By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Detectives are investigating how a Guatemalan man was killed after his body was found in a barn behind Churchill Downs just hours after the Kentucky Derby was run at the track.
Police have ruled the death a homicide, Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley told NBC News station WAVE 3 on Sunday.
Authorities received a call shortly before 5 a.m. on Sunday reporting a body found in a barn not far from where I'll Have Another, the horse that won Saturday's race, was stabled.
'Some type of altercation'
Adan Fabian Perez, 48, was found inside Barn #8 by security guards, Smiley added.
"He did sustain injuries that lead us to believe he was involved in some type of altercation," Smiley said.
"[Detectives] were able to determine that there is foul play involved, however we still do not have an exact cause of death and we'll have to await the coroner's report for those details," Smiley said.
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Jo-Ann Farmer, chief deputy coroner for Jefferson County, said Perez was identified by his 19-year-old son, who works at the track.
The body was found in a barn occupied by Louisville trainer Angel Montano Sr., Smiley said. Montano did not have a horse in Saturday's derby.
Police interviewed people who live above the barns to try to piece together what happened. About 200 people live at Churchill Downs at any given time — either in dormitories on the edge of the property or in small apartments above some of the barns themselves.
"We don't have anything pointing to the fact that this would have had any association in terms of Churchill Downs or the derby itself," Smiley told WAVE 3.
I'll Have Another, ridden by jockey Mario Gutierrez, won the 138th running of the race at Churchill Downs in a stunning finish before a record crowd of more than 165,000 people.
About a week after last year's Kentucky Derby, jockey Michael Baze's body was found in a vehicle near the track's stables. His death was ruled an accidental overdose.
NBC News station WAVE3, NBC News' Michelle Franzen, msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
