PARK HILLS, Mo. (AP) — A coroner’s inquest jury says a suburban St. Louis Black man whose death was initially ruled a suicide died from violence.
Friday’s inquest into 19-year-old Derontae Martin’s death came after his family and racial injustice activists questioned the finding that Martin killed himself in April during a party in the rural Missouri home of a man with a history of bigoted social media postings.
About 20 people testified during Friday’s hearing. Some testified that various people, including the homeowner, might have been involved in Martin’s death.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Madison County Prosecutor M. Dwight Robbins declined to comment after the hearing about how the case proceeds.
