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Autopsy reveals Ty’rique Riley died of natural causes

SWATARA TOWNSHIP, DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. – The Dauphin County Coroner says the cause of death of a 21-year-old man in prison custody was due to natural cause...
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SWATARA TOWNSHIP, DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. - The Dauphin County Coroner says the cause of death of a 21-year-old man in prison custody was due to natural causes. Ty'rique Riley died on July 1st, and many people, including his family, raised questions about what led to his death.

Sixty-seven days after 21-year-old Ty'rique Riley died in Dauphin County Prison custody, coroner Graham Hetrick released Riley's cause of death.

“The death is natural," said Hetrick. "And has nothing to do with any of the bruising that was on his body.”

Hetrick says Riley died from kidney failure, a brain infection, and infected blood vessels with substantial clotting. He says, these conditions likely caused Riley to bruise extremely easily as well as not be in the right state of mind. Which Hetrick says, could be the reason Riley was acting strange the night he was arrested.

“His brain was swollen, he was seeing reality differently than you or I would see it," said Hetrick. "That altered his behavior.”

We spoke with Riley's extended family after Hetrick's announcement. They say they accept his findings and it gives them closure.

“We didn’t want to believe that our cousin was brutalized and died at 21 years old," said Serena Bagna, Riley's cousin. "It was very, very heartbreaking to us.”

However, attorneys Riley Ross, and Kevin Mincey who represent Riley's mother and father, tell us they will have their own pathologist examine the results from the coroner's office. They also say, these results do not exonerate the Dauphin County Prison, where Riley was in custody for eight days before receiving medical attention.

“For eight days he was in the prison and no one in that prison was able to determine that they were dealing with a very sick person who needed medical attention," said Ross. "He did not receive that attention. We want to know why.”

Ross and Mincey tell FOX43 once they receive the full autopsy report from the coroner, they will compare it to the medical records the family received from the hospital.

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