The office released its final autopsy report on Thursday, March 10, revealing that Austin Roberts' death will be listed as natural. The report stated: "An autopsy was performed at the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner on the body of Austin Roberts on December 22, 2015, by Dr. Michele Catellier, who determined the cause of death to be sudden cardiac death due to (probable congenital) cardiac valve deformities in the setting of acute cortisol deficiency due to benign hypothalamic lipoma. Of other significance was probable dehydration. The manner of death will be certified as natural."
In explaining the State Medical Examiner Office autopsy report on Austin Roberts, Clay County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Robison said, "This was an extremely rare sequence of events that had to happen all at once to happen. No one thing triggered this, it was the total combination."
"In very simple terms Austin died from an improbable series of events due to a combination of congenital birth defects of his heart -- abnormal valves -- plus a common benign, non-cancer tumor - lipoma -- a small ball of fat, in a very unusual place: the hypothalamus in the brain," Robison told the Spencer Daily Reporter.
"This caused an imbalance in his hormone systems -- your stress hormone, fight or flight hormone -- being the most important. The combination of extreme mental and physical demands placed on Austin while participating in the state qualifier wrestling tournament caused all his cortisol to be used up, causing acute vasodilator collapse -- a severe fall in blood pressure."
"His heart could not compensate for the fall in blood pressure resulting in his heart to fail," Robison continued. "This was an extremely rare sequence of events that had to happen all at once to happen. No one thing triggered this, it was the total combination."
Robison made clear that all other blood testing -- including tests for anabolic steroids, drugs and alcohol -- came back negative.
Roberts, 18, was wrestling in the 220-pound championship match at the Spencer Invitational Wrestling Tournament on December 19 when the senior took injury time late in the third period of a match tied 2-2 after he couldn't catch his breath.
Unable to continue to wrestle after the injury time expired, he came onto the mat to shake his opponent's hand after losing by injury default. He then collapsed on the mat.
After being treated by emergency responders in the gymnasium, he was taken to Spencer Hospital around 9 p.m. and later pronounced dead.
Back in December, Austin Roberts' father said he had never seen his son collapse before.
"That's the hard part. He has never had any warning signs. We don't understand what happened," Travis Roberts told NBC News not long after his son's passing. "One minute he was competing for the championship and was doing fine. The third period started and he just went down and never got back up."
Austin Roberts was a two-sport athlete at Spencer High School, playing football as well as wrestling. The 6'4" senior had placed eighth in the 220-pound bracket in Class 2A competition at the 2015 Iowa high school state wrestling championships in Des Moines, his first trip to the tournament, after compiling a 47-12 record as a junior. As a senior, Roberts had won 14 straight matches.
Roberts had been described as a "gentle giant" and a "physical specimen." A photo of Roberts in his Spencer singlet, showcasing his massive chest and biceps, had been featured in a poster produced for the Tiger wrestling team last fall to promote their 2015-16 season.
Roberts' teammates, friends, family and the Spencer community paid tribute to the fallen athlete with a memorial service at the Spencer High School gym. A GoFundMe Page, established to help the Roberts family with expenses, generated over $50,000.
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