Jockey’s Death Ruled an Overdose, Not a Homicide

Renowned jockey Chris Antley, whose death last month was investigated as a homicide, died of an accidental overdose of methamphetamine and a weight-loss drug, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Thursday.

But some friends are calling the report a cover-up and say they plan to hire a private detective to conduct their own investigation into his death.

Illegal drugs and a battle with weight, which had plagued the 34-year-old jockey’s career, ultimately took his life Dec. 2, an autopsy found.

“There was no foul play. The death was ruled accidental,” said Scott Carrier, a coroner’s spokesman.

Cathy Park, a friend of Antley’s and one of the people who discovered the body, disputed the coroner’s verdict.

“The police have not done a thorough job in investigating this,” said Park, a real estate agent who sold Antley his home. “There are too many unanswered questions. The scene I found at Chris’ house doesn’t add up to an accidental death.”

The body of the two-time Kentucky Derby winner was found in the hallway of his Pasadena home. The circumstances surrounding the death, including head trauma, prompted Pasadena police to declare the death a homicide, pending an autopsy.

But Carrier said the autopsy found that Antley’s head injury and other bruises did not come at the hands of another, but were self-inflicted as he wandered in a delusional state through his home.

“The lacerations to the scalp were superficial and not life threatening. The injuries were not consistent with him being struck,” Carrier said.

A coroner’s physician and Pasadena homicide detectives examined the scene, Carrier said. “They found numerous areas in the house where Antley struck his head. He had fallen down, stumbled and banged his head on walls and door jambs,” Carrier said. “There was tissue [paper] scattered around the body. He was obviously trying to treat himself.”

Carrier said toxicology test results showed Antley died from an overdose of methamphetamine and the weight-loss drug Clobenzorex, which breaks down in the body as an amphetamine. He said two other drugs were also found in the jockey’s system--the anti-seizure medication Tegretol and the anti-depressant Paxil.

Clobenzorex is not available in the United States, Carrier said, but is sometimes used by jockeys battling to keep their weight down. The 5-feet-3 Antley’s weight at his death had ballooned to 133 pounds, 16 pounds more than his last riding weight.

Pasadena Police Cmdr. Mary Schander said the department had declared the death a homicide “because it was prudent to investigate the death thoroughly.”

She said police concur with the coroner’s findings and have reclassified the incident as an accident.

But Park disagrees. She said that when she entered the house the night of Dec. 2, after having picked up one of Antley’s brothers at the airport, she found the jockey face down in the hallway, and the door from the bedroom off its hinges and on its side.

“The door had been kicked in; there was a hole in it,” Park said. “You could tell that it had been kicked in from the outside. Is Chris going to leave his bedroom, go outside and then kick in the door from there? There were definitely signs of a violent struggle. Everything was in total disarray. In the bedroom, there were six or seven pillows thrown all over the place. The sheets were on the floor,” Park said.

“Now look, I know Chris was a guy with a lot of problems, but he never did anything like this. Even when he was in trouble, he was neat about the way he kept things. I was there the day before, and everything was in place in that bedroom.”

Park said that blood was everywhere. “There was blood on that door,” she said. “There was blood in the hallway, there was blood on the carpet with a footprint in it. Until I saw all the blood, I thought that Chris had just gotten drunk and fell down.”

Neighbors across the street have said that they heard a car screeching away from the Antley house about 9 p.m.

“I was told [after 11 p.m.] by the police that Chris had been dead for about two hours,” Park said. “That would tie in with the time that car left in a loud hurry.”

Shortly after his body was found, a sometime friend, Timothy Tyler Jr. was arrested on three outstanding drug warrants by Pasadena police. But police declared he was not a suspect in Antley’s death. Tyler is free on bail.

Antley’s brother, Brian, and a caretaker found the body at the ranch-style home in the expensive San Rafael neighborhood. Brian Antley had traveled to California that day at the request of Antley’s wife, Natalie Jowett, who gave birth to the couple’s first child hours after the toxicology reports were released. Jowett, an ABC Sports producer based in New York, had became concerned about her husband’s condition.

Since riding his last race in March, Antley’s life had spiraled into a world of drugs and alcohol, according to police reports

They were old demons. He lost his jockey’s license in New York state in 1988 when he tested positive for cocaine and marijuana. But Antley battled back to win the Kentucky Derby in 1991 and 1999.

Pasadena police arrested him for drunk driving shortly before 4 p.m. July 26 on Colorado Boulevard. A breath test showed his blood alcohol level was 0.26%, more than three times the legal limit, and he admitted to having drunk a bottle of vodka.

Police went to Antley’s home Sept. 28 after his wife in New York asked them to check on his welfare. They found Antley, Tyler, methamphetamine and marijuana. Antley was not prosecuted because the district attorney’s office deemed it an “inadmissible search and seizure,” but Tyler was charged with a misdemeanor.

A more bizarre incident occurred Oct. 7, when police received a hang-up 911 call from Antley’s house. When officers arrived, they found Antley gone, and Tyler and Tyler’s girlfriend in the home. Both told police Antley had been talking about going to the airport to pick up his wife, saying, “I’m going to do away with her.”

Investigators were still seeking to interview the jockey about the report at the time of his death. The fatal drugs were in plain sight when officers arrived at the home on Rosita Lane on Dec. 2. According to a police report, officers found 0.55 grams of crystal methamphetamine and white powder residue.

Vladimir Cerin, a horse trainer who was a friend of Antley’s, believes that the jockey’s death was a homicide.

“This is an absolute cover-up,” Cerin said. “Cathy told me that there was a gaping wound at the bottom of Chris’ neck. This isn’t the kind of injury caused by someone who’s overdosed on diet pills and other drugs.”

Cerin said that he and Park would be hiring a private investigator.

“Somebody did this to Chris,” Cerin said. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it.”