Findings from an FBI investigation conclude that Missouri teenager Derontae Martin died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, not at the hands of a white homeowner who was suspected to be responsible for his death, a report says.
Acting special agent Chris Crocker, who works for the St. Louis Division, confirmed with The Associated Press that the agency found Martin’s death was from “a self-inflicted gunshot wound, not a homicide or a hate crime.”
His mother, Ericka Lotts, still believes there’s more to the story.
In April 2021, the 19-year-old attended a prom celebration at the home of James Wade in Fredericktown, Missouri. The party was for Wade’s daughter who was “a friend of a friend” of Martin.
Wade subsequently gained notoriety after it was learned he had shared racist posts online.
Wade’s Facebook page posts included a meme of a middle finger that said: “Here’s my apology for white,” and another supporting the Confederate flag. He even had one hanging in front of his home.
“I was born in the South, and I’m not ashamed to show the Confederate flag or anything,” Wade told KSDK in 2021. “I mean, everybody has their own right, I guess.”
Officials found Martin deceased in the attic when they arrived at the man’s home around 3 a.m., according to the AP report.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office and later the Missouri State Highway Patrol agreed that the teen’s death was due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Shortly afterward a Madison County coroner agreed with this determination, but that finding would be overturned in July 2021 by the six-person jury empaneled for a coroner’s inquest.
Some witnesses at the party claimed Martin was exhibiting paranoid behavior that night, per the audio from the inquest obtained by the AP in 2021. A witness, Zachary Graham, claimed that he saw Martin with a gun.
“Did you see him shoot himself?” Madison County Prosecutor M. Dwight Robbins reportedly asked Graham during the inquest.
“Yes,” he responded.
In addition, officials reported a toxicology test revealed that there were traces of methamphetamine in his body. Dr. Russell Deidiker, who conducted the autopsy for Madison County, stated that the gunshot was believed to be self-inflicted and at close range.
At the time, Martin’s mother told the AP her son committing suicide was nearly impossible to fathom. He was right handed and had a full cast on his right arm. It’s unknown how Martin broke his right arm.
This would be the second time in seven years that a Madison County coroner ruled a shooting death of a young man on Wade’s property as a suicide.
The Riverfront Times reports that in 2014 20-year-old Nick Lowrey, who had been involved with another of Wade’s daughters, was found dead on the grounds of the Wade residence after sustaining what was ruled to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In Martin’s case, the AP reports that Deidiker also pushed back against the family’s second autopsy report, which came to a different conclusion that the fatal gunshot to the teen’s left temple was fired from too far away to be self-inflicted, implying that someone else shot Martin.
According to the report, another man, Phillip Lawler, testified that the Wade admitted to him weeks after the incident that he shot the teen.
“He just told me he didn’t like Black people and used the N-word,” Lawler reportedly claimed at the time, adding that the homeowner said, “that murder was the easiest thing in the world to get by with.”
On the other hand, Wade disputed that claim, saying that he was on the main level when it happened, the outlet reported. Some attendees supported his version of events. He has not been charged with a crime, but the inquest rejected the finding of suicide, ruling that Martin died by “violence.”
Per their investigation, Crocker noted to the AP that while at the party, witnesses claimed Martin was concerned about a gang member, so someone at the party gave him the firearm in his possession. The teen is said to have shot himself in front of a friend who was trying to persuade him not to do it.
The drugs in his system were “consistent with levels that that often lead to extreme paranoia and sometimes even death,” Crocker told the outlet.
The agency informed the family of the case’s conclusion in December. Since the incident happened, Martin’s mother has been consistent in what she believed happened.
“I told them he wasn’t suicidal. He was too happy to be suicidal,” Lotts said at the time.
