CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The investigation into the death of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry carried into its sixth day without a resolution on whether his fiancee will be charged.
Henry died from massive head injuries Thursday, one day after falling out of the back of a pickup truck driven by his fiancee, Loleini Tonga. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police described the incident as a domestic dispute.
"There is nothing new to report," police spokesman Robert Fey said Monday. "She hasn't been criminally charged in his death, nor has she been cited for any traffic violations. That said, the investigation into Mr. Henry's death continues."
Henry, 26, was away from the Bengals after being placed on season-ending injured reserve last month with a broken forearm.
Police said Henry and his fiancee got into an argument at the Tonga family home, and she drove away in a pickup truck. Police said Henry then jumped into the bed of the truck. Witness Lee Hardy told reporters he heard Henry say, "If you take off, I'm going to jump off the truck and kill myself."
A 911 caller told a dispatcher that she saw a shirtless man wearing a cast and "beating on the back of this truck window." A later 911 caller said he saw an unresponsive man laying on a curvy, residential road about eight miles northwest of downtown Charlotte.
Police say Tonga stopped to assist Henry after he "came out of the back" of the pickup. Henry died about 18 hours later at Carolinas Medical Center. The autopsy showed the cause of death as blunt-force trauma to the head.
"We understand the time concerns that people have, but unfortunately we cannot rush the investigation to satisfy people's curiosity into whether or not the fiancee will be charged," Fey said.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
