RICHLAND, Wash. – Detectives with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office say they are still investigating what happened to Gage Mercado. BSCO is still in the process of interviewing everyone who was at the bonfire.
Lieutenant Mike Clark from BCSO said the amount of information coming in has slowed dramatically. Lt. Clark said the case is still open, and they are still taking information for those who might’ve been at the bonfire, whom they still need to talk to.
Lt. Clark said that with an open investigation, just because the information coming in has slowed down, they will still investigate what happened to Mercado. Clark said BCSO wants to ensure they’re putting all the pieces together.
“They have ran down leads as far as they can go as this point,” Clark said. “There’s nothing to indicate anything suspicious off of all the information that they have so far. We aren’t closing out the case at this point. We’re still allowing information to come in. They’re still following up on any interviews or anything else that’s going on.”
NonStop Local contacted the Benton County Coroner’s Office to ask for an Autopsy and Toxicology report, and we were told they are not public records.
Those reports are only available to the family and law enforcement.
The coroner did provide NonStop Local with the Coroner’s Report, which said Detectives reported smelling alcohol on the body. He was found fully clothed. There were no injuries or evidence of trauma on the body and no defensive injuries.
Clark said anyone with information is asked to contact BCSO Detective Brandon Demeyer.
NonStop Local spoke to Mercado’s family, and they said they are heartbroken and just taking it day by day.
