MEDICAL EXAMINER REPORT

Name Christopher Jones Medical Examiner # 18-04-35E
Date of Birth June 20, 1998 Date of Death (found) December 13, 2015
Age 17 County Nassau
Sex Male Date of Exam December 13, 2015
Height 71 Inches Weight 151 lbs
Location Found Holding cell, 3rd Precinct Police Center
FINAL DIAGNOSIS
Cause of Death: Hanging
Manner of Death: Suicide
******************************************************************************
THE JOUNAL OF CHRISTOPHER JONES, EXHIBIT C
November 14, 2014—I’ve never had a journal before, but now I guess I don’t have much of a choice. The school psychologist is forcing me to keep one for the rest of our sessions. She said she would check it but not read it, so I guess it doesn’t really matter what I write.
I might as well start off with what caused all this. On the day of the school pep rally, everyone was excused from their eighth and ninth period classes for the rally. Me Pierce and Pete thought of a way to make things there a little more interesting—trusty old pot. Thinking ahead, Pete picked up some THC wax so it wouldn’t smell, and we were all set for the afternoon. That is until somebody snitched. Pete went to the bathroom in English and the vice principle stormed into his class and searched his bag. They knew I was in on it, but they had no proof so all they could make me do are these BS counseling sessions. The bad part about it all was my mom’s reaction to it. She obviously knows I’ve smoked pot before, but she was disappointed that I’d do something like this in school. She wasn’t even mad, that’s the worst part. At least when someone’s mad at you you don’t get that kind of guilt. Steve, her new husband, was straight up pissed and went on this whole big rant when I got home. In one ear and out the other. Steve one of those guys that just think they’re just the hottest s*** to walk the Earth. He acts like he has some sorta divine right to waltz into people’s lives and be idolized….
I spoke alone with my mom later that night. She knew I was involved and there was no point in denying it. I promised her I wouldn’t be so stupid again, and I really want to keep to that. It really was a dumb thing to do, I don’t know what was going through my head. Live and learn I guess, at least things turned out pretty alright for me. I wish I could say the same for Pete and Pierce.
January 18, 2015—School’s been pretty quiet these past two months. Pete and Pierce came back from their suspension and have still been messing around, but I’ve stayed away from them and they’ve done the same from me. I guess they’re still salty that I didn’t go down with them and get punished. I can’t really blame them for feeling like that, I’d probably feel the same.
New Year’s was crazy fun—I spent the night out with Christina and her friends. It’s been a while since I’ve had a girlfriend, and she’s probably the best you could get. She’s mad cute and pretty obsessed with me. I could honestly to anything to her and she’d still be crazy for me. I’m pretty ticked off I missed Saturday’s party at her place, I was stuck at my Aunt Jenny’s stupid wedding. Fifty bucks says this one doesn’t last until my graduation.
At the wedding I had the joy of seeing the beady-eyed addict who gave me half my genes. I’m not gonna complain about it but I don’t know what my mom could have ever seen in him—he showed up high and looked like trash, somehow even worse than usual. It was the first time I had seen him since middle school, back when I hadn’t realized how much of a low life he actually is. Back then when he was married to my mom he was pretty clean and was around a lot more and would play with me a whole bunch, but since they broke up he’s gone off the deep end. I can’t blame my mom for him though, it’s not like I haven’t had my fair share of mistakes in high school.
March 27, 2015—These past two days have been a blur, if things don’t change soon I swear I’ll go crazy. Last Tuesday I went to sleep like any other night, but at two thirty five—I can still see those damn numbers glowing in the dark—I was woken up by Steve screaming to call an ambulance. My mom was having a seizure. She looked lifeless there as she shook and foamed on her bed. I had to just stand back and watch as the EMTs held her down, injected her with something, and hauled her off. They wouldn’t even let me go in the ambulance and my grandparents thought it would be best if I stayed home and “got a good night sleep.” I kept pushing to go to the hospital but they just kept on saying that same damn thing. I if they weren’t my grandparents I would’ve gone off on them.
My mom is still in the hospital today because the doctors are running tests on her. She was asleep the one time I visited and in a CAT scan the other, but I managed to catch her on the phone for a bit and she sounded alright. I just want her back at home, things are different without her. I know there’s more to what’s happening but nobody’s telling me anything. Just because Steve and my grandparents speak quietly doesn’t mean I don’t know what they’re speaking about. I’m sixteen and she’s my mother. I have a right to know what’s going on.
April 21, 2015—My mom was released two weeks ago and has been doing pretty well since. The doctors still can’t figure out what happened, thank God for twenty-first century medicine…. They’ve narrowed it down to brain cancer, swelling, or a cavernous malformation, whatever the hell that is. She hasn’t been herself since the seizure, but I think that’s just because the whole thing was so shocking. At points she just bursts out in anger at me or Steve, which is so off because usually she’s the last one to raise her voice. Give it a little more time and I think she’ll be back to the woman I know.
