Bryan Brady's bizarre death one year ago has proved so perplexing to Paso Robles police officials that they have tried on several occasions to just quietly close his file.

    That hasn't happened yet, but only because of perseverance by the young man's distressed parents. His mother, Kasi, said this week she believes her son was murdered, and she expressed concern that the Paso Robles Police Department's growing staff deficiencies may be contributing to the investigation's sluggish progress.

    Bryan Brady was just hours into his 21st year when he was struck by a northbound Union Pacific freight train while lying unconscious between the rails in downtown Paso Robles. Details of the hours leading up to Brady's July 31, 2010, death remain so sketchy that his parents have hired a private investigator to prod the official probe.

    A Paso Robles police investigation into Brady's death has evolved sporadically, due partly to the case being frequently reassigned to a variety of lead detectives. The Paso Robles police department has been decimated over the past few years; city officials hoped to have 46 sworn officers by 2008, but today there are only 27. Within the department there now is no D.A.R.E. program; no motorcycle officers (with two new BMW cycles sitting idle); no traffic unit; no gang unit; and no narcotics team. Only two detectives remain.

    Paso Robles Police Lt. Tim Murphy, asked to confirm that information, initially replied by saying, "Interesting." Asked by a reporter if he meant "interesting correct" or "interesting wrong," Murphy said, "Just very interesting," then requested the inquiry be re-stated in an email to him.

    In a follow-up email to KCCN.tv, Murphy acknowledged "programmatic cuts" involving at least 13 officers in D.A.R.E., school resources, traffic safety, detectives, narcotics, sergeants, and patrols.

    Could the department's radically constricting work force be adversely affecting a meaningful Brady inquiry?

    Murphy demurred: "Bryan Brady's death was thoroughly investigated by this department," he wrote. "All information and leads were diligently pursued. There are no indications Mr. Brady's death was criminal in nature; however, investigators are committed to further investigation of any new viable leads or information in this case."

    Paso Robles Officer Jeff Bromby was first to respond to the scene that morning, and immediately identified Bryan Brady after viewing a "bar code" tattoo on the back of the victim's neck. The Bradys suggest that when that impromptu identificaton was made, the investigation was for all intents and purposes over because of Bryan's past juvenile troubles.

    Kasi Brady said a coroner's official, Steve Crawford, came to her home the morning Bryan died, hinting the death may have been self-inflicted, and appeared ready to make such a determination as cause of death -- had she and her husband not objected strenuously. Kasi said a private investigator since retained by the family "has positively ruled out suicide."

    "Bryan was happy. There is no way he took his own life," said Kasi. The coroner eventually pronounced the death "accidental" or "undetermined." That doesn't satisfy the Bradys, who point to a multitude of unanswered -- and in many cases unasked -- questions about circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

    These are the known facts about the younger Brady's final hours.

    After attending the Mid-State Fair with his parents, he consumed a celebratory birthday beer with his parents at the Pine Street Saloon before walking to a popular bistro nearby, the Crooked Kilt. There, he was seen by a number of witnesses shortly before closing time, according to a police report written a week later. This initial report would memorialize detective's only efforts on the case until being prodded into action by Brady's parents more than three weeks later.

    Subsequent investigation determined that a verbal altercation occurred between Brady and patrons identified as part of a group known in the bar as "the Corona crew" (reportedly for their taste in beer) and Brady was asked to leave the establishment. At least several of the "Corona crew" have subsequently been identified in police reports as belonging to a local gang called PR13, and detectives know the name of the man with whom Brady clashed. That individual has not been seen in the bar since, and has apparently not been questioned by police, according to the department's own reports.

    This particular incident would later be described in detail by bartenders and security personnel.

    Witnesses differ considerably in descriptions of Brady's degree of intoxication at around 2 a.m. while he was mingling with an after-hours crowd on the sidewalk.

    According to police reports, Brady exchanged words with a passing male, who then elbowed Brady sharply in the forehead, knocking him to the pavement. One witness told investigators that the back of Brady's head hit hard when he fell, and he remained unconscious for three to five minutes.

    The assailant was described as white, 5'-11", 170-180 pounds, and having sandy blond hair and a buzz haircut, and driving a grey pickup truck. He remains unidentified.

    A bar security employee, Paul Embry, said several individuals talked to Brady after he regained consciousness, and that Brady declined an offer of a cab ride at that time. Brady was heard to say, "I just want to go home."

    Shortly thereafter, another bar employee reported she saw "two to three white males escorting Brady" south on Pine Street and down the alley. She told officers that "Brady's body was completely limp, and two of the males had Brady's arms across their shoulders... they drug him (down the street) and into an alley toward Railroad Street." Two of the men wore baseball caps, the witness said.

    She also insisted she had talked to Brady when he entered the bar, and that he "was not that intoxicated."

    This witness later would tell Brady's mother that at that time, her son was "humorous, clear-eyed, and cute."

    This initial police report concludes: "This was the last time Brady was seen alive. Approximately four hours later Brady was... killed. The location of the railroad tracks where he was struck is directly behind the Crooked Kilt."

    But that may or may not have been the last time he was seen alive.

