Trevor Tice, the founder of a yoga fitness empire, whose death in December at his Point Loma mansion initially thought by police to be “suspicious”, accidentally inflicted serious injuries on himself in a number of falls and collapses. His death has been ruled an accident by the San Diego County Medical Examiner in a report released January 26th.
Tice, whose body was found by police December 12th at his house at 952 Cornish Drive, died of head injuries after several drunken falls inside his multi-million dollar home it was concluded. After testing, he was found to have been very intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level of .20 percent and had taken a benzodiazepine — a tranquilizer like Valium and other antidepressant drugs.
When Tice was found by police, he was lying prone in a pool of blood – which set off alarm bells for police – who then called in homicide detectives. But now, with the report, there is sufficient evidence that he had fallen several times inside the house, and according to the autopsy report, had injured his head and face serious enough to cause death. There was evidence of injury found on beds in two rooms, a sofa in the office, and on the floor in the kitchen and dining areas, the report read.
His father had reported that his son had a history of chronic alcohol abuse and opiate abuse, and had to seek therapy at a rehab facility more than once.
Tice, 48, also had liver disease, which was found to be a contributing factor to his death, the autopsy revealed. It stated:
“His liver disease could reasonably have contributed to a decreased ability to coagulate blood, and to increased bleeding from his injuries, and alone (absent the head injuries) could have resulted in death.”
The night of the injuries, he had had an argument with a woman neighbor outside and had fallen into a palm tree. He then entered his house, the medical examiner concluded, and continued to fall and strike his head, “resting on the beds and the sofa, until he fell or collapsed again.” When found, Tice had multiple abrasions and lacerations.
This was the 9th of December, the last time anyone had seen him alive.
With the report come details of the events leading up to the discovery of his body.
Apparently, Kristi Johnson – Tice’s child’s mother – was unable to reach him on Monday, the 12th of December. She called a friend, Kim Hecht, to check on Tice. Hecht went to the house but didn’t receive any response from her knocks on the door.
Also on the property at the time was Tice’s contractor, Steven Jones, working on the pool. Hecht asked him to go inside, which he agreed to do. Once he entered the house, Jones discovered a large amount of blood and called the police. Johnson had also called the police.
Police arrived and found Tice inside his office in a pool of blood. And after interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence, police ended up deciding there was no signs of foul play. The Medical Examiner also concluded the death was accidental after their investigation.
Trevor Tice was well-known in Denver as that’s where he founded CorePower Yoga in 2002, a small empire of fitness studios, with 160 studios around the country, with 11 studios in San Diego County alone, including one in Point Loma that he opened in 2006.
As reported by the San Diego U-T:
According to an online Inc. magazine article, Tice cited $45.2 million in revenue from the studios in 2012. The next year, Catterton Partners invested $100 million into his company. He stepped aside as CEO in April 2014 and since remained on the board of directors.
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