Kentucky Derby Mystery: Body Found and Identified, Cops Say There Is Evidence of Foul Play
Foul play is suspected in the death of man found in Churchill Downs.
May 6, 2012 — -- Louisville, Ky., homicide detectives have identified the man whose injured body was found this morning in one of the barns at Churchill Downs a day after the Kentucky Derby as Adan Fabian Perez, a 48-year-old from Guatemala.
Perez's body was discovered just before 5 a.m. in Barn No. 8, four barns away from where I'll Have Another, the horse that won the derby, was kept.
He was identified by his 19-year-old son, Wilson Deejesus Fabian Perez.
Perez worked for horse trainer Cecil Borel, the brother of veteran jockie Calvin Borel. Perez started working for Borel in 2008 as a groomer.
"We found evidence of injuries that lead us to believe he was involved in an altercation and that foul play was involved," Louisville Metro Police spokewoman Alicia Smiley told ABCNews.com.
The owner of Barn No. 8, Angel Montano, told WHAS that one of his employees found the body, but Perez didn't work for him and he did not know him.
"The barns themselves have various stalls for the horses," Smiley said. "He was found in the barn and not in the stall with a horse or anything."
Before the body was identified, police said there was no evidence of a connection to Churchill Downs, the racetrack where the Kentucky Derby is held annually, or the Kentucky Derby, police said.
"We are still trying to determine what led to the incident. At this point we don't have anything pointing to the fact that this had any association with Churchill Downs or the Derby itself," said Smiley.
Smiley said police have not named any suspects or made any arrests.
Some workers sleep in the backside of Churchill Downs, Smiley said, but she was not sure if anyone was supposed to be in the barn overnight.
Trainer Angel Montano, who works out of Barn No. 8, told ABC News affiliate WHAS-TV in Louisville that one of his employees found the body when he arrived for work.
Smiley said authorities are waiting for an autopsy report to determine the cause of death.