Coroner to conduct inquest into death
WASHINGTON TWP. – The Fayette County coroner’s office will conduct an inquest into the death of a 21-year-old Washington Township man who was discovered dead in an overgrown drainage ditch months after he was reported missing. The body of Jesse Marish was discovered on Dec. 30 in a drainage ditch behind a Perry Avenue home.
At the time of the discovery, it had been more than three months since anyone had seen Marish, who was involved in a 3 a.m. car accident on Sept. 17 in front of the home where the remains were found.
Marish’s body was found in an overgrown drainage ditch covered by leaves and branches along with heavily overgrown, jagged bushes at a site as close as 100 yards from where searchers had looked for Marish when he was reported missing by his mother.
Investigating officer Washington Township Police Detective Tom O’Barto said Wednesday that although he doesn’t know exactly what caused Marish’s death, he believes it was accidental.
O’Barto said both the results of a toxicology report performed on Marish and the autopsy report were inconclusive. “We’re still in the dark as to what caused the death,” O’Barto said.
However, he added that he believes Marish died the night of the accident.
When police responded to the accident, Marish fled in the opposite direction of where the body was discovered, toward his father’s home about a half a mile away. O’Barto said police only saw a glimpse of Marish the night of the accident.
When police returned to the accident scene the following day, a small bottle containing a suspected methamphetamine was discovered.
A witness told police that before Marish fled he said he was OK and the witness said Marish appeared uninjured after hitting a telephone pole and then a tree with his vehicle. Marish reportedly threw items in the back of his car and then took the license plate off the vehicle before fleeing. O’Barto earlier said that the license plate was found shoved up the right pants leg of Marish’s body.
O’Barto said that although the exact cause of death was not determined due to the advanced decomposition of the body, a gun shot wound and stab wound were ruled out as a cause. “I don’t think it’s suspicious,” O’Barto said. He added that having the inquest will allow a panel of coroner’s jurors to decide what they feel happened.
O’Barto said he is in favor of the inquest, slated for March 31, to let the public see what he has done regarding an investigation.
He said a report that Marish made a call from his father’s home around 4:45 a.m. the night of the accident could not be substantiated.
Since the death, rumors have circulated that O’Barto shot Marish and the police station has been spray-painted with, “Justice for Jesse.” O’Barto said signs bearing numbers have also been posted in the area.