Family of US veteran who died in Pennsylvania search for answers after body returned missing parts

'My son was a perfectly healthy young man and my son is not going to bang his head on a cell'

The family of a Delaware military veteran is searching for answers after the body of their relative was returned under mysterious circumstances - without a brain, heart or throat - after his death more than a year ago.

Everett Palmer Jr died while in a Pennsylvania jail, after the 41-year-old travelled to the state from his home in Delaware to shore up an outstanding warrant for a DUI.

Days later, Palmer’s family received a heartbreaking phone call informing them that their son and brother had died while in jail.

Since then, the family has been fighting to understand what happened to him — a question that has grown more pressing since his body was returned missing those body parts.

The York County coroner that initially said that Palmer “became agitated and began hitting his head against his cell door”, explaining that his death came from “complications following an excited state, associated with methamphetamine toxicity, during physical restraint”.

But an autopsy performed by a doctor hired by the family has determined the death was a homicide, according to the York Daily Record.

The family has also expressed scepticism about the York County coroner’s findings of methamphetamine toxicity, and say that the drug would have needed to be used while he was in jail.

For now, the family is awaiting an investigation to conclude, but are considering suing if they do not satisfied with the results.

Rose Palmer, the mother of the deceased, said that her son was not a violent man, and that the official explanation for his death does not sit well with her.

“My son was a perfectly healthy young man and my son is not going to bang his head on a cell,” Ms Palmer told Spectrum News.