SPUR TREE, Manchester — Even as Fitz Bailey, deputy commissioner of police, revealed that an autopsy report on Monday showed that Deputy Commissioner of Corrections Reverend Orville Moore died as a result of strangulation, investigators are yet to conclude their probe.

Police said Moore’s body was found with what resembled a clothes hanger around his neck, beside his mangled vehicle in a ravine, over a precipice on Spur Tree Hill on June 1.

The lawman, however, told journalists that no foul play was suspected in Moore’s death.

“It is reported that the cause of death was due to strangulation. It is not really surprising to us because, as we reported previously, … we did not suspect any foul play in his death,” Bailey said.

“We are still conducting our investigation; [it] is not closed. We have not seen any evidence that there was any third party travelling with him. There is no reason to have any suspicion that there was any third party at the location, but we are still doing our investigation. We are appealing for anyone… who has any information to call us,” Bailey said in reference to the 881 (NIB Tip Line), 311 (Crime Stop), or 119.

In the meantime, during an interview on Nationwide 90 FMon Monday, Bailey went further to explain the autopsy.

“He [Moore] was hanged; that is what the post-mortem indicated was the cause of death… When the body was found he was seen hanging from a tree close to the vehicle. There was something wrapped around his neck and hooked to a tree,” Bailey said.

“We had our accident reconstruction individuals who went and did their assessments and their work and, based on what they indicated… the car was airborne and then fell, which suggests that it was going at a very fast speed,” added Bailey.

Meanwhile, a senior police source explained that Moore’s Toyota Fortuner was travelling at an excessive speed, based on checks with the vehicle’s black box.

“When that took place it showed where the vehicle was coming down the hill about 97 km/h coming down, and it doesn’t show that where any braking took place. You see when it went over [the] precipice, it [black box] showing 100 km/h and it showed no gravity,” said the source.

“It was airborne for a few seconds, that is why it never landed in the middle [section where several vehicles have crashed]. The speed cut when the vehicle landed, and then it stopped,” added the source.

“The vehicle went through the toll, because toll receipts were seen inside the car,” the source said.

Moore, the Department of Correctional Services’ acting deputy director of rehabilitation and probation aftercare service, was last seen alive on Fairwell Avenue off Molynes Road in St Andrew on May 29.

The Spur Tree main road links Mandeville and its environs to St Elizabeth and points west. Heavily laden, slow-moving trucks often hinder traffic on the steep, difficult hill, and there have been a number of fatal crashes involving trucks down the years.

Road safety experts say inexperienced drivers, overweight and defective vehicles are among the main causes for mishaps on the crash-prone road.