WILMINGTON — After a mysterious loss of life at a Wilmington brewery final month, a household says they’re trying to find solutions. Val Dauvray’s explanation for loss of life, initially referred to as an accident or attainable suicide, has but to be absolutely decided or defined. The household says particulars aren’t including up and believes there’s presumably extra to the story.
The morning after Easter Sunday, the Dauvrays stated their 33-year-old brother and son was reportedly seen round 2:30 a.m. by police at Coastal Horizons, half-clothed and claiming he was being chased. Officers launched Val, and later within the morning, he was discovered lifeless with a head damage on the property of TRU Colours Brewery, almost three miles away.
Six days earlier than Val’s loss of life, his father had reported him as a lacking individual to Wilmington Police Division. Regardless of this, he stated police didn’t notify him when Val was noticed exterior the therapy middle within the early morning of April 18.
A request to the Metropolis of Wilmington for a report from that evening on the middle was unfulfilled, and a request for 911 calls to the situation additionally got here again with none information out there. Wilmington Police Division didn’t reply to requests for remark or questions, citing the detective on the case was on medical depart.
Whereas the household was rapidly advised Val’s loss of life seemed to be an accident, within the weeks that adopted, discrepancies are main them to imagine foul play might have been concerned. The household doesn’t imagine Val was suicidal. A medical expert reportedly advised them it might have been something, together with a blow to the pinnacle.
Now the household says they need solutions: Was there any surveillance footage from TRU Colours or neighboring institutions? Was the lacking individuals report dealt with correctly or processed in any respect? Why did the police let Val go that evening at Coastal Horizons?
“I do know for a proven fact that he would nonetheless be alive as a result of I used to be one mile away,” Xan Dauvray, Val’s brother, stated. “And we’ve regarded right into a protocol for lacking individuals. Once they picked him up, they have been alleged to name my dad. My dad would have gotten me on the telephone, and we might have had Val that evening. So it sickens me.”
A lacking individual
It was a heat, sunny Saturday, April 2, when Val walked out of Hope Recuperative, a shelter for discharged sufferers who’re experiencing homelessness. He had been cooped up within the hospital and “the habit referred to as him,” his dad stated.
“It was too robust,” he continued. “And it’s occurred many instances earlier than the place he’s develop into sober and simply fell off, like lots of people which are plagued with this illness.”
Val’s father stated he couldn’t find his son for 2 weeks, who he repeatedly stored in contact with, particularly in current months. After a couple of week with out contact, he filed a lacking individuals report with the Wilmington Police Division.
“My identify is similar as my son and we each go by Val,” he wrote in an electronic mail to officer William Ostrosky on April 12. “Final seen at Hope Recuperative on Wrightsville Ave. He’s within the Coastal Horizon Program as an outpatient right here in Wilmington nonetheless they won’t launch any data on him as a result of my launch expired whereas he was within the hospital for six weeks.”
Whereas Val was lacking, his father left messages at Coastal Horizons for Val that he’s assured reached him.
The Monday after Easter, round 9:45 a.m., a TRU Colours Brewery worker referred to as 911 to report Val’s physique on the property.
“We don’t work weekends … All of us simply obtained in,” the caller advised the operator. “We went out on the patio the place we hold our tanks and one in every of our coworkers that works on the market simply seen it.”
Within the recording, the workers member advised the 911 middle it regarded like a person — shirtless and carrying brown pants — had jumped over the fence and cracked his head open. Hours later, officers confirmed up on the father’s residence to tell him of Val’s loss of life. That’s when he realized it was attainable the lacking individual report was by no means recorded.
“I requested him, ‘How did you come up with me?’” the daddy stated. “And the detective advised me that I used to be my son’s contact with the police division, and I stated, ‘By the lacking individuals report I filed?’ And so they stated, ‘You filed a lacking individuals report?’”
At first, the household was advised Val climbed onto the roof and both fell or jumped. Later the coroner reportedly advised the Dauvrays that Val’s physique solely had scratches, along with blunt power trauma to the again of the pinnacle and a fractured cranium. The household was additionally advised he fell from an 8-foot fence. Xan Dauvray stated his brother had a number of inches of thick dreadlocks, which he believed ought to have padded the autumn.
