PARAGOULD, Ark. – The death certificate for Marshall Ray Price, who died in custody of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department last December, was released to family this week.
The certificate states that the immediate cause of death was hypovolemic shock. The certificate goes on to state that the sequential conditions leading to the cause included hemoperitoneum and recent blunt force injuries of the torso.
Hypovolemic shock is an emergency condition in which severe blood or other fluid loss makes the heart unable to pump enough blood to the body, according to MedlinePlus.gov. Hemoperitoneum, sometimes also called intra-abdominal hemorrhage or intraperitoneal hemorrhage, is a type of internal bleeding in which blood gathers in the space between the organs and the inner lining of the abdominal wall, according to WebMD. The causes that needs no explanation are the blunt force injuries to the torso.
Price’s internal injuries were the cause of his death.
His daughter, Julian Jones, still grieves everyday for the loss of her dad.
“Basically, it confirmed everything we had suspected,” Julian told NEA Report. “It solidified something we already knew was coming. And reading his death certificate is kind of surreal.”
When speaking to a reporter, Julian was asked about her understanding of the causes. She had already done research and learned more about the medical lingo used on the death certificate. But when she began to describe the blunt force injuries to his torso, Julian began to cry. It’s still too much for her to think of and it may always be.
It is difficult to imagine Price causing severe blunt force trauma injuries to his own torso. Yet, no one has been charged or arrested and Arkansas State Police have been silent when asked about the case.
“My biggest criticism is the transparency from, say, Arkansas State Police,” Julian said. “Perhaps they could have given us something, some form of hope to cling to that they were going to see this through and they had us protected – but…”
She completed her sentence with silence because nothing is the sum of what Arkansas State Police have provided in the case to the victim’s family.
“I feel like we haven’t even started yet,” Julian said.
The hope now is that, with the death certificate complete, state police might finally complete their probe.
Price was in the Greene County jail awaiting transfer to the Arkansas Department of Correction after being convicted of “drug trafficking” for buying kratom at a gas station on the Missouri state line.
NEA Report will continue our coverage of this horrible story.
He didn’t do it to himself. Ask inmates no longer there and at risk from retaliation. The guys locked up with him raised the alarm many times trying to get him help.