Throughout this whole thing Christina has been such a nag and I’ve just finally broken up with her. Wish I had done that back when we started going out. She was just the most overbearing, unpredictable person. She constantly asked about my mom—if I wanted to talk about it, I would. I didn’t need her always reminding me that my mom might be dying. On top of that she would always nag me and get mad at me saying s*** like “you keep treating me like I mean nothing to you” or “I’m just trying to be a part of your life.” I’m glad I broke free of that. With her out of my life I have a lot more time to hang out with my boys, they’re the ones who really matter.
May 9, 2015—Thank God I switched into honors bio last month, the AP exam is in two days and if I were still in that course I’m sure I’d fail it. The final for honors will be so much easier and I’ll have weeks more to study and get my act together. Once finals come everyone will settle down a bit and I’ll have some more time to study—I’ve probably been out six nights a week lately.
The tests confirmed that my mom has a cavernous malformation in her brain and it needs to be cut out. She’s in the city at the hospital preparing for surgery now, and once again I’ve been forced to stay home and sit around. I’m told it’s just a routine surgery but I’ve never heard of this until a month ago so who the hell knows. I’m just glad we live near one of the biggest cities with top hospitals. It must suck if you’re stuck having surgery in some s***hole hospital in Oklahoma or wherever.
I hope my mom gets back from the surgery soon, because I don’t know what I’ll do if I have to live with just my grandparents for too long. I get they’re trying to watch out for me, but the incessant nagging, always questioning where I am and how I’m feeling, it just gets so annoying.
June 6, 2015—I’m almost there. Just thinking those words puts a smile on my face. Less than three weeks until summer, until freedom. Finals will be a pain but I can get through them alright. I can’t wait for driver’s ed either. I got Mike, Alex, and Sarah in my car so it’ll be a pretty fun time. Steve’s been pissed at me though lately, saying I come home too late and that I’m disrespectful—not like that piece of trash deserves any of my respect. He’s threatening not to pay for driver’s ed though unless I pass drug tests. Kinda took me by surprise that he’d grow a pair and do anything more than yell at me, but either way I gotta stay clean until the end of the school year because that course costs mad money.
My mom’s surgery went pretty well apparently, not that I could tell any difference. She still gets crazy and complains of headaches, but at least now she’s ‘cured.’  Things have been pretty weird at home. You’d think everyone would be busy worrying about my mom, but somehow they still manage to always get on me. I can’t recall the last time I’ve had an actual conversation with any of them that hasn’t ended in some sort of argument or fight.
August 16, 2015—Summer’s been the time of my life. I’ve even been enjoying my dumb cashier job at Stop and Shop. Alex is there with me so we just smoke before work and man the registers high as hell. We only make minimum wage, but we do so little that I can’t really complain. After work we usually just go back and chill at Mike’s house and play CoD or GTA. It’s kinda funny how often I wind up sleeping there to avoid the walk home late at night. Steve is always sore when I sleep there but he knows it’s summer so he doesn’t really do anything about it.
Weekends are always the best—I must’ve hit the beach fifty times so far. Well, maybe not fifty, but a lot. It scares me to think that I only have a few weeks left of this. Going back to school is gonna suck big time. Classes will be pretty tough for the first part of the year since they get sent to colleges. I really need to get my act together for all that because that stuff matters a lot. If I mess it up now that could hurt me pretty badly down the road and that’s definitely not worth it. It seems pretty far off now, but I can’t wait to go to college. Living on my own and going to college parties seems like paradise. My mom’s sad that I’ll probably go away to school, but like there’s not much around here. She’s still off from the surgery anyway, although I haven’t been around all that much to know how much. The doctors keep assuring her that she’s getting better. Kinda smells like BS if you ask me, but there’s nothing I can do.
I have my road test scheduled for tomorrow. It’s gonna be pretty great to be able to drive myself around now, I won’t need to keep bugging Alex or Mike for rides. I’ll be able to drive to school and go out during my frees too not, which will be awesome. I can just leave and drive around too to kill time and get out of the house, which is sometimes necessary.
October 10, 2015—School sucks. Physics and calc together are awful and Mrs. Dryden won’t lay off me in history. Steve is always up my ass about my grades too. I’d honestly do better if he weren’t always harassing me about studying or asking to see my tests. My mom tells him he shouldn’t yell at me so much, but he still does, just when she can’t hear.
