Marcus Forte may have been alive when he was thrown in the Cumberland River in Nashville two months ago, authorities said Thursday night.
Mr. Forte, a 21-year-old Finneytown High School graduate known for his love of sports, was positively identified from dental records Thursday, said Robert Dowell, a spokesman for the Nashville/Davidson County medical examiner's office. He died of asphyxia, probably from drowning, Mr. Dowell said.
''He suffered massive trauma, and he was thrown into the river,'' a forensic investigator said. ''There is a good possibility he was alive when he was thrown into the river.''
Mr. Forte had been missing since Jan. 22. When his body was discovered Tuesday on the banks of the river, his hands, feet and mouth were bound with duct tape, Nashville Police Detective Jeff West said.
''You want to know everything that happened, and now we know,'' said Terrence Forte, 38, of Kennedy Heights, a cousin of the victim. ''Now we have to let the judicial process run its course down there.''
Police continued Thursday to reveal little about their investigation into Mr. Forte's disappearance and killing. The mystery was further complicated by the Feb. 1 suicide of a young man being questioned in the case.
''We have a good idea how the pieces fit together, but we're not going to say what they are until we get to the bottom of it,'' said one detective working the investigation.
Mr. Forte was a junior at American Baptist College in Nashville, where he lived with his best friend, Jerry Robinson.
Mr. Robinson, also a 1993 graduate of Finneytown High School, was the last person to hear from Mr. Forte. Shortly after midnight Jan. 22, Mr. Forte called his friend to tell him he had just been robbed. The two men were disconnected, and a phone number that flashed on Caller ID ''blanked out'' when Mr. Robinson tried to retrieve it, he told police.
Gloria Forte-Butler, Mr. Forte's mother, met with detectives in Nashville on Thursday.
''He was popular with his class. He had close friends. It's a tragedy,'' said Joseph Speaks, principal of Finneytown High School.
Detectives are saying little about the link between Mr. Forte's murder and the suicide of James Garvin Jr. Mr. Garvin, 20, was cooperating with Nashville detectives who had come to his home, when he left his family's living room, entered his bedroom, shut the door and fatally shot himself in the mouth.
Mr. Garvin was charged in May with trying to smuggle marijuana to a jail inmate, court records show.
Everyone close to Mr. Forte said he did not use drugs.
Previous stories
BODY MIGHT SOLVE MYSTERY March 27, 1997
NO TRACE AND NO ANSWERS Feb. 15, 1997
STUDENT'S DISAPPEARANCE TAKES BIZARRE TURN Feb. 4, 1997
