5 YEARS LATER: The Truth About Rosanne Boyland and Unanswered Questions from J6

Rosanne Marie Boyland, a 35-year-old Georgia woman, attended the January 6, 2021 protest to peacefully exercise her First Amendment rights. What followed, according to extensive video evidence and sworn eyewitness testimony, was a chaotic and dangerous police response in the Lower West Terrace tunnel of the U.S. Capitol. Multiple recordings show Boyland struck by a close-range pepper ball to the head, engulfed in chemical agents, and trapped beneath a crowd compression created by police crowd-control tactics. As she lay unconscious, body-camera and protester video capture Metropolitan Police Officer Lila Morris delivering repeated strikes with a stick, while bystanders can be heard pleading for medical help.

Despite these circumstances, the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner publicly declared Boyland’s cause of death as “acute amphetamine intoxication.” That determination is sharply disputed. Three independent medical experts who reviewed the records concluded the findings were inconsistent with a fatal overdose and instead pointed to asphyxia—specifically compressional or traumatic asphyxia—caused by crowd compression, chemical exposure, and blunt force trauma. Expert opinions note that asphyxial deaths can leave few visible autopsy markers and must be evaluated in light of scene evidence and video, which they say strongly supports this conclusion.

Further fueling controversy, Boyland’s family was forced to sue the government to obtain the full autopsy report, which they argue omitted critical environmental and injury analyses, including testing for tear gas or CS agents in the lungs. Investigators and journalists maintain that the continued public record labeling Boyland’s death as a drug overdose represents a broader suppression of evidence surrounding January 6.

Nearly five years later, her family and independent experts continue to call for a full, transparent investigation—one they believe is essential to correcting the historical record and delivering justice for a peaceful American citizen whose death remains profoundly unresolved.

Below, you will find the entire 78-page PDF Criminal Referral report detailing every aspect of Rosanne’s tragic death. The evidence presented shows that J6 Law Enforcement Officers were, in fact, responsible for Rosanne’s death.