Medical Expert On Marmolejo’s Autopsy Report

Police named David Huerta Marmolejo a suspect in the death of his mother, 54-year-old Gloria Marmolejo. After a day-long search by authorities on Friday, David turned himself into police.

The question is: what led authorities to believe David was responsible for his mother’s death?

To find some answers, ABC-7 took Gloria’s autopsy report to a medical expert, Dr. Katherine Kelley.

Connecting the dots in this case has been difficult for investigators, but Dr. Kelley, a former medical examiner, says details in the autopsy report hint that this homicide was likely committed by someone Gloria knew.

Dr. Kelley reviewed the 911 call of a body found in the Santa Teresa desert as well as the autopsy report and said that Gloria “died very gently…it looks like it was death by strangulation”.

In addition, Dr. Kelley says it’s likely that strangulation was caused by the plastic grocery bag tied in a knot around Gloria’s head.

If the individual’s killer is someone the victim knows, says Dr. Kelley, the assailant will “usually try to cover the head so the victim will not have the opportunity to turn and see who their assailant is”.

The autopsy report revealed no sign of bruising and no sign of sexual assault, indicating to the former medical examiner that “this shows great respect for the body to not sexually abuse the individual”.

Even the weapon of choice – possibly a plastic bag, but definitely not a gun or a knife – makes Dr. Kelley think a family member committed the crime, as the person “did not want to abuse the body or to see blood flow”.

Dr. Kelley says the presence of maggots indicates Marmolejo’s body had been in the desert for at least a week.