Coroner releases ‘factual information’ on viral Taemon Blair case

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — The death of a 21-year-old man reportedly found hanged in the sleeper of a semi tractor-trailer in Fort Wayne earlier this month has spread around the country through social media posts.

The body of Taemon Blair was found March 14 in a semi cab, parked in the 9100 block of Bluffton Road. A week later, the Allen County Coroner’s Office, on March 21, said the 21-year-old from Huntersville, North Carolina, died of asphyxia due to hanging and his death was ruled a suicide.

Since, social media posts have suggested Blair did not die by suicide, but rather he was killed. Some posts have suggested he was lynched, and others said he’d been beaten and hanged with his hands bound. Others posts have offered other theories.

Pop culture stars like rappers Big Boi and TI, who have followers in the millions, have shared the posts in recent days.  

On Thursday, the Allen County Coroner’s Office released a 4-page report to correct “inaccurate information being spread across social media.“ WISH-TV’s sister station WANE had published the reports without edits.

As a policy, WISH and WANE do not report on suicides in most cases. Due to the viral nature of this case, however, we have made the editorial decision to report what we know at this time.