In one other discrepancy, the dad stated he requested a detective if Val was correctly clothed, recalling unhealthy climate got here by way of Easter evening. At first, he was advised Val had outerwear on, however a couple of week later, he stated he spoke with the detective once more, who revealed Val was solely carrying pants — no socks, sneakers or shirt.
That’s when the household first realized about Val’s go to to Coastal Horizons. Officers reportedly detained Val for presumably breaking in, and the household stated he was launched round 3 a.m.
No solutions
Surrounding TRU Colours, there are companies the household believes might have safety cameras that would reveal details about Val’s whereabouts that evening. To date, they are saying there was little communication with the Wilmington Police Division about acquiring any footage, contacting potential suspects or investigating a “drug home” Val allegedly frequented close to the brewery on Greenfield Road.
The founding father of TRU Colours, a multi-million-dollar facility that hires energetic gang members to promote its signature beer, has advised the brothers cameras have been nonfunctioning on the time of Val’s loss of life. CEO George Taylor stated in a press release the corporate doesn’t level cameras within the space Val was positioned. He additionally stated the brewery had simply bought gear to improve protection and was operating updates from Thursday by way of Tuesday, the day after Val’s physique was discovered.
“Sadly, we have now a major substance abuse and homeless drawback in Wilmington,” Taylor added. “That is significantly evident within the space surrounding our facility since most of the vital and wanted companies are supplied by the Good Shepherd Middle, lower than a block away.”
In his assertion, Taylor stated police reported Val was making his approach onto the roof to interrupt into the constructing.
After visiting Taylor himself, Xan Dauvray and his brother Keefe are skeptical of the CEO’s story. They stated he switched his claims to the system improve after he was pressed for different digital camera angles, to indicate the place Val walked that evening or doubtlessly who he was with.
“It’s a really costly constructing and part of city the place a number of crime occurs,” Xan Dauvray stated. “And it doesn’t make an entire lot of sense for anybody in that space to be operating or working with out working cameras.”
It’s now been a couple of week for the reason that household says they’ve spoken with a member of the Wilmington Police Division. Val’s father stated he was advised inner affairs is investigating the circumstances, however WPD didn’t affirm as a lot is true.
“It was 24 hours earlier than I imagine that they wrote this off as an accident, for us to press the coroner to search out out that it might have been something,” Xan Dauvray stated. “It’s clear as day, just about at this level, that primarily based off of the place you come from, the way you look, has rather a lot to do with the therapy you get so far as the analysis, or the invention, or the investigation that goes into your loss of life.”
In the meantime, the household stated they heard a photograph of Val’s physique on the positioning is circulating all through the group. For now, they haven’t seen it for themselves.
“We now have hopes somebody will come ahead with extra details about the pic[ture] and even share it with us,” Xan Dauvray stated.
What now?
Earlier than his loss of life, the household stated Val was sober for nearly six months and was exhausted by his habit. Final yr Xan Dauvray made an emotional plea on the social media platform Tik-Tok, begging for somebody to assist get his brother into rehab for drug and alcohol habit – and it labored. Val acquired a $50,000 scholarship to Restoration Institute of Ohio and went to detox at Restoration Unplugged in Nashville in 2021.
Most not too long ago, Val was accepted right into a long-term rehab program with Trillium, Undertaking Transition, which he would have began Could 1. As a substitute, his household is mourning Val and in search of explanations for the circumstances that led to his loss of life.
“That final 24 hours is such a thriller,” the dad stated, “and that’s what you consider essentially the most, is simply how horrible it should have been for him.”
Val’s physique is now with a medical expert. On a name Tuesday, a consultant from the workplace defined the Wilmington Police Division would deal with considerations about Val’s method of loss of life, whereas the examiner would solely take care of the reason for loss of life. Getting off the telephone, the household indicated this was reflective of their expertise to date: a steady cycle of leaping from one get together to the subsequent with out solutions.
“What does it take? What does it take to herald the crew who’s going to determine that out? Why do some individuals and a few deaths get forensic groups, investigations? What does it take for us to get our due diligence,” Xan Dauvray stated. “It’s my brother’s life.”
E-mail the reporter at alexandria@localdailymedia.com
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