    Police subsequently questioned two brothers, both of whom admitted to seeing Brady shortly after he regained consciousness. One of the brothers told a detective that he and his brother and another man, "helped (Brady) walk away from the bar."

    The other brother, however, told the same investigator that he didn't help Brady "walk anywhere" and that Brady walked away alone, past Downtown Brew in a northerly direction.

    That discrepancy has not been investigated.

    Brady's whereabouts during the next few hours have yet to be determined. But that is not because of a shortage of varied versions.

    One of those interviewed whom witnesses said was with Brady during those murky hours was an acquaintance who said he "had heard Brady had been beat up and placed on the tracks." He offered to take a polygraph test to prove his assertions, but has since been incarcerated, and a police report suggests "his current cooperation in taking a polygraph is unknown at this time." That was September 2010, a month after Brady's death.

    Around that same time, another young woman, "JRC," told police she was standing with a group of people in a parking lot at 12th and Railroad streets when Brady, whom she knew, approached. A man known to the witness only as "Salvador" shoved Brady to the ground before she intervened. Then, according to her statement to detectives, Brady told her he "was alone, no one could help him, and he was going onto the tracks."

    She said he "appeared very intoxicated" but postmortem investigation would show that Brady's blood-alcohol level was .20, (over the legal driving limit of .08, adequate to cause emotional mood swings and impaired reaction time). No drugs were found in his system.

    The Bradys believe that if the story told by "JRC" is even true, a sharp blow to the back of their son's head, suffered when Bryan was elbowed into unconsciousness, would have caused that behavior.

    "JRC" told police that "Salvador" would not want to talk to them, and police reports do not suggest any subsequent attempt to locate "Salvador," who is reputed to have "visible arm tattoos." Others in the group whom police have identified and interviewed all insisted they did not hear much of Brady's and "JRC"'s conversation.

    That conversation reportedly occurred at about 2:30 a.m. A freight train rumbled over the tracks at 3:17 a.m. Brady was killed by the next train, at 6:20 a.m.

    Almost all of the investigation to date occurred after Paso Robles police were visited by Brady's parents. By that time, nearly a month had passed, and the Bradys had not been yet contacted by Paso Robles police, they said. Rumors about the incident and possible suspects were rampant.

    The parents approached the lead investigator at the time, Det. Terry Afana. Afana told them that there were two cases ahead of their son's, that he was about to go on vacation, and that if they didn't like it, they could talk to his supervisor, said Kasi Brady. The couple then contacted Lt. Murphy, who launched the probe and was lead investigator for a short period.

    But police eventually ran out of leads -- or resources, patience, or interest, in the words of Kasi Brady. She said she told Paso Robles Police Chief Lisa Solomon that it appeared police were giving more credence to the story told by "JRC," who admitted to investigators that she was "quite drunk," than to the bar employee, who was sober. Solomon responded, "We can't pick and choose which witnesses we believe."

    Recently, in a face-to-face, tape-recorded conversation, Solomon said she was closing the investigation and told Brady's parents, "We have expended considerable resources already, have reached no particular conclusion, we're pretty much worked everything to conclusion. We do not think Bryan's life was taken by criminal means. But if we get more leads that give us another route...."

    When Bryan was hit by the train that morning, he was "in a fetal position" between the tracks and "did not move as the train approached," according to the coroner's report.

    According to the report, Brady's body, and particularly his head, were badly damaged by the train. He suffered "multiple blunt force injuries (fractures, missing extremities, abrasions, lacerations, brain evulsion). All injuries appeared to be related to the impact with the train and being run over...."

    Brady's cell phone and other items were found scattered along the rails.

    Later in the report, Crawford noted that his on-site observations convinced him that "there were no obvious injuries to the decedent that could have been caused by an assault."

    But officials did not seek further tests which might have revealed an existing brain injury or other evidence of a physical assault prior to his death, instead relying only on visual observations.

    "I know the police have a tough job," said Kasi Brady. "But I'd like to know... if it was one of those officers' sons laying there, would there have been an investigation? The police should have done their work right away."

    Lt. Murphy said he thinks everything possible has been done in the Brady investigation, despite the department's admittedly meager personnel roster. But only a single incident report, and a supplemental report written after the Bradys' insistence, has yet been prepared.

    Other examples of the city's worsening law enforcement capabilities are beginning to emerge. Following an early-evening traffic fatality in east Paso Robles last October, local police were forced to ask for traffic control, follow-up, and investigative assistance from Atascadero police. This kind of situation reportedly has occurred several times since then.

    And recently, Chief Solomon initiated a departmental policy dubbed "safe mode" by officers to deal with staff inadequacies. As described by one officer and acknowledged by City Council member Fred Strong, the policy requires that when minimal staffing level is reached, and an officer must (for example) transport an arrestee to county jail, all other officers in the field must return to the station to await the return of the transporting officer, or until an appropriate staffing level is again reached. Only calls meeting a predetermined criteria are answered during "safe mode."

    Strong said the department's "safe mode" procedure "is just a matter of practicality." He added, "We must plan around known events" by calling in reserve officers or, "under extreme cases, having community patrol (members) transport" prisoners to the San Luis Obispo lockup.