read the GoFundMe statement, which also alluded to his good character.
“Elliot and Kim have been dedicated public defenders in Orange County, California since 2017. Elliot was a compassionate attorney who dedicated his life to serving clients in need. Elliot was known as a patient and caring attorney,” the statement said.