Foul play in death of man found in San Juan

The family of Renaldo Riley were shocked at the results of his autopsy as they were originally told at Forensic on July 22, there was no foul play in his death.

On July 31, Riley, 38, autopsy revealed he died of asphyxia, strangulation and haemorrhage owing to a rectal haemorrhoid rupture.

The day after Riley's naked body was found at Quarry Road, San Juan on July 21, his relatives spoke to Newsday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James.

They said they were led to believe he died of natural causes, though police said his body bore marks of violence when he was found.

On August 9 Newsday spoke by phone to a relative who did not want to be named
.

She said the entire process was frustrating as Riley's funeral only took place on Thursday – 18 days after he was found.

"They gave us a bunch of runarounds.

"They (Forensic) gave us the impression that it was natural causes, so we ran with the idea."

She told Newsday Riley's body was taken back to Mt Hope – because there seemed to be "no foul play."

"Mt Hope said it was a grey area."

She said Riley's body was taken back to Forensics.

"We had to wait for a police from the San Juan station to come on board to view the autopsy.

"That took over a week!"

The autopsy was done on July 31.

She said the result shocked the entire family.

"Everyone had so much questions.

"Why this happened to him? How this happened to him? What led to it?"

She said the family did not expect any justice or closure from the police.

After his death, Riley's family described him as a loving, kind and helpful individual who loved art.

He had been taking care of his ailing mother for some time before he died.

Riley's nephew Javian Baptiste said on July 22, his last interaction with his uncle was "a bit sad and kind of depressing, because of how life was treating him."

"The amount of stress he was enduring at the point in time, he was on the brink of giving up.”