Officials at first suggested that Andra Adkins died by suicide in the Dallas County jail.
But the medical examiner's office did not do an autopsy.
Adkins died March 11 after he was rushed to Parkland Hospital covered in blood.
Jail staff say video shows Adkins, 50, picking at what was later identified as a dialysis port in his chest. He then suddenly shot upright.
His mom Berlinda Martin said the port site often bothered him.
"He'd get it dressed in dialysis," she said. "He couldn't stand for tape or anything to be on his skin because everything itched him.
The catheter for kidney failure was placed in an artery, not a vein, his mom said.
"I just don't believe he would have committed suicide. It probably came out accidentally."
Deaths that happen while in jail custody must be reported to the Texas Attorney General's Office.
Custodial death reports are meant to provide government transparency, Dean Malone said.
"That report, in part, is to notify the public about what happened so that we can hold our government officials accountable as far as what's going on literally behind locked and closed doors," he said.
The report says it was "unknown" whether Adkins made suicidal statements, appeared to be intoxicated or exhibited mental health problems.
An autopsy was not performed on Adkins because he had several medical conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver and heart disease, according to the custodial death report.
"That seems to be the precise time when an autopsy is important," Malone said. "A person who has several medical conditions. Would we not want to find out which, if any, of those conditions caused the death? And if it's none of those conditions, could it have been the pulling of the pic line? Could it have been something else?"
The medical examiner's office could not immediately provide comment.
Dallas County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Doug Sisk said the department had nothing to add while Adkins' death investigation is ongoing.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards requires independent law enforcement agencies to investigate deaths that occur in county jails.
The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, which has paid more than $4.3 million in lawsuits since 2022 over deaths in custody and abuse and neglect allegations and has had about 70 in custody deaths since 2017, is investigating Adkins' death.
Adkins graduated from H. Grady Spruce High School in 1994, where he was in the journalism club and ROTC. He later attended El Centro College.
He worked security for Allied Universal and had been a D/FW International Airport volunteer ambassador.
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