Name: Mystery of 38-year-old Southlake man’s death, autopsy frustrations leave family demanding answers
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Mystery of 38-year-old Southlake man’s death, autopsy frustrations leave family demanding answers

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6:59 PM on Dec 22, 2020 CSTNearly a month after he died, Fred Jackson’s body is still not at rest.Jackson, 38, was found dead at a Southlake home on Nov. 24. Police told his family that he died of natural causes but that an autopsy would confirm the cause of death. But three weeks later — and before an autopsy was completed — his body was released to the family and a Dallas funeral home.Jackson’s family said that after they arranged for an independent autopsy over concerns about his death, police demanded that the body be returned to the Tarrant County medical examiner late Monday for a full autopsy.The back-and-forth has left Jackson’s family and friends with unanswered questions.“There are some things with this case that raise eyebrows,” said Anthony Eiland, a lawyer who was a friend of Jackson and is representing his family. “At the end of the day, there should’ve been an investigation into what happened to Fred.”Southlake police said that the investigation into Jackson’s death was continuing and that no details were available. The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office lists the cause and manner of his death as “pending,” and did not return a request for comment Tuesday.Jackson was a former security officer and two-time Dallas County justice of the peace candidate. He was a “gym rat,” his brother said, and a professional body-builder. His family said he was in good health.They said that they didn’t know how he died but that text messages he sent the night before his body was found and lacerations on his face raise questions. Pete Johnson, Jackson’s brother, said he doesn’t trust police to answer those questions. Despite their different last names, the two brothers have the same parents, whose last name is Johnson.“Any way you look at it, this is sloppy medical examiner work, this is sloppy police work,” Pete Johnson said. “They literally stole my brother from the funeral home.”Jackson moved to the Southlake address — a large home on several acres tucked behind Carroll ISD’s Dragon Stadium — several years ago to care for a friend’s elderly mother. After the woman died in 2018, Jackson remained and paid rent to the friend.Family and friends said that he was looking for a new place to live in late October and November. On Nov. 23, according to text messages Eiland shared with The Dallas Morning News, he texted a friend asking to stay on her couch, but he never showed up after she said yes.He was found dead the next day. Police told his family they didn’t suspect foul play, and sent the body to the medical examiner.Jackson’s mother, Rosie Johnson, said she wasn’t allowed to see the body when she drove to Fort Worth from her home in Dallas. She began to make funeral arrangements, waiting for the autopsy results. The family assumed that while they waited, officials were investigating Jackson’s death, she said.“Why did they keep the body at the morgue so long if there’s no foul play?” Pete Johnson said. “We’d already made the funeral plans, we were just waiting for them to tell us his body was ready.”Mounting COVID-19 deaths in Tarrant County have caused autopsies to take longer than normal. It’s unclear if the pandemic affected how long it took for Jackson’s family to hear from the medical examiner’s office.Related:On Dec. 11, Rosie Johnson said, the office called to say that she needed to pick up her son’s body as soon as possible or it would be donated to a science lab.Rosie Johnson arranged for Eternal Rest Funeral Home in Dallas to pick up the body, then drove to Fort Worth to sign the release papers. A few days later, she was surprised when the funeral home told her it didn’t appear he had been given an autopsy.“They were supposed to do it,” she said of the medical examiner’s office. “We were thinking they’d already done that.”Plus, Pete Johnson said, what looked like cuts and bruising on his brother’s face made it appear he’d been beaten. Johnson said his brother had cuts above his eyes and near his ear, a large knot on his forehead and a swollen lip.Eiland, who said he had seen photographs of Jackson’s face, agreed with Pete Johnson’s assessment. He said that although the body had begun to deteriorate, the marks appeared to be from injuries.“Some of the marks on his body — I just don’t see any other explanation for that,” Eiland said.The family hired a Mesquite lab to conduct its own autopsy. The family also hired Eiland, who called a news conference to bring attention to the case.After that news conference, which was held Monday at noon, Southlake police demanded that the Eternal Rest Funeral Home give the body back to the Tarrant County medical examiner for an autopsy, Eiland said. Rosie Johnson, who had already signed the paperwork to take custody of her son’s body, said she wanted the independent lab to do an autopsy instead.Eiland sought a restraining order in both state and federal courts to keep the body at the funeral home, but the filings were not processed in time, he said.“The family has lost faith in the veracity and thoroughness of Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s ability to conduct a proper autopsy,” the filing says. “An examination by Tarrant County’s medical examiner may yield an incomplete and incompetent examination due to their inability to conduct a proper examination once they initially received his body.”Eiland said there was no written court order to give custody back to Southlake police, but the funeral home agreed to release the body. Tarrant County officials began an autopsy Tuesday morning, Eiland said.“They’re trying to cover their tracks,” Eiland said. “That’s going to call into question the entirety of their own autopsy.”Rosie Johnson said she had wanted to have her son’s funeral already. Now, she said, the family worries that his burial won’t be possible for several more weeks.“I’m sick of it,” she said. “When it comes time to put him away, I can’t get the proper procedure.”The strange circumstances — the unexpected death, the initial delay at the medical examiner’s office, the marks on Jackson’s body, the body’s sudden return to Tarrant County officials — have Jackson’s family distrustful of the still-pending official county results.Related:“You can’t say it was natural causes if they didn’t cut open his chest,” Pete Johnson said. “We know it’s baloney.”At a second news conference outside the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office Tuesday, Rosie Johnson said officials had told her that the county’s autopsy was nearly complete and showed few signs of foul play. They needed to run some tests on Jackson’s heart before making a final determination, she said.Eiland also said the family planned to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, alleging that systemic racism in Southlake and Tarrant County had a role in the delays in the investigation. They said that Jackson, who was Black, was treated differently because of his race.“We’re going to continue to do what’s best for justice,” Rosie Johnson said, “so my son can rest in peace.”Get email alerts on breaking news stories as soon as they happen.By signing up you agree to our

6:59 PM on Dec 22, 2020 CSTNearly a month after he died, Fred Jackson’s body is still not at rest.Jackson, 38, was found dead at a Southlake home on Nov. 24. Police told his family that he died of natural causes but that an autopsy would confirm the cause of death. But three weeks later — and before an autopsy was completed — his body was released to the family and a Dallas funeral home.Jackson’s family said that after they arranged for an independent autopsy over concerns about his death, police demanded that the body be returned to the Tarrant County medical examiner late Monday for a...

Mystery of 38-year-old Southlake man’s death, autopsy frustrations leave family demanding answers

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