Victim's advocate calls autopsy report for Denver hairstylist Jax Gratton "concerning," "suspicious"

CBS News

6 days ago

A recently obtained autopsy report for a Denver hairstylist, who was missing for over two months before being found dead, is raising questions and concerns for her mother and her victim advocate.
Jax Gratton, 34, was last seen alive on April 15 and reported missing by her mother on April 24. The autopsy report, obtained by CBS News Colorado on Thursday through an open records request, lacks details on the timeline of events, but says that Gratton, a transgender woman, was seen leaving her apartment with a man on April 15.
The report says Gratton and that man "had a prior history of consensual sexual relations." The two went back to his second-floor Lakewood apartment on April 15 and were later joined by a second man, according to the autopsy report, which doesn't identify either man by name. It's also unclear when the men spoke to law enforcement, but the report says the men told investigators that Gratton was sleeping when she vomited.
"Our detectives continue to work with this active investigation. To ensure that it is not compromised, we unfortunately cannot comment at this time," Lindsey Witzel, a public information officer for the Lakewood Police Department, said on Thursday.
The two men say they propped her up on her side and the first man left his apartment for an unspecified amount of time. He says that when he returned, Gratton was gone.
Her body was discovered in a fenced-off area between that apartment and an adjacent building by the owner of the other building on June 6.
"The second-floor window in this apartment was directly above where the decedent's body was subsequently discovered," the autopsy report reads.
Dr. John Carver, a forensic pathologist with the Jefferson County Coroner's Office, said the time between Gratton's death and the discovery of her body made aspects of the investigation difficult to determine her cause, manner, and exact time of her death.
"Due to the length of time between the decedent's death and the discovery of her body, autopsy findings that might have helped to establish a cause and manner of death may have been obscured or eliminated," he wrote, in part. "Given these uncertainties, the cause and manner of death are undetermined."
Z Williams, co-director of the Bread and Roses Legal Center and victim's advocate for Gratton's mother, has been raising awareness about Gratton's death and criticizing the Lakewood Police Department and Jefferson County Coroner's handling of the investigation for months.
Williams says Gratton's mother reported challenges communicating with the coroner's office, including a lack of communication and representatives of the coroner's office speaking "sternly or tersely" to her mother, "often scolding her," and calling a friend to ask about Gratton's medical information, and other issues.
As of Monday evening, the Jefferson County Coroner's Office hadn't yet responded to a request for comment sent on Friday.
Williams went on to say that Lakewood police "deadnamed" Gratton, a term that refers to calling a transgender person by their birth name, not the one they may have changed their name to. Williams is urging police and other local officials to allow an independent oversight board, similar to Denver's Citizen Oversight Board, with at least one transgender person on the proposed board.
"It's been pretty defensive and honestly argumentative, especially from the chief," Williams told CBS Colorado on Thursday. They're calling for an independent autopsy, saying "there are so many pieces we don't know."
With police not commenting on the investigation, investigators won't say if either man who Gratton was last seen with is being treated as a suspect or person of interest in the case, but Williams says, "their story is very suspicious" and that police "have not been clear about how they view these individuals."
"They basically said that they thought that she had overdosed on (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) and rolled her on her side and just left her in a building alone and then when they came back, she was gone, and that just doesn't line up," Williams said, explaining that Gratton was found without any of her personal belongings, including her phone, bag, glasses, shoes, or medication, "and she does have some pretty concerning fractures."
An outspoken advocate and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community that Gratton was a part of, she felt strongly about providing a space where other queer and transgender people felt welcomed and valued. She also volunteered her time, talents, and money to help homeless residents.
"She cared deeply about every person," Williams said. "She was someone who not only did haircuts for unhoused folks, but she felt very strongly that they need to be done in a salon so that folks got to have the experience and the decency of other people. She made these care kits with her own money that she would put together that had food and hygiene items and socks and she would hand them out to folks so that they would have their basic needs taken care of."
Williams went on to say Gratton was a "deeply beloved artist, member of the recovery community, loved in the hair community, and especially in the LGBT community, where she'd been very active and had been since her teenage years."
In December 2020, Gratton was featured in a CBS Colorado story about recovering stolen medication for her blind neighbor after she witnessed someone steal mail from her Denver apartment building.
"Whether you met Jax once or even if you didn't know her at all, she just had such an impact on the community that was felt all over," Williams said.
It's unclear how the investigation will move forward, but Williams organized protests outside Lakewood City Council meetings and has spoken during the public comment portion of the council's past meetings. They said protests will take place at city council meetings until an independent oversight committee is established.