DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The mother of a veteran found dead in the DeKalb County jail said she has proof that her son died under suspicious circumstances.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes spoke to Jonia Milburn, whose son Christon Collins died on March 13.
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Milburn has been trying to get answers from the sheriff’s office and the medical examiner ever since then, but hasn’t gotten any.
Fernandes worked all day Monday to get answers, calling the number for the sheriff’s office spokesperson. As soon as she said she was from Channel 2 Action News, someone hung up on her.
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Collins was a U.S. Army veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Milburn said she tried to get her son help, but since last year, police had kept arresting him for petty crimes like trespassing and damaging property.
“He went through a lot, and the last thing I wanted to do is have his integrity, his character blemished,” Milburn said.
Milburn said that every time police arrested Collins, they sent him to jail instead of the VA hospital.
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Milburn showed Fernandes a letter from doctors at Grady Memorial Hospital written to jail officials letting them know he was a veteran, about the medications he was taking and letting them know that Collins needed help.
Milburn said jail officials refused to transport Collins to the VA and the VA couldn’t pick him up.
While Milburn tried to figure out what to do, Collins died. According to the medical examiner’s toxicology report, he had several drugs in his system including fentanyl.
Milburn didn’t believe it, especially after she saw post-mortem photos of her son with bruises all over him.
When she got an independent autopsy done at Emory Hospital, it said all drug tests were negative.
“I just wanna which one is correct,” she said. “I don’t know what to go on. I need closure.”
The family said that the medical examiner is holding Collins’ brain and spleen, which they can legally do for a year.
The family’s issue is that no one even told them they were holding onto the organs. They only found out they were missing when they got the independent autopsy.
“We’re demanding preventative measures and systemic change with the VA and the Dekalb County prison system,” Milburn said.
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