California public defender dies after falling from fourth story at Mexico resort

A California public defender fell fatally from the fourth floor of a resort hotel on Mexico’s Pacific coast in what his friends and family insist was a murder.

Elliot Blair, 33, was celebrating his first wedding anniversary with his wife about 20 miles south of the US border when he fell to his death early Saturday morning.

Blair was initially reported to be involved in a “crime” but Mexican police said the fall was accidental and small local news sites said he had been drinking.

On a GoFundMe page set up by his family, he was said to have been ‘murdered’ and ‘the victim of a brutal crime’.

“I wish we could provide everyone with more information, but authorities in Mexico have revealed very limited information,” the website reads.

Reports of how he fell are mixed, but Mexican police said he fell from the fourth floor of the Hotel Las Rocas.

At around 1:15 a.m. on January 14, authorities were notified that Blair fell from the balcony of the Hotel Las Rocas in the town of Rosarito, just south of Tijuana and off the Tijuana-Ensenada highway.

Blair was a public defender with the Orange County Public Defender’s office. He and his wife Kim, also a public defender, celebrated one year since their marriage in California in January 2022.

The local news site Patrulla 646 Código Rojo reported that hotel staff notified authorities about the accident and that when police arrived, Blair was lying face down and unconscious. It was said that when paramedics arrived they found him dead.

Personnel from the State Attorney General’s Office were in charge of removing the body and conducting an investigation.

A Facebook page dedicated to sharing news from the Rosarito area, Rosarito in the News, shared an account of what happened, noting that local authorities were withholding information and citing reports in the Californian newspaper The Orange County Register.

The first suggestion that Blair was murdered appears to have been published by The OC Register on Saturday afternoon. The claim is not attributed, but reporters spoke with Orange County Public Defender Martin Schwarz.

Schwarz told the outlet, “We’ve been in communication with the family and are doing everything we can to support them through this difficult time, including working with local and federal officials to help provide answers.”

He and his wife Kim (both pictured) were married in California in January 2022.

At around 1:15 a.m. on January 14, authorities were notified that Blair fell from the balcony of the Hotel Las Rocas in the town of Rosarito, just south of Tijuana.

His wife Kim (left) is also a Public Defender in Orange County.

“Here in Rosarito the information was not released,” wrote the author of the Rosarito post in the News.

‘A hotel employee reported the unfortunate event to the authorities, who took it upon themselves to hide the information,’ they wrote in Spanish.

The GoFundMe page had raised more than $70,000 as of Sunday night; an anonymous donor offered $4,000. According to the page, the money will be spent on helping his grieving wife deal with red tape and transporting her body back to the United States.

On the page, her family and colleagues implicitly reject the idea that Blair accidentally fell and have retained attorney David Craig Scarsone, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hotel Las Rocas was not answering phone calls Sunday night.

He was the victim of a brutal crime. Her family is working with US officials to get more information,” read the GoFundMe statement, which also alluded to his good character.

‘Elliot and Kim have been dedicated Public Defenders in Orange County, CA since 2017. Elliot was a compassionate attorney who dedicated his life to serving indigent clients. Elliot was known as a patient and caring advocate,” the statement read.