‘I feel like I’m marching into a trap’

Plans for the funeral of the late basketball prospect Marco-Miche Downer, scheduled for this Saturday, have been placed on hold following conflicting findings in separate autopsies.

Marco-Miche, 24, a former national Under-17 representative, who had eligibility for last month’s National Basketball Association (NBA) 2024 draft, was found dead behind an unfinished building near the Forum Beach in Bayside, Portmore, on May 18. He was last seen alive on May 16.

On Monday, his father, Marvin Downer, told The Gleaner that the past two months have been characterised by an endless back and forth with the investigator in the quest for the truth.

Downer said a government pathologist performed an autopsy on July 6, but he did not get a chance to speak to him. However, when he was informed by the investigating officer that hanging was ruled the cause of his son’s death, he had several questions.

“I knew it was impossible because I was doing my reading before this, and once he came to the family and said there was a clean break in the neck. Based on my readings, I know that even in hanging, the break of the neck happens in less than one per cent of the cases,” Downer said.

NO EVIDENCE

The grieving father said he arranged for an independent autopsy on July 11.

“He said there is no evidence of any hanging to the body. He said it was a homicide. He said the neck is intact. In essence, he was saying the belt was put around his neck after he died,” Downer told The Gleaner.

Downer recalled seeing a belt around his son’s neck when he visited the scene on May 18.

“Based on the position of the belt, I thought that he was strangled. Just by seeing the buckle at the front, I just thought [someone] had held him down or something like that and strangled him. Maybe he was in a weakened state,” Downer said.

He said that Marco-Miche’s friends, some of whom reportedly stumbled upon the body and alerted the authorities, began acting strange when the coroner removed his body from the location.

“They had a sort of [disposition] like they knew something that happened, and all of them disappeared from the scene. ... I had to call one to come back to the scene to talk to the police,” Downer told The Gleaner.

Marco-Miche, a former Jamaica College and Calabar basketball standout and a US college scholarship recipient, resided at Armarda Court in Portmore, not far from where his body was found.

The father said that when he visited the police station on the day of the independent autopsy, the investigator asked him to sign a statement and collect the burial order.

“I read through it and pointed out something to him. He said Marco had on a black Crocs (slippers) and I said he didn’t have on a black Crocs. My son don’t own a black Crocs. The detective tried to convince me ... . He told me the autopsy was done July 6 and he relayed the information to me from the doctor and [said] hanging is the cause of death and it is basically suicide,” Downer said.

He told The Gleaner that he then requested that the homicide finding of the second autopsy be added to the statement, but he was not allowed.

Downer said he did not sign the statement and was not given the burial order on that occasion.

He also disclosed that he did not get an official report from either pathologist.

“[The independent pathologist] told me verbally and he said he would want to see the report that the government pathologist did. I just taking a word of mouth from the police on what he said the [other] doctor said,” Downer said.

STILL HANGING

The father said he received a call from the investigator on Monday, saying that he was instructed to give him the burial order.

“The burial order still has hanging as the cause of death and the investigator is saying the pathologists gonna have to work it out, in terms of one saying homicide and one saying hanging,” said Downer, adding that the family is now at loggerheads.

The confusion has resulted in the postponement of the set-up that was planned for this Thursday and Saturday’s funeral.

“We don’t know the new dates as yet. We don’t know if [we’re] to take this burial order saying hanging, even though the second pathologist is saying it’s homicide,” Downer told The Gleaner.

Downer said his promising son, who lived with him, did not show any signs of trouble, so he finds the suicide finding questionable.

“Him never in a da mindset deh any at all, none at all, knowing him and because I work from home, too. It’s not like me leave. Me and him in a the house; him in a his room and me around my room ... . I saw him around 3 p.m. [on May 16]. When I checked around 5 p.m. [and didn’t see him], I said it was strange. I heard when the door open, so I said him must gone out, but him never come back,” Downer said.

Downer also took issue with the leak of information about the autopsy to social media bloggers.

“The blog came out last week Tuesday and that is before they even said anything because is Thursday was the first time I made contact with the detective. The blogger even went into so much detail, yet is only his mother and myself reported to the police,” he said.

“I not even sign the report. It just strange, and maybe that’s why I haven’t even signed the final statement as is ... . I want to just settle down on my thoughts first because I feel like I’m just marching into a trap,” Downer said.

Marco-Miche’s mother, Michelle Nunez, told The Gleaner in a previous interview that her son was very quiet and unassuming.

“He is always trying to help, always helping people,” Nunez said.

She was the one who filed a missing person’s report with the Bridgeport police in Portmore.

The Gleaner was unsuccessful in trying to reach the investigator or his superior.

The 6’10” Marco-Miche is said to have honed his craft with Riverside Hawks Basketball, where he attained a stat line of 30 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocks during a season-winning championship.

He later committed to college and went on to play for The University of Tampa, majoring in international business and marketing.

Marco-Miche played centre for the Tampa Spartan’s senior men’s team in the 2018-2019 basketball season and was the first Sunshine State Conference player in history to be named Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the same year.

After his freshman year, Marco-Miche went on to play for the Miami-Dade College Sharks in 2021-2022.

He was also eligible for the 2023 NBA draft, but was not drafted.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com