TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Pima County medical examiner was unable to determine a cause of death for a 9-year-old boy found decomposing on the couch of his Picture Rocks home last July.
Investigators say when the boy’s heart stopped on July 12, his father, Joseph Gregory Antonsen did not call for help. He left instead and didn't return for two days.
When deputies arrived on July 14, they say they found the house had no water, and no functioning toilets. The child’s body decomposing on the couch was surrounded by dirty diapers, and jugs filled with what looked like urine. The house was filled with Black Widow and Brown Recluse spiders.
In a recently released report, Medical Examiner Gregory Hess found "that there was no objective evidence of infectious illness, natural disease or traumatic injury contributing to (the boy's) death," but that the findings were complicated by the length of time the boy had been dead.
Hess used terminology like "not unusual" and "unremarkable" when describing the boy's heart, respiratory system, gastrointestinal system and the body's framework.
He did note that several parts of the body had decomposed and putrefied.
Hess said in the report that the boy's body "was found in a home with inoperable air conditioning with ambient high temperatures ranging from 103 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit," but did not determine that as a contributing factor in his death.
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