A forensic expert in Acapulco, Mexico has told CTV News that the injuries suffered by Adam DePrisco are consistent with a beating.

CTV's Tom Walters said Saturday that the expert based that conclusion based on a review of an autopsy conducted in Mexico.

"He believes that Adam's death was not caused by a car accident," he said.

"It's the pattern of the injuries, the location of the injuries, the fact that they are not very evenly distributed through the body."

The expert expected to see a different pattern of injuries had DePrisco been the victim of a hit-and-run accident, Walters said.

This development further muddies the waters of an already murky case.

The Ontario Coroner's Office performed an autopsy on the body of DePrisco on Saturday, but his family asked that the cause of death not be released publicly.

"I know that there is tremendous public interest in the circumstances in this death, but I know that you will all respect the privacy wishes of Adam's family," Ontario's chief coroner, Dr. Barry McLellan, told reporters.

"I may be in a position to release some information in the near future, but at this time, they're requesting that I not release the information."

The DePriscos have been vocal in media interviews this week, saying locals beat the 19-year-old while he visited an Acapulco nightclub last weekend.

Mexican officials maintain DePrisco was killed in a hit-and-run after leaving a popular local nightclub drunk last Sunday.

Walters saw the medical examiner's report by Mexican authorities. The report lists a number of injuries, including to DePrisco's head, neck, abdomen and right knee.

"It says Adam died of severe trauma, but it forms no conclusion about the source of that trauma," Walters said.

Mexican police say their investigation is ongoing, but they don't have any witnesses to the incident -- either for the beating scenario or the hit-and-run one.

"There's a pretty widespread story circulating among (taxi drivers) that Adam was seen leaving the club very drunk, that he tried to get a cab ride back to his hotel for half the usual fare, that nobody would take him, and that that's the last that anybody saw of him until he was found fatally injured," Walters said.

DePrisco's travelling partner, Marco Calabro, says his friend was killed after dancing at the club with a local man's girlfriend.

Calabro claims bouncers kicked DePrisco out of the club. Locals then followed, and DePrisco was beaten to death.

A city official's claims

An Acapulco city official has supported Calabro's version of events, the Associated Press reported earlier this week.

The official, who asked not to be identified for his protection, said witnesses had seen nightclub staff and taxi drivers beating DePrisco.

Calabro told CTV News earlier this week that local officials moved in quickly to clean up the scene.

"Right when they lifted Adam's body, they came with the water trucks and just washed away everything, washed away all the blood. They were throwing stuff off the mountain, and this is with my own eyes, I saw this," he said.

"And then in the newspaper, they were telling me that Mexican officials are saying that it never happened. This was seconds after they lifted up his body."

In another strange twist, Calabro claims his hotel room was robbed while his friend lay in hospital.

"My camera, my camcorder, everything was gone," said Calabro. "The police don't care -- I did report it to them, but they didn't jot that down."

'Not CSI stuff'

DePrisco's uncle, Sandro Bellio, went to Mexico this week and retrieved the X-rays taken of his nephew. They may prove crucial to determining how DePrisco died.

"There's certainly a pathological difference between someone who has been beaten to death and somebody who has been struck by a motor vehicle," forensic consultant Mark Mendelson told CTV News on Friday.

"X-rays are one of the medical pieces of evidence that the pathologist will be looking at here in Toronto to see if the types of injuries are consistent," he said.

Mendelson said the Mexican investigation should not have been a difficult one.

"This is not CSI stuff," he said. "This is a pretty basic investigation that's taking place here ... if people are saying that he was hit by a car, then I would be demanding to see those statements and to see the friends I can evidence and the witness recounts of that incident that show that the evidence takes you to a hit-and-run accident."

There should also be statements from witnesses who said he was beaten, Mendelson said.

"There should be evidence to support that theory ... If that's the case, then the second autopsy conducted here in Toronto should support and be confirmatory to those witness statements."

DePrisco's death comes nearly a year after the murders of Dominic and Nancy Ianiero in Cancun. The couple were also from the Toronto area.

Critics have accused Mexican authorities of trying to cover up the truth in an effort to protect the tourism industry.

The Ianiero case remains unsolved.

Since 1994, 28 Canadians have been killed in Mexico. About half those deaths have occurred in the past five years.

With a report from CTV's Tom Walters and files from The Associated Press