New Orleans Police Investigating Death Of John Nejedly; Case Still “Unclassified”

New Orleans police are continuing their investigation into the death of Contra Costa Community College District trustee John T. Nejedly – found unresponsive in a hotel room at the Hilton Riverside earlier this month, a plastic bag containing a “white powdered substance” in the bathroom sink.

Homicide investigators called to room 636 at the hotel the evening of Oct. 9 found the 52-year-old Walnut Creek lawyer and contractor unresponsive on the hotel room bed, shirtless but with no obvious signs of struggle present. Police placed the plastic bag, a woman’s bra and cell phone found in the room, and three $100 bills into evidence – along with a 12-page analysis of activity on the room’s key card.

Police said they were summoned to the room by hotel security but declined to say what first drew their attention to the room. So far, the death remains “unclassified” with no official determination of cause given. Toxicology reports are pending.

Nejedly, along with two other Contra Costa college district officials who planned to join him but who were traveling separately, was in town for the annual Association of Community College Trustees convention.

A police incident report, obtained and posted by The Advocate, the student newspaper of Contra Costa College in San Pablo, gives a brief narrative of the initial police investigation and documents items taken into evidence by police that night.

News of Nejedly’s death stunned his colleagues and associates back home. He had served as the Contra Costa Community College District’s Ward 4 representative since his election to the board in 1994 and was both the longest-tenured and the youngest of the district’s five trustees.