Cause of Death Released for Whitehouse Teen

TYLER — The Smith County Sheriff’s Office received notification from Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas that the cause of death for Jacob Hamilton Garrett, 14, Whitehouse, was mixed drug toxicity. Garrett�s body was found on March 17 on Highway 110, between Whitehouse and Tyler. Dental records confirmed the remains found in a wooded area behind Nipper’s Quality Auto Works March 17 belonged to Garrett. He went missing on February 13 and was reported as a runaway.

Garrett’s body was found by an employee at the auto shop who was working on a fence, said Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith. Garrett was fully clothed and in a decomposed state, sitting against a tree. Throughout the investigation into Garrett’s disappearance, officials had received reports from his school that he had been texting fellow students, but there were never any confirmed sightings of Garrett. It’s possible Garrett’s body had been at the location of his discovery since the day of his disappearance, said Sheriff Smith.