Parents whose son died in fall from SLO parking structure seek answers: ‘Justice for Tommy’
It’s been three years since Thomas Jodry died after falling from a parking structure in downtown San Luis Obispo.
The 21-year-old Atascadero resident suffered his fatal fall after spending a night drinking with another man.
Bill and Mary Jane Jodry, Jodry’s parents, have never been the same.
“It’s hard to fight off tears when you hear somebody ask how you’re doing because you’re never ever doing okay,” Bill Jodry said Wednesday during a vigil for his son. “That searing pain you have when you lose somebody that’s really close, that just makes you bend over in agony, that kind of mellows out in time.
“But the sadness never goes away.”
On Wednesday, the anniversary of their son’s death, the Jodrys stood on the corner of Marsh and Chorro Streets, holding signs, chanting “Justice for Tommy!” and talking to people passing by by about their son’s case.
They also gathered signatures for a petition to improve parking structure safety and passing out flyers with tips for young people to practice while enjoying a night out.
“Justice for Tommy is justice for all young men,” Mary Jane Jodry chanted to passing cars.
Parents look for answers 3 years after son’s death
Thomas Jodry met 57-year-old David Allen Knight when Knight bought a cactus from him in August 2019.
Text messages saved from Jodry’s phone by his parents and shared with the Tribune show the two messaged each other for a few weeks before Knight showed up at the Jodrys’ Atascadero home on Sept. 14, 2019.
The older Atascadero man said he was picking up Thomas Jodry to talk about art in San Luis Obispo and visit Cal Poly’s Architecture Graveyard.
Google Timeline, an app Jodry had installed on his smartphone, shows that his phone went from Cal Poly’s campus to a Mexican restaurant in San Luis Obispo, traveling to Montaña de Oro State Park near Los Osos before heading back to SLO.
Security footage then shows the two men at Frog & Peach Pub in downtown San Luis Obispo.
In security footage from the bar viewed by the Tribune, the two can be seen drinking alcoholic beverages.
At one point, Knight can be seen buying large shots for himself and Jodry.
Knight gestures to Jodry to join him in a toast, the security footage shows. Jodry takes his shot, but Knight does not.
The security footage then shows Knight switching his full glass with Jodry’s empty glass, and Jodry ends up drinking both of the shots that were purchased.
Shortly after leavng the pub, Jodry fell from the third floor of the Marsh Street parking garage, according to police records.
Jodry’s blood alcohol content was .38% — almost five times the legal limit to drive — at the time of his death, according to a coroner’s report obtained by The Tribune.
Knight arrived at the scene of Jodry’s fall around the time police got there, according to police body camera footage obtained by The Tribune.
Knight can be heard telling one officer, “I know him but don’t want to be on record knowing him.”
The officer didn’t ask for Knight’s name or take down his information, according to the body camera footage.
The body camera footage also shows several people who have yet to be identified but Mary Jane and Bill Jodry believe may have witnessed something from the night Jodry died.
The cause of Jodry’s death was ultimately ruled “undetermined,” but the case is not necessarily closed, San Luis Obispo Police Department Chief Rick Scott told The Tribune on Wednesday.
“We don’t have a clear picture of exactly what led to his death, so we are still seeking information,” Scott said. “I am confident that there are people out there that saw something or have since heard something that can provide closure to this family and a resolution to this case.”
Bill and Mary Jane Jodry believe Knight, who has a child molestation conviction that has since been expunged, had something to do with their son’s death.
They filed a wrongful death suit against Knight in June 2020, and it awaits trial.
“We will never be at peace with the with the way he died,” Bill Jodry said. “We’ll never forget this day.”
The Jodrys say the heartbreak they feel not only about their son — but also for Kristin Smart, Rachel Newhouse, Andrea Crawford and other young people who have been harmed in San Luis Obispo County over the years — has motivated them to continue to advocate for a safer county.
They’ll continue to fight even after their son’s case is resolved.
“I will continue to do this for years to come and probably the rest of my life,” Mary Jane Jodry said.
The Jodry family asks anyone who may have any information about Knight or what happened to their son to contact them at JusticeForThomas.com.
In addition, Scott urges anyone with information about Jodry’s death to contact the San Luis Obispo Police Department at 805-781-7317 or, if they wish to remain anonymous, to contact San Luis Obispo County Community Crime Stoppers.
