*Three sentences in the first official review of Castro’s death, conducted by prison officials, launched waves of speculation:

“His pants and underwear were pulled down to his ankles. The relevance of this finding is unclear. These facts, however, were relayed to the Ohio State Highway Patrol for consideration of the possibility of auto-erotic asphyxiation.”

A far more exhaustive report, issued three months later by the Highway Patrol, rejected that possibility, concluding: “Other than the fact that Inmate Castro was discovered with his pants down there was no other evidence to support he was engaged in auto-erotic asphyxiation.”

Officials said his beltless pants were too big, his underwear was in the laundry, and when he hung himself his pants fell to the floor.

A third report, by Hayes and Cohen, nationally recognized specialists in jail suicide, also found no evidence to support anything but a finding of suicide:

“The issue of clothing worn at the time of death only serves as a distraction to other facts in this high profile case. All the available evidence, including, but not limited to, the condition of the inmate’s cell when he was found hanging (e.g., careful placement of family pictures and Bible), as well as the increasing tone of frustration and annoyance voiced in his journal entries, and the reality of spending the remainder of his natural life in prison subjected to harassment from others, points to suicide.”

“In conclusion,” Hayes and Cohen wrote, “based upon the fact that this inmate was going to remain in prison for the rest of his natural life under the probability of continued perceived harassment and threats to his safety, his death was not predictable on September 3, 2013, but his suicide was not surprising and perhaps inevitable.”

Cohen interviewed four inmates who had cells near Castro’s, who told him prison guards regularly harassed him. One said Castro asked a guard about his meal, saying, “What am I eating?” The guard allegedly responded, “You’re eating shit,” “You’re a piece of shit,” or “It’s dog food.” The inmates also claimed that when Castro asked about recreation, he was told by the officers, “You don’t deserve it. Never gave them girls recreation.” Cohen and Hayes were unable to confirm those accounts, and prison officials deny that Castro was ever mistreated.