Autopsy report for woman who died in Tarrant County jail opens more questions for family
After more than three months, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has released the autopsy results for Chasity Bonner, who died in the county jail on May 27.
Bonner died of natural causes, the report states, attributing her death to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, which is the buildup of plaque in artery walls.
Bonner was 35 years old.
The report opened more questions for Bonner’s family, who has been trying to get answers to the circumstances of her death for months.
“I don’t believe that,” said Bonner’s mother LaMonica Bratton when she was told the autopsy results. “My child ain’t never had no heart problems.”
Atherosclerosis does not commonly affect people at such a young age. The average life expectancy for women with atherosclerosis is between the ages of 69 and 82, according to the American Heart Association. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in users of methamphetamine, the American Heart Association reports, and Bonner did struggle with the drug, according to Bratton.
Bratton and others watching the case had expected to see a cause of death related to fentanyl or other opioid drugs, because the press release issued by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office on the day Bonner died. The release said John Peter Smith Hospital medical staff administered Narcan twice when attempting to save her life.
Narcan is a brand name of naloxone, a drug used to counteract opioid overdoses.
Drugs “run rampant” in the Tarrant County jail, according to a lawsuit filed in July by the mother of Trelynn Wormley, who died there in 2022. Wormley died of a fentanyl overdose, the medical examiner concluded.
However, JPS staff did not administer naloxone in any jails on the day that Bonner died, according to hospital records received through an open records request.
A Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said it is not a discrepancy that JPS said it did not administer the drug despite the account in the press release.
“JPS is not the only team involved when medical emergencies occur and a list from them of Narcan use would not be a complete picture of any particular case, necessarily,” spokesperson Robbie Hoy said in an emailed statement when asked about the discrepancy in August. He was unable to comment on the case at the time because it was an ongoing investigation.
The press release Hoy sent in May states that JPS staff administered the Narcan.
He did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday asking if the investigation had been completed and if the Sheriff’s Office could now comment.
Bratton was prepared to reject an opioid-related cause of death, because her daughter had no history of opioid use. But Bonner did struggle with methamphetamine use, Bratton said during an interview in June.
“I don’t care what kind of drug problem she’s got, she’s not going to mess with no fentanyl,” she said.
But the medical examiner’s report did not clear up any doubts for Bratton.
“The question is still, what was the purpose for the Narcan? I don’t get it,” she said Tuesday. “That’s what they say and that’s what they put on there, but I don’t believe that.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2024 at 12:14 PM.
