MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Keith Warren was just 19-years-old, when he was found hanging from a tree in Montgomery County back in 1986.
Since that day, his family has been suspicious, even though his death was quickly ruled a suicide.
Keith's mom fought for her son's case to get a thorough investigation for years. Now, his sister Sherri is picking up the fight.
"This is just natural to me, because he would fight for me like I'm fighting for him. I watched my mom suffer for 23 years," said Sherri Warren, Keith's sister.
For Keith's family, the questions surrounding how the 19-year-old died changed when photos of the scene were dropped on their doorstep.
"The photos came out of Montgomery County Police Department, they don't know how we got them," said Sherri, "photos tell a story, whoever gave us the photos was trying to help us, not hurt us because he's strung up, he's not hanging down, his feet are literally on the ground in front of him."
Through her own investigation, Sherri says there are inconsistencies and gaps in the Montgomery County Police Department Investigation.
"Keith's body didn't go to a funeral home, it went to a morgue, so there was no autopsy. His body was embalmed before my mom was even notified," she said, "the clothing that my brother has on in the pictures isn't what he left the house in," Sherri added, "There's nothing medical on the coroners report other then blue blowflies around his mouth. The dates don't match, they were so sloppy in handling this case it's really an embarrassment."
During the decades following Keith's death, Sherri and her mom's efforts led them to little change.
"You have a Black man strung up on a tree and nobody wants to be bothered with the fact that there are no facts to say this is a suicide," said Sherri.
With Montgomery County Police not willing to reopen the case on their own, Sherri turned her attention to the death certificate which showed Keith's cause of death as hung self.
A medical examiner that Sherri got in contact with put Keith's case in front of a panel of medical examiners.
"All of them came to the conclusion that there was nothing medically to sustain a suicide in this case," Sherri said.
Sherri then went to the state to officially get the death certificate overturned.
"The state of Maryland medical examiner sent me a letter saying they have reclassified my brother's case to undetermined," said Sherri.
Still, Keith's case remains closed, but there's hope.
Maryland's law around reclassified cases is set to change with the implementation of House Bill 969.
"They need their case reopened and they need it to stay open for 20 years," said Delegate Sandy Bartlett.
Delegate Bartlett sponsored the legislation that goes into effect October 20.
"They can ask for the assistant state's attorney to meet with them to explain if they're not going forward, why. If they are going forward then they can supply that information," said the Delegate from Anne Arundel County.
The issue for Keith's case is it was switched before the new law went into effect – making it unclear if the case needs to be reopened.
"Come October 1 when House Bill 969 goes into effect, what is Montgomery County Police Department going to do," asked Sherri.
Sherri says once the case is reopened, she'll be able to rest.
We reached out to Montgomery County Police Department multiple times about the case and to see if they were interested in an interview.
The department declined to comment.
