Tyrone Peters, who was initially believed to have committed suicide while in police custody, was in fact murdered, according to a second autopsy requested by his relatives.

Peters, 19, of Santa Cruz Old Road, Lower Santa Cruz, was held by police on August 18, and was expected to be placed on several identification parades in connection with various crimes in the North Eastern Division.

However, officers said they found him hanging on August 22 when they went to look for him in the cell in at the La Horquetta Police Station.

Following his death, an autopsy was performed by Russian pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov. The results then revealed that Peters, also called ’T-Boy’, had died from hanging.

However, dissatisfied with the circumstances surrounding the death, a second autopsy was commissioned by the family and conducted on August 27 by pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes.

Des Vignes conducted the second post morterm at the body preparation room of the Saint Rose Funeral Home at Bazilon Street, Tunapuna, at 10 p.m. and took an hour. Des Vignes’ findings, however, revealed that Peters died as a result of throttling (application of armlock or chokehold). The second autopsy also ’did not confirm findings consistent with hanging’.

The second autopsy was ordered by Peters’ aunt, Kim Maytan, and his grandfather, Michael Marten.

Following Peters’ death, a full-scale investigation was ordered and Insp Mahabir, who is attached to the Tunapuna Police Station, was detailed to investigate the case.

Sources said yesterday that the file which contains the statements of officers on duty at the time of Peters’ death, along with Alexandrov’s autopsy results, was included in a report which was completed and forwarded to Sen Supt Joseph Edwards, who heads the Northern Division, yesterday.

The file, sources added, did not implicate anyone and was based on what was presented to the investigator.

Contacted yesterday, Maytan, who resides in the United States, said relatives have already enlisted the services of a group of attorneys to seek the family’s interest in the matter.

’We never believed that he (Peters) committed suicide. Everything which happened is a cover-up and something needs to be done to ensure the police do what they are supposed to, which is protect and serve,’ Maytan said.

Saying that the second post mortem results will be forwarded to their attorneys, Maytan said relatives had also been given the ’run-around’ by local authorities when they tried to get information. The family, she said, is only seeking justice and hopes to set an example so that such occurrences do not re-occur. The family also wanted the stigma that Peters had committed suicide to be cleared, Maytan said.