Elliot Blair was found dead while on vacation in Mexico.
(Credit: Remembering Elliot Blair/GoFundMe)
(CNN) --
"It's clear to us it was murder," said Case Barnett, the attorney representing Kimberly Williams, the widow of Elliot Blair, the 33-year-old deputy public defender from Orange County, California, found dead in a tourist hotel in Mexico on January 14.
While the autopsy results they ordered will take five to six weeks to complete, Barnett said the physician's assistant told them he found 40 fractures in the back of Elliot's skull.
Barnett explained that they almost didn't do the autopsy because "the Mexican autopsy seemed pretty complete and it shows that she didn't fall."
CNN has contacted the Mexican authorities for comment.
American lawyer found dead in Mexico suffered "a brutal crime", says his family
Blair was found near the area of the stairs leading to the parking lot, the Baja California Attorney General's Office said in January.
“They found him face down with the right side of his face on the ground.
All of the damage to his skull was done to the left side, to the back and top of his head, not to the areas that were in contact with the ground where he was found," Barnett explained, adding that Blair had what appear to be drag marks on both knees, as well as injuries to the big toe of his left foot.
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In January, the Attorney General's Office for the Mexican state of Baja California issued a statement saying the 33-year-old man had died of severe head trauma after sustaining injuries consistent with “a fall from a height, ruling out traces of violence on the body of the lawyer produced by a firearm or a sharp instrument”.
Barnett clarified that while the room where Blair and Williams were staying was on the third floor, it was only 20 to 25 feet above the ground since the first floor was "underground."
Blair was on vacation when she died, loved ones said.
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In an interview with ABC News, Williams said she was sleeping when Blair died and woke up to the hotel manager and a security guard in her room asking about her "boyfriend."
“I looked to my side.
I didn't see it there, so I ran out the front door and they were shooting down the side of the front door area," Williams said.
"Well, that was my Elliot down there."
Blair's blood alcohol level was 0.10, Barnett said, adding: "It's certainly not about falling off a ledge drunk or walking out of your hotel room in your underwear."
He also confirmed that Blair was fluent in Spanish and that he and Williams were detained by Mexican authorities the night of his death after dining at a local restaurant.
In the ABC interview, Williams said police claimed he had failed to stop at a stop sign and demanded money from them.
However, Barnett said there is no evidence connecting the brief detention to Blair's death.
CNN has reached out to local police for comment.
"That's a fact from that night, but we don't have any other evidence beyond that he was murdered and that it happened the same night," Barnett said, noting that they are asking for videos of the hotel lobby that could help explain what happened.
Barnett said they are contacting Mexico's attorney general to obtain any relevant documents or video, as well as the police report so they can be turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
CNN has reached out to the attorney general's office for comment.
“I just know that it is not an accident.
I know it didn't fall.
I only know that," Williams told ABC.
"I want to do everything I can to find out what happened in that 45-minute time frame because that's what Elliott deserves and that's the hardest part for me: not knowing."
Blair and Williams were celebrating their first wedding anniversary at Las Rocas Resort in Rosarito Beach, about 45 miles south of San Diego.
A celebration of the life of Elliot Blair is scheduled today.
CNN's Karol Suárez contributed to this story from Mexico City.
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