No autopsy had been performed. His official cause of death was unknown. The presumption was either a heart attack or a ruptured aneurysm, but the Cleveland doctor needed more clarity. They eventually tracked down the doctor who pronounced Richard Batum’s death; he’d retired and moved to Africa. Batum and N’diaye joined a conference call with the two doctors conferring on what might have caused Richard Batum’s death. “Just bizarre. There was no way to make this easy,” N’diaye said of that call. “Nic’s mom had never really talked about exactly what happened, and he was just a baby at the time. This was his first time with doctors” speculating as to what occurred.