Emails contradict Tarrant Sheriff’s Office statements about jail death autopsy report
The mother of a woman who died in the Tarrant County jail in May continues to raise questions about the investigation into her daughter’s death.
LaMonica Bratton is asking why the investigation into the death of her daughter Chasity Bonner has not been closed, despite the Sheriff’s Office appearing to have all the documentation it says it needs to do so.
“It doesn’t make sense,” she said.
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Laurie Passman told the Star-Telegram on Sept. 18 that the department’s Criminal Investigations Division sent a request to the medical examiner for the autopsy report of Chasity Bonner “in the first week” of that month.
“When they’ve completed their work, your public information request can be fulfilled,” Passman said in an email to the Star-Telegram, referring to the Criminal Investigations Division. “I recommend you reconfirm with the (medical examiner’s) office that you have received accurate information regarding our request for the file. We requested that information early in the month.”
But an email exchange between a Sheriff’s Office detective and a records secretary with the medical examiner show the request was made on Sept. 20, and that the report was sent four days later. The Star-Telegram obtained the email through a records request.
Passman did not respond to a request for comment, but Chief Deputy Jennifer Gabbert provided a statement in an email: “The Bonner case is not closed at this time. As is known standard practice, we will not discuss open cases or make media statements while they are open.”
Timeline
Bonner died of natural causes, according to the medical examiner, which published the results of the autopsy online on Sept. 3. The 35-year-old died of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or hardened arteries, the medical examiner ruled.
The Star-Telegram requested Bonner’s autopsy report from the medical examiner on Sept. 5. Three other media outlets and Bonner’s aunt, Pamela Taylor, have also requested the report.
The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office asked Taylor to withdraw her request on Sept. 6. After she declined, the office appealed to the Texas Attorney General’s Office to withhold the report on Sept. 13, citing the ongoing investigation into Bonner’s death.
Taylor said on Sept. 24 that she believes the Sheriff’s Office is “purposely stalling” the release of critical information in Bonner’s case “because they have things to hide.”
The discrepancies with the Sheriff’s Office statements add to Taylor’s belief that it is being intentionally deceptive in her niece’s case, she said on Nov. 8.
“They are playing games,” she said. “It’s a cover up, and it’s something they’ve been allowed to do in the past, and it’s just business as usual, and they think it’s going to be swept under the rug, because they’re counting on giving us a hard enough time to where we’re going to give up. But we don’t have that option, because one of our family members is gone now.”
Daryl Washington, the family’s lawyer, said the autopsy report should have been made public in full by now had Bonner died a natural death.
“They are hiding the truth,” he said. “If they had information that was favorable to the county … it would have been released months ago.”
Washington said the contradictions are “doing nothing more than contributing to the hurt that these families are currently feeling.”
In the Sept. 18 email exchange about Bonner’s autopsy report, Passman accused Washington of being “an opportunist who profits off families dealing with loss.”
“It is frustrating that this person continues to make misrepresentations instead of being truthful to the citizens of Tarrant County,” Washington said on Friday, Nov. 8. “She chose to make an attack on the family’s attorney, who is simply doing his job.”
Police department’s role
Waybourn won a third term in office last week. When asked about Bonner’s autopsy report at his watch party on the night of Nov. 5, Waybourn said the Sheriff’s Office’s investigation cannot be closed until the Fort Worth Police Department finishes its own outside investigation.
“They would actually be the closer,” he said. “They would close the case. … Until they say it’s over, it’s not over.”
A police spokesperson said the department has not conducted an investigation into Bonner’s death.
The department “only reviews their investigations once they are complete, that is our only involvement,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Bratton said the Sheriff’s Office has had “plenty of time” to release her daughter’s autopsy report.
“Turn the damn autopsy loose, because I’m not going to stop asking for it,” she said.
This story was originally published November 11, 2024 at 4:28 PM.
