Tony Pella, 22, who disappeared from Ozzie's bar on West Mercer Street during a Cinco de Mayo celebration last spring, definitely died of injuries that included multiple skull fractures when he "jumped or fell or was pushed from the [Magnolia] Bridge," according to the Medical Examiner's Office.
That contradicts an earlier story in one of the daily newspapers, which quoted an unnamed source in the M.E.'s Office as saying that Pella did not die from head and neck trauma. That was news to the lead M.E. investigator, who told this reporter at the time that the cause of death had not yet been determined, and that the office was waiting for the results of toxicology tests.
The toxicology tests, which were due in August, are back now. The M.E.'s office declined to release the results because they had nothing to do with Pella's death, a spokesman said.
Pella had been out with his father, Magnolia resident Jeff Pella, and the two had checked into a nearby hotel before they went to Ozzie's the night he disappeared. Tony had been barred from Ozzie's around 11:30 that night because he shook a tent pole outside of the entrance, so Jeff went back inside to pay their tab and open up a table, he said.
"When I came outside, he was rounding the corner by QFC," Jeff said of his son. Jeff also said he ran around the block the other way to surprise Tony, adding that Tony had disappeared by the time he rounded the corner on Second Avenue West.
Tony lived in Crown Hill with his mother, Martina Pella, who has been divorced for many years from Jeff. Martina said she, her fiancé and other family members searched for Tony without luck. They also posted fliers around the city asking for information about Tony.
In addition, Martina tried without luck to call Tony's cellphone after he failed to get in touch with her the day after he vanished - something he would have normally done, she said. But Martina also called her son's cellphone company and was told his phone had been used to call Information at 3:36 a.m. May 6.
Two Port of Seattle workers found Tony's body 12 days after he disappeared. It was under the west side of the Magnolia Bridge in a fenced-off area not accessible to the public, but how he made it a mile and a half from Ozzie's to there is unknown.
Tony had left his car in Lower Queen Anne, said Martina, who also said she was suspicious about Jeff's explanation of their son's disappearance.
Police spokeswoman Renée Witt said on Monday this week that the detective assigned to the case was on vacation and not available for comment.
But Witt doesn't think there's been a break in the mysterious case. "We have not heard of any new developments, and we would typically," she said.
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