Vigil planned at SLO parking structure for Atascadero man who mysteriously fell to his death
Almost one year after 21-year-old Thomas Jodry died in a mysterious fall from a downtown San Luis Obispo parking structure, his family continues to seek answers.
While Jodry’s parents remain entangled in a wrongful death lawsuit against the young man’s drinking companion that night, a group of county residents will hold a two-day vigil at the spot where he fell in order to spread awareness of the case — since closed by San Luis Obispo police — in the hopes of finding someone who witnessed Jodry in the hour or so before his death.
Jodry was hanging out downtown on Sept. 14, 2019, with a 57-year-old acquaintance who his parents say bought him up to six shots of whiskey within an hour at a local bar shortly before the two had some sort of falling out.
That man, David Allen Knight of Atascadero, spoke to officers at the parking garage and was cleared of wrongdoing by San Luis Obispo police, who ruled the death a suicide, a determination the Coroner’s Office initially agreed with.
But upon further investigation, the Coroner’s Office later changed its conclusion to “undetermined,” finding no physical evidence whether Jodry intentionally jumped, accidentally fell, or was somehow “pushed.”
No cameras captured the incident, but the Jodrys say official reports and court records submitted by Knight suggest there were perhaps dozens of witnesses to events leading up to the fall, which occurred in the early evening as students lined downtown streets during Cal Poly’s Week of Welcome.
The Jodrys and Knight’s description of what happened differ, but Knight appeared at the scene and spoke to an officer shortly after Thomas Jodry’s fall, and drove to the family’s Atascadero home to return Thomas’ cell phone before ceasing all communications with the family, they say.
Since then, William and Mary Jane Jodry have searched for witnesses and answers, after finding few through San Luis Obispo police’s investigation.
“I feel we’ve been misserved by the police,” William Jodry said Wednesday. “This is going to be a hard weekend for us.”
On Saturday and Sunday, members and supporters of the recently formed community group Justice 4 Thomas planned to hold a socially distanced vigil for Jodry near the corner of Marsh and Chorro streets beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Sandee Hunt-Burns, who runs Project Siren, a local public relations firm that supports nonprofits and specializes in victim advocacy, helped found Justice 4 Thomas with a handful of other residents after learning about the case.
She said the vigil will be a low-key event — not a protest, she emphasized — and volunteers will be six or more feet apart at the structure, not blocking sidewalks, and spreading the word about the case in an effort to remind passersby, any one of whom may have been walking during WOW week on Sept. 14, 2019, and seen something.
“We wanted to try something a little different for sharing Tommy’s story,” Hunt-Burns said Thursday. “We wanted to not only honor Tommy on the one-year anniversary of his passing, but also show that the community does care about this young man and that justice is being denied in this instance.”
The group will also be handing out flowers and promoting a fundraising campaign to establish a reward for information about Jodry’s death.
Wrongful death case is ongoing
William and Mary Jane Jodry are not hosting the event due to their ongoing civil case against Knight, which was filed in May, they said. The original complaint accuses Knight of causing Thomas Jodry’s death, but did not specify how.
A subsequent complaint filed in July specifies that Knight caused Jodry’s death by “’accidentally and/or playfulIy pushing Thomas from the parking garage.”
The Jodrys also allege that Knight was aware that Thomas was alcoholic but bought him numerous shots of whiskey and did not seek help when Thomas became heavily intoxicated. The parents allege that Knight, who was supposed to be Jodry’s ride home that night after picking him up that afternoon for the supposed purpose of viewing art, failed to transport him safely home.
They’re seeking financial compensation in excess of $25,000 for funeral and court costs, as well as damages for the loss of a loved one.
A coroner’s report obtained by The Tribune says that Jodry’s blood alcohol content was about 0.38%, more than four times the legal limit to drive.
The Coroner’s Office found his cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries from the fall, but said it was unable to determine the manner of death (natural, accident, homicide, suicide, or undetermined) due to a lack of witnesses or surveillance footage. Considering Jodry’s past mental health history as well as his athletic agility casting doubt on an accidental fall, the agency could not make a determination on the manner of death.
“Undetermined or ‘could not be determined’ is a classification used when the information pointing to one manner of death is no more compelling than one or more other competing manners of death in thorough consideration of all available information,” the report reads, citing National Association of Medical Examiners guidelines.
Knight’s attorney calls death ‘heartbreaking and tragic’
Knight has not publicly commented on Jodry’s death, but he has denied the family’s allegations in several requests for restraining orders against the parents, alleging that they are harassing him at his home and on social media after he’s cooperated with investigators.
A Superior Court judge has denied each of those requests.
Knight was previously being represented by the law firm of Central Coast Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, but is now being represented in the wrongful death action by Santa Barbara-based attorney Lora Hemphill.
Hemphill said Thursday that while Thomas Jodry’s death was “heartbreaking and tragic,” the Jodrys have made “very serious allegations” against her client, who has been cooperative. She added that the Jodrys haven’t been willing to “have a civil conversation” with Knight.
“It’s been devastating for Mr. Knight,” Hemphill said. “It’s been a real disruption to his life, and the continuance of it with these allegations is just unwarranted.”
Asked about the vigil, Hemphill said she’s supportive of the event if the goal is to memorialize Jodry and disseminate information to the public about his death — as long as it isn’t about her client.
“The Jodrys are just incorrect in their assertions (about Knight),” she said.
Regarding the Jodrys’ amended complaint, Hemphill said the Jodrys’ attorney will be filing another amended complaint removing the allegation that Thomas Jodry was “pushed.”
Eric Parkinson, the Jodrys’ attorney, confirmed he plans to again amend the complaint but declined to comment further.
A court date in the wrongful death case is scheduled for Wednesday.
Hunt-Burns said this weekend’s event is not about vilifying Knight, and participants will not be mentioning his name. Instead, the event is about encouraging interested parties to read publicly available information about the case.
“That someone can die in the heartbeat of downtown SLO and no one knows why, that’s terrifying.” she said. “We’re trying to spread the word of what occurred here.”
Jodrys say support ‘gives us the strength to carry on’
The parents of Thomas Jodry said they will attend a private family gathering on Monday, the anniversary of his death, but will likely drop by this weekend’s vigil and thank the volunteers.
They said they are grateful for the Justice 4 Thomas group’s support in keeping the case in the public eye.
“It makes us feel kind of vindicated, especially since we had so much difficulty in the first part of this with the police,” Mary Jane Jodry said. “There is a large group of people in the community that really care. It gives us the strength to carry on.”
As the first anniversary of their son’s death nears, the Jodrys say they continue to struggle daily with not only his loss of life but the possibility they may never know what happened.
They’ve undergone heavy counseling that has helped, they say, and their entire family including Thomas’ siblings, continue to grieve.
“We’re struggling. I cry every day — every day,” William Jodry said. “At (nearly) age 22, he was just starting his life. You feel a loss for him, for his loss of what was ahead in his life ... and that is one of the worst, devastating, emotional feelings you could have. He was still a kid.”
The family is seeking information from anyone in the public who may have been inside of around the area of Frog & Peach Pub on Higuera Street around the 8 p.m. hour of Sept. 14, 2019, or witnesses who may have seen Thomas Jodry as he traversed downtown toward the parking structure.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Jodrys through the family’s website at justiceforthomas.com/contact or through the Justice 4 Thomas group’s website.
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 1:50 PM.
