Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / What Really Happened to Tamla Horsford? Part Three

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What Really Happened to Tamla Horsford? Part Three · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: The autopsy conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations revealed
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  that Horsford sustained blunt force trauma to various parts of
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  her body, including her head, neck, torso, and extremities. The
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  examination noted facial abrasions, four distinct types of hemorrhages within
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  the skull and brain, a dislocated right wrist, and lacerations
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  on her arms and legs. Furthermore, she had a fractured
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  neck and a laceration to the right ventricle of her heart.
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  Lead investigator Mike Christian documented the positioning of Horsford's body
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  at the scene, stating most notable when Tamler was turned
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  over was the fact she had come to rest face down,
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  her head had not been canted to one side or
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  the other. Her legs were found extended behind her, both
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  feet oriented to the right, while her right arm was
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  positioned close to her body and her left arm was
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  extended and bent at the elbow. Concerns have been raised
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  by friends, family, and advocates regarding the possibility that Horsford's
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  injuries and the position in which she was found could
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  result from a fall from the balcony. Some have speculated
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  that the injuries to her hands and arms might indicate
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  defensive wounds, implying a potential altercation prior to her either
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  falling over the balcony or being placed in the backyard. Notably,
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  the incident report indicates that Christian's initial hypothesis suggested that
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  Horsford may have fallen not from the deck but rather
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  from the ground, as landscaping edging corresponded with scrapes observed
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  on her shins. The report further states that Christian only
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  proposed the balcony fall theory to doctor Andrew coop Miner's
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  associate medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, after
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  the medical examiner clarified that the injuries could not have
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  resulted from a fall at ground level. In his concluding report,
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  coop Miners determined that it appeared as though she may
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  have fallen from the deck, ultimately asserting that her injuries
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  were consistent with those typically sustained in a fall from
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  a height equivalent to a second story. In this case,
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  the police also played a role in fostering a sense
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  of distrust within the family from the outset. The incident
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  report indicates that Deputy Christian presented his theory regarding Horsford's
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  death as a result of a ground level fall, not
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  only to the medical examiner, but also to Horsford's father,
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  Kurt Saint Jure. The family found it difficult to comprehend
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  how Horsford could have succumbed to injuries from such a fall.
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  When Horsford's husband later inquired about this theory and the
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  confusion it generated, investigators acknowledged that it was a misstep
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  to share such hypotheses with the family at an early stage.
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  We probably have created part of a mess here, Christian
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  admitted to Leander, as recorded in interview transcripts. WE had
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  an idea of what happened which was absolutely wrong, he remarked,
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  regarding the groundfall theory. What I should have done probably
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  was keep my mouth shut and not spun theories. However,
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  the transition to the balcony theory did not resolve all
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  lingering questions. Approximately two weeks after the incident, fellow party
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  attendee Stacy Smith expressed skepticism to the police about the
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  possibility of Horsford having fallen. I don't get it at all,
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  Stacy stated, according to transcripts released by the FCSO, I
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  mean I've been on that deck like a million times.
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  I've looked, and I've tried testing the notion that a
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  drunken Horsford might have leaned over to vomit, but gone
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  too far, and I don't understand. Officer Sexton acknowledged her confusion,
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  but continued to investigate the fall theory. I mean, like
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  you said that she leaned over, was trying to throw up,
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  or thought she was going to throw up. Maybe she
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  sat up on the rail and was smoking, he suggested,
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  or just who knows. Nevertheless, Stacy pointed out that Horsford
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  did not appear to be unwell despite her elevated blood
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  alcohol content. This observation is corroborated by other interviews, as
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  well as videos and photographs taken that evening. In Fuller's
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  interview with the police, she noted that this might be
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  attributed to Horsford being a seasoned drinker, asserting that it
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  would require an enormous amount of alcohol to knock her down.
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  Ashland Harris, a proponent for the reopening of the case
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  and the initiator of the original change dot org petition,
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  asserts that she has faced targeting due to her public
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  criticism of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department, claiming to have
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  experienced harassment from the agency. In November twenty nineteen, a
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  police officer from Coming detained Harris while searching for three
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  individuals connected to a car accident, subsequently requesting assistance from
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  a deputy of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office for the investigation.
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  Although Harris was cleared and released, she proceeded to file
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  a complaint against the officer involved, who was later exonerated
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  by Coming police Chief David Marsh. Anyone with tips should
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  call the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at one eight hundred
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