Pathologist says child’s death accident
It was a tragedy that saddened all of Punta Gorda. On Tuesday night, a little boy was playing near the sea while his father was inside a restaurant. Moments later the child was gone and a drunk, incoherent man burst into tears when asked about the boy. Two hours later, the horrifying discovery of Ezekiel Nesbitt’s body in the sea. It was badly bruised and it appeared to everyone that the child had been beaten to death. But had he been? The police think so and have already made an arrest: the same man found wandering in the area. The medical examiner, however, says there is another explanation for the bruises and he is concerned that there has been a rush to judgement.
On Thursday, twenty-six year old Felipe Cowo of Laguna Village, Toledo was charged with the murder of five year old Ezekiel Nesbitt. However, Doctor Mario Estradabran, the Police Pathologist who performed the postmortem says his examination indicates the child drowned after he fell into the sea. Estradabran says the wounds he examined were not consistent with foul play but rather an accident.
Dr. Mario Estradabran, Police Pathologist
“The child may have fallen down in the area where he was getting some crabs. He may have fallen down in the place where he fell down. It was a rocky area so the child fell down and then started to have problems to breathe, fighting against the water, then he suddenly went into the water then he started to have breathing problems. At the time he started having breathing problems the movements of the waves of the sea was moving the body and the body was getting contact with the rocks of the sea and so the abrasions, the lacerations and the contortions that I saw on the autopsy reveals the sequence of the injuries.”
Estradabran says most of the injuries were concentrated on the left side of the body. While there was bleeding on the lips, the examination did not reveal any internal injuries in the mouth. The examination also showed the boy had not been sexually molested.
Estradabran says while the police did do an investigation, in his opinion, their evidence is only circumstantial.
Dr. Mario Estradabran
“The first one is that they found one bag close to the body and this bag belongs to one Felipe Cowo. And also the police are suspecting the second circumstantial evidence is because they saw the child — I don’t know the time — that they saw the child around with this man. And third is that the police are saying that the suspect had the clothing wet. So through that circumstantial evidence the police are charging someone for murder. But in my scientific evidence reveal the way how this child died especially around the circumstances of the external appearance of the body.”
Despite the postmortem examination results, family and friends believe Zeke was killed.
John Harris, Family Friend
“Zeke is so little and strong and so low to the ground had he fallen he would have caught his foot at the first wire here or grabbed a branch. I mean he was a climbing kid. I mean I believe this kid was drowned right here in this spot. And the backpack in question that we found an hour and half before we found the body, Chris found it right here.”
Q: “Christy in light of the postmortem examination is the police treating the case as a homicide?”
Christy Castillo, Police Press Officer
“Because of the bizarre nature of the case and how weird it seemed to everyone yes, we are looking at it like that. The investigation is still continuing. We are following up on statements that were given to us on some of the observations that were made and the evidence that were brought in trying to find something concrete. As the evidence progresses and as the investigation progresses we will have to see what happens. But as of now we are not just dropping the case and call it a drowning; we are taking into consideration the postmortem but we would like to continue and see what else is going on and try to find out more before we call it a done deal.”
Castillo would not comment on what the police suspect may have unfolded that Tuesday night but said the decision to charge Cowo with murder was made following initial investigations, calls to the Commissioner, the D.P.P. and strong public sentiments. Cowo remains behind bars at Hattieville Prison. News Five understands that the Nesbitt family has requested another autopsy.
