Authorities: Teen racial assault survivor committed suicide in jump from cruise ship

A Houston teen who survived a gruesome racial assault last year committed suicide when he leaped from a cruise ship this week, according to a preliminary autopsy conducted Thursday.

David Ritcheson, 18, died of drowning and blunt head trauma, the result of his body striking the water, the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office said.

Ritcheson leapt into the Gulf of Mexico Sunday morning from the ship en route to Cozumel, Mexico, from Galveston.

The ruling by the medical examiner's office came only hours after Ritcheson's parents accompanied his body back to Texas aboard the cruise ship Ecstasy.

Ritcheson's parents, who met the ship at an unidentified small port in Mexico to accompany the body to Galveston, did not speak with the media after the vessel came ashore.

FBI agents began interviewing passengers and the vessel's employees for an investigation into Ritcheson's death, part of the routine when a cruise passenger dies offshore, said agency spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap.

"We're gathering evidence to determine exactly what happened," she said. "There is no indication of foul play."

In April 2006, Ritcheson, a Mexican-American, was beaten unconscious and sodomized with a plastic pole by another teen shouting "White Power!" at a suburban Houston home. The attack was apparently triggered by Ritcheson's drunken pass toward the 12-year-old sister of one of the other teens.

After the attack, which drew nationwide attention, Ritcheson underwent 20 to 30 surgeries. His physical condition had been improving, Ritcheson's family attorney, Carlos Leon, said. However, Ritcheson had refused to seek counseling for the emotional trauma of the attack.

Several passengers who departed the ship Thursday recalled hearing an alarm go off Sunday signaling a person had gone overboard.

Erin Weathers said she was later told by ship workers that they tried to talk Ritcheson out of jumping after he climbed a tower on the front of the vessel.

Connie Conover said the ship was turned around after Ritcheson jumped and it took workers about 30 minutes to recover his body from the water.

"It was very frightening. We were all wondering why he did it, what troubles he had," she said.

David Henry Tuck and Keith Robert Turner were convicted separately of aggravated sexual assault. Tuck, then 18, was sentenced to life in prison. Turner, then 17, was sentenced to 90 years. Both are eligible for parole after 30 years.