Back at the start of the year the psychologist forced me to see a psychiatrist and he prescribed me with a whole bunch of crap. I took both prescriptions for a week, but I was so tired and just didn’t feel like myself. I’ve been selling the Xanax I was prescribed to make a few extra bucks, and I can’t sell my Prozac so I just flush it.
Things have been getting pretty weird socially. Alex spends a lot of time with his new girl and never chills with me much anymore. He won’t come out and get high or go to parties, he just stays in with her all the time. Mike’s been hanging out a lot more with Pete, who’s a straight up sped now. He’s still pretty salty at me from the pep rally, so things get pretty awkward when I hang out with him and Mike. Normally now I just get high with Jack, but he’s kinda weird so we don’t do much else than that.
November 12, 2015—My mom has been pretty weird lately, but yesterday she said something that was pretty unexpected. When I got home I stopped in her room to see her and say hi, and for once she looked really good. Like her face was happy and her skin just seemed so much more alive than it has been for the past year. We spoke for a little bit,  the small talk and ‘how was your day’ sorta stuff, but then out of nowhere she starts saying that I’m special, and that she always saw something different in me, something that she didn’t see anywhere else. I’ve been thinking about nonstop since then. Something about it, I don’t know. It makes me feel good. I feel like I’m on top of the world. I’ve slept three hours since then, but I feel amazing.
December 2, 2015—Things have started to come down a bit. Steve found out that I was selling my meds, so now he holds onto them and forces me to take them in front of him. I puke them out right after though, but it still sucks now that he has another thing to harass me about. My mom has gone a bit downhill since that day. Just like before she’s complaining about headaches and is in bed all the time. She’s pretty crazy now too. One moment she’s happy and loving the next she’s screaming for no damn reason. It’s so bad that even my grandparents have realized it’s a problem. Between her state and Steve, I can’t stand being at home. Well, home sober I suppose.
School isn’t going any better either. My guidance counselor forced me to drop from honors to regular calc and physics because of my grades. I guess I didn’t disagree with that, but it just sucks. School just seems so pointless lately. I just go and sit through all the bs, I don’t even take in any of it. I guess I have to go. What other choice do I really even have?
December 12, 2015—My mom just fainted. She was walking up the stairs to bring me my laptop and just collapsed. The ambulance came pretty quickly and took her away. Steve won’t let me come to the hospital. I don’t know what the f*** to do. I should’ve just gotten my laptop myself, then she wouldn’t have been on those damn stairs. Did the malformation come back or something? Could it be cancer this time? Jesus I’ve got to stop thinking about this. Maybe if I just drive around that will take my mind off things. I hope so. This needs to end. I’m not in control of anything in my life right now.
******************************************************************************
TESTIMONY OF SERGEANT ELI JACOBS, EXHIBIT D
At 22:28 on December 12, 2015 I was dispatched to 1139 Stewart Avenue, with reports of a car fire in the parking lot. The caller suspected arson (either deliberate or accidental) as the lot is known as a drug hotspot. I arrived on scene at 22:36 approximately 2 minutes before the fire department. Upon arrival, I saw two sedans in flames in adjacent parking spots. I could not then discern the colors or make.
Christopher Jones (DOB 6-20-1998) was sitting about 20 feet in front of the cars, 5 feet from the driver’s side door of his own car (Black 2009 Honda Accord, registered to Steven Norton DOB 5-17-1978). I approached Jones and apprehended him. He was non-responsive initially, but then submitted without resisting. I brought Jones my squad car as the fire department arrived. Police backup arrived to impound the car and I brought Jones to the 3rd Precinct Police Center for processing. During the process he was very quiet, and chose to make a call to his Stepfather, Steven Norton. Norton reportedly [see Testimony of Steven Norton, Exhibit J] was not informed of Jones’s arrest.
After making the phone call, Jones proceeded to ask me about his charges, their class, and potential jail time and punishments. In addition, soot was found on his fingertips and collected for forensic analysis.
******************************************************************************
TESTIMONY OF CORPORAL JUSTIN ROBERTS, EXHIBIT E
Sergeant Jacobs ended his shift after the initial processing of Christopher Jones (DOB 6-20-1998) at approximately 23:57. At this time, I uncuffed Jones as he requested to use the bathroom. I finished filing the charges and processing the evidence collected. I returned at 00:23 December 13, 2015 and knocked on the bathroom of the holding cell. [The other two members of the holding cell, names withheld] reported that that Jones had not left the bathroom. After knocking a second time and calling his name, I opened the door.
Inside I found that Jones had hung himself from the top bar of the window frame using his shoe laces. I cut Jones down and unsuccessfully attempted resuscitation. I then radioed for an ambulance and removed [the other people] from holding cell A to holding cell B. The ambulance arrived at 00:30 and removed Jones.
Christopher Jones was pronounced dead on arrival at 00:31 December 13, 2015.