Click the play button on the video window to the right to view the storyFollowing an ABC15 investigation, the Maricopa County Medical Examiner is amending an autopsy report of 27-year-old Aaron Atchley to include anabolic steroids as a contributing factor in his death.
Atchley was a patient of Revolution Medical Centers.
The medical examiner listed the cause of Atchley's death in April as an accidental overdose, a fatal mixture of xanax and oxycodone.
The police report and crime scene photos reveal steroids were found at the scene, but the initial autopsy made no mention of this.
After our investigation, Atchley's family requested the medical examiner conduct additional testing, but the medical examiner refused.
State investigators made a similar request, but they say the medical examiner again refused.
Atchley's mother then exercised her legal right and requested the medical examiner send tissue samples to an independent lab for testing at the family's expense.
Those tests revealed large amounts of anabolic steroids were in Atchley's system at the time of his death.
His testosterone levels were 13 times the normal threshold.
As a result, the medical examiner is now amending its initial autopsy to include anabolic steroids as a "contributing factor" in Atchley's death.
The medical examiner has refused our repeated requests for comment.
State investigators, who are currently looking into the Revolution Medical Centers and its doctors for illegally prescribing anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, call this a significant development.
