Authorities try to determine how Leslie Jordan died as mourning fans flock to crash site in Florida | https://t.co/y1H1t1DUH3 pic.twitter.com/nBQvbzZz4N — ABC News (@ABC) March 22, 2017
According to the sheriff’s office, Jordan died as a result of asphyxiation due to strangulation.
Jordan was found lying face down in the median on Interstate 75 in DeLand Monday morning.
Jordan’s uncle told CNN on Sunday he believes his nephew fell asleep at the wheel and was pulled over by an officer, who called out the crash.
“For what it’s worth, my heart goes out to Leslie Jordan,” sheriff’s spokesman Robert Schultz said.
Police and firefighters say they found multiple bottles of liquor in the car, which is believed to be the source of the alcohol in the blood, and two pill bottles were found in the car.
The sheriff’s office said witnesses are considered “reliable.”
Police say two children were also inside the car and one was taken to a hospital for an evaluation.
Jordan, 37, who was a well-known sports reporter in Tampa, told ESPN in July that he “had no clue” or “no idea” his wife called her friends last week to tell them she was divorcing him.
Her friends called police, who began investigating the crash. After that, Jordan’s former fiancee told detectives that Jordan “died from alcohol poisoning” last week and “it was not an accident,” the Tampa Bay Times reported.
“It was a lot of questions and a lot of answers,” the ex-fiancee, Travon Robinson’s girlfriend, said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “It all came out.”
A friend of Jordan’s, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The New York Times that Jordan had “an extreme drinking problem” and “was driving like a maniac.”
A message left with the Tampa Police Department seeking comment was not immediately returned on Wednesday.
According to court papers, Jordan owned a 2011 black Mercedes 600 SL with California license plate DGV-744. The car, which was discovered in the median, was in good condition.
The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back was a former ESPN contributor, and in 2011 wrote about it in an article titled “Why So Many NFL Referees Hate Leslie Jordan.
