Autopsy report in Maryland prosecutor Jonathan Luna’s 2003 death may soon be released

The autopsy report in the cold case surrounding the 2003 death of Baltimore prosecutor Jonathan Luna could soon be unsealed.

The Lancaster, Pennsylvania, District Attorney told WJZ that those coroner’s records should be released, which will be decided by the court.

Luna’s body was found in a creek in Lancaster County with nearly 40 stab wounds. The coroner ruled his death a homicide, but the report was never released.

In the decades since, police have not identified a suspect or suspects.

“In the years following the initial hearing in 2020, the investigation into the death of Jonathan Luna was handed over to a new team of investigators at the Pennsylvania State Police who undertook a thorough reexamination and reevaluation of the case, in close consultation with the District Attorney’s Office,” the Lancaster District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “Based on this reexamination and reevaluation and based on the new approach that we are taking with this very unique case, we now believe that the Coroner’s records can be unsealed without substantially hindering the investigation into Mr. Luna’s death.”

Luna’s unsolved death

Luna, who was a 38-year-old assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore, was found lying face down in a creek, wearing a suit and a tie, in Lancaster County around 5 a.m. on December 4, 2003, according to the Washington Post.

The coroner’s office at the time determined that Luna had died from stab wounds and drowning. His death was determined to be a homicide. Officials said more than half of the stab wounds were to his neck.

According to a story by the Washington Post, Luna reported leaving his Baltimore office at 11:38 p.m. and heading north on Interstate 95, away from his home. 

His car passed through several toll booths in Maryland and Delaware before stopping at an ATM in Newark, Delaware, according to the Post. His debit card was reported used at a Sunoco gas station in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, around 3:20 a.m.

Police said Luna’s car was parked at the back of a well-drilling company in Denver, Pennsylvania, before it was driven into the creek. 

To this date, his case remains unsolved.