Tyler Perry Offers Autopsy Update on Nephew’s Death After Hiring Medical Examiner

Filmmaker Tyler Perry shared an update on the autopsy he requested for his nephew, Gavin Porter. The 26-year-old allegedly took his own life inside a prison cell in Louisiana. Perry said the autopsy found no signs of foul play involved in the death of his sister’s son.

“I spoke with Dr. Michael Baden today after he finished the autopsy on my nephew,” Perry wrote in a statement he shared on Instagram Friday. “I was relieved to hear that he is 98% sure that there was no foul play in his death, just as [Union Parish Sheriff Dusty Gates] stated. Answers don’t take away grief, but they surely give room for grieving to take its course.”

Sources told TMZ earlier this week that Porter was found dead in a jail cell at the Union Parish Detention Center. Prison officials told Porter’s mother he hanged himself with a bedsheet while in solitary confinement.

Porter was put into solitary confinement after getting into a fight with another inmate on Feb. 22.

Although officials first said they suspected no foul play in Porter’s death, Perry wrote on Instagram he was requesting an autopsy from a medical examiner.

“Despite his horrible act, before he went to prison I went to see him in the local jail. I assured him that we all still loved him, but it was important to all of us, including his mother, that he was punished for this horrific crime that he had committed,” Perry wrote on Instagram early Friday. “He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. It was my hope that after serving his time, really reflecting, showing much remorse, and asking God for forgiveness, that he would have been able to come work for me. Where he would join all the other former inmates that work for me and turn his life around, just as they have. But that day will never come.”

“I want to be clear that we are not a family of conspiracy theorists and want to believe that there was no foul play just as the sheriff said publicly,” Perry added.

A Union Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson confirmed there was an “active investigation” into Porter’s death.

“We are currently awaiting the results of an autopsy,” the spokesperson explained. “The initial investigation did not suspect foul play. We are also conducting an investigation into the fight which occurred earlier and Porter’s involvement in that incident. We respect the family’s right to request another autopsy to be done. This is not an unusual request. We are continuing our investigation and awaiting autopsy results.”

Porter was serving a 20-year prison sentence after he pleaded no contest to manslaughter in the shooting and killing of his biological father in 2015. He was originally charged with second-degree murder in October 2016, Gates told KNOE.

Perry is one of the most prolific producers in Hollywood. He recently directed episodes of Ruthless, The Haves and the Have Nots, Sistas and The Oval. His latest film, A Fall From Grace, was released on Netflix in January.

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