AUSTIN (KXAN) – Following a KXAN investigation, the Austin Police Department says it is reviewing the case of Treysuhr Carter, a 14-year-old girl who died in early January days after being found unresponsive with catastrophic injuries on a northeast Austin residential street.
APD closed the case in March and classified it as an accidental death caused by a fall from a non-motorized push scooter. The decision to suspend the case was based, police said, largely on the Travis County Medical Examiner’s initial findings.
Carter’s family never believed her fatal injuries were caused by falling off her self-powered scooter. Carter was athletic, fit and healthy at the time of the incident. KXAN began investigating the case in May, leading to an amendment in Carter’s autopsy report and APD’s renewed examination.
“(Vehicular homicide) detectives are reviewing the case to see what, if any, additional analysis, investigation, or testing may provide a clearer picture as to what happened in this incident,” an APD spokesperson shared by email with KXAN Friday.
Carter’s mother, Monica Plummer, said she was “overwhelmed” by the news that APD is reexamining the case.
“It is so refreshing to know that people care,” Monica said. “It gives you hope … just something to hold onto that my baby is not being swept under the rug.”
Treysuhr’s sister, Teneisha Plummer, said she was “frustrated” by APD response from the beginning. The family told police they needed to investigate the incident as a crime eight months ago, she said.
Now is “too late,” Teneisha said. Police already “mishandled the evidence” that could have helped them get close to a suspect, she added.
“The case is open during the review,” the APD spokesperson said. “There is no estimated timeframe, as we want to thoroughly review all aspects of the case.”
Missteps and lost evidence
Through the Texas Public Information Act, multiple interviews and assistance from family, KXAN obtained the police report, body camera video from the scene, hospital records, Carter’s autopsy and more.
That body of evidence, as well as expert opinions from multiple independent forensic pathologists, called the closure of the case into question. In an interview with KXAN, APD acknowledged missteps in the case and admitted evidence lost from the scene should have been picked up.
One forensic pathologist, Dr. Shiping Bao, reviewed the autopsy and told KXAN it was out of the question for Carter to fall off a scooter and suffer a broken neck, traumatic brain injury, lacerated internal organs and a shattered shin bone.
“It is impossible – physically, biologically, mathematically, mechanically, impossible – the injury was sustained due to the fall off the scooter,” said Bao, who previously worked in Texas and is currently a forensic pathologist in Illinois.
KXAN presented its findings in July to the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office. Within days that office began a new review of the case and soon issued an amended autopsy report that made an important change: It clarified that Carter’s death most likely involved a motor vehicle, and a “higher velocity impact” than a fall from a push scooter.
Monica Plummer called the medical examiner’s decision to review the autopsy a “blessing.”
For months, the mother said she felt nobody was listening to her concerns about the case. The morning after Carter was found on Farmhaven Road, she visited the scene and discovered her daughter’s scooter had gone missing.
Police body camera footage obtained by KXAN shows police identify the scooter at the scene and say it could be tied to the incident. Patrol officers struggled to piece together what could have happened to Carter that night on Dec. 30, 2023, according to the footage.
The video showed a vehicular homicide detective showed up at the scene and initially expressed skepticism that Carter was hit by a car or that the scooter was involved.
That same detective took over the case when Carter died. He closed the case in March, saying the medical examiner agreed the girl’s injuries lacked the tell-tale signs of a hit-and-run, and there was no blood, skid marks, debris or other indications of a motor vehicle strike at the scene, according to the police report.
That vehicular homicide detective submitted his resignation from APD in mid-May, days after KXAN first began asking questions about Carter’s case and submitted record requests. APD said the detective’s resignation was not related to the Carter case, and his letter of resignation only says he left to “pursue opportunities outside of law enforcement.”