The big question right now -- is this an accident or is it murder? Police still have not answered that question. What they have told us is that this boyfriend and girlfriend have lived together at this apartment for about six months. The boyfriend is the one who called 911. Now he is being questioned by police.
According to detectives, the 19-year-old boyfriend said he went out to the mailbox and when he came back inside the home at 4am he found his 18-year-old girlfriend, Jessica Leigh Thrash, at the bottom of the stairs. He told authorities he believes she fell down the split-staircase.
Thrash does have a history of seizures. But police say stories aren't adding up and there are significant differences between what crime scene unit investigators found inside the apartment and that boyfriend's recollection of what happened.
For now police are calling this a suspicious death until they gather more information.
HPD Homicide Investigator Kevin Carr said, "We're not exactly sure what the circumstances were that led to her being at the bottom of the stairwell. There's some inconsistencies in what we're seeing in the house and what we're being told."
Right now police say there may have been a struggle between the boyfriend and the girlfriend at some point last night. They're looking into that possibility.
Police are in the preliminary stages of this investigation. Thrash's boyfriend was released after questioning. Detectives are now waiting for autopsy and toxicology results.
