Robert Fuller was found dead hanging from a tree in a park in Southern California last month. The suicide ruling came as a shock and debate among communities, especially during a time where Black Lives Matter has been the surface of justice reform in America. The ruling even shocked the family of Robert Fuller, who insisted that he would not take his own life.
Protestors turned out in Palmdale days after Fuller’s death to demand an independent investigation by California’s attorney general into what many believed was a lynching.
According to AP, the family attorney said he would make a statement or hold a news conference later.
On Thursday, authorities said they had pored over the evidence and determined that Fuller’s death was consistent with suicide and that a number of factors had led them to rule out other possibilities.
Based on recent reports Robert Fuller had a history of suicidal ideation and that he had disclosed “a plan to kill himself” prior to his death, sheriff’s Commander Chris Marks said at a news conference.
Marks stated, “Detectives identified a purchase from a local Dollar Tree store made on May 14, 2020, in which a red rope, consistent with the one used in the hanging was purchased with the card registered to Mr. Fuller.”
Robert Fuller was found at Poncitlán Square in Palmdale, Calif., hanging from a tree by a passerby on June 10 at around 3:30 a.m. LA County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said two paramedics were called to the scene and that Fuller was soon after declared dead.
The rope and fabric around his neck “was tied directly to the tree branches in more than one spot, accessible from only up in the tree, indicating that the victim was not hoisted into that position,” Marks said.
According to Mark, there was no evidence of a ladder or chair and that the tree “was easily climbable by someone of Mr. Fuller’s age and physical stature.”
“There were no signs of a struggle, no defensive wounds observed, and no other signs of trauma visible to Mr. Fuller,” he said. “Mr. Fuller’s hands were not bound and there were no signs that he attempted to remove the ligature from his neck.”
“Investigators observed several prominent linear scars on Mr. Fuller’s left wrist consistent with suicidal intent,” he said, adding that Fuller was found hanging “within reach of the trunk and the crook of the tree.”
Yet Sheriff Alex Villanueva acknowledged the “rather odd way in which this death occurred.”
38 year old Malcom Harsch, was a similar case in the surrounding area that Robert fuller was found. Harsch was found hanging from a tree in the city of Victorville, Calif., about 50 miles from Palmdale.
