Tarrant medical examiner: Jail death the result of dehydration, malnutrition
The death of a woman in the Tarrant County Jail in February was caused by complications of dehydration and malnutrition, according to the medical examiner’s report.
Kimberly Phillips, 56, died in custody of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 18. She was moved from the county jail to John Peter Smith Hospital on Feb. 15 after being put on round-the-clock medical watch in the jail for an unspecified amount of time. She was booked into the jail on Jan. 25, according to county records.
The entry on the medical examiner’s website states that Phillips’ manner of death was “undetermined.”
The cause of death is the specific illness, injury or condition that caused a person’s death, while the manner is the way the person died. The other possible categories for manner of death are natural, accidental, homicide and suicide.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office did not immediately respond to an email asking why Phillips’ manner of death was not determined.
Phillips’ family believes she starved to death in the county jail. They said in a press release from their Houston-based lawyer Chidi Anunobi in March that she was not fed according to her vegetarian diet and was sent to the hospital only after her health had already significantly deteriorated.
The medical examiner’s ruling is “a clear indication that Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office was negligent in their duty to keep Kimberly safe,” Anunobi said in an emailed statement.
An independent autopsy Phillips’ family had done found that her death was due to “complications of anorexia/starvation,” he said.
“Tarrant County continues to use the claim that Kimberly’s death is under investigation as a means to shield itself from releasing even the very basic information about this case to the family,” Anunobi said. “The family is left to get information about this case from the press. Tarrant County continues to display a lack of compassion and abdication of responsibility in Kimberly’s death that is sadly consistent with its history in the several cases of inmate death and abuse that has occurred in Tarrant County.”
The Sheriff’s Office said in a written statement sent after publication, “It’s important to allow the investigative process to proceed without speculation. We remain committed to transparency and will provide an update once a thorough investigation has been completed. Until then, we ask for patience, not speculation, as investigators gather all relevant facts.”
Phillips’ family will file a lawsuit against Tarrant County in the coming weeks for the release of information in her case, Anunobi said.
“It is unfortunate that the family will be going to court to get the basic information about Kimberly’s death that it is entitled to,” he said.
This story was originally published May 5, 2025 at 12:41 PM.
