Mariah Timms | The Tennessean

Ayrika Whitney/USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Daniel Shields was found dead in his home, bound in dozens of items and in a state of decomposition that made determining his cause of death difficult, an autopsy report revealed.

On Wednesday, a man was arrested in connection with his July 2018 death, but questions remain about what happened in that Delaware Avenue apartment.

Shields, 30, left after a shift at Nashville's Trax bar off of Nolensville Pike on July 4.

He was never heard from again.

Submitted by friends

Cause of death not specific

Trax manager Kimmie Mayfield called police on July 10, and officers went to his apartment in the 5100 block of Delaware Avenue to perform a welfare check.

"That boy begged me for a job. When he didn't show up, I knew something was wrong," Mayfield said.

Mayfield said the first call to police was on July 5, but police did not go to Shields' apartment until July 10.

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There, they found Shields' body face down, bound at wrists and ankles, covered in blankets and other items.

He was pronounced dead at the scene in the early morning hours of July 11.

An autopsy performed by assistant medical examiner Randy S. Tashjian found that Shields most likely died from a combination of wounds, naming the cause of death as multimodality trauma.

Shields' death was ruled a homicide.

Metro Nashville Police

Gerry Weatherby, 45, was arrested in Waynesboro after a Davidson County grand jury indicted him in connection with the homicide.

He faces charges of first-degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping. He remained in Davidson County jail on Friday evening in lieu of a $150,000 bond.

Weatherby's arraignment has been scheduled for May 29.

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Body found days after death

Sometime between that July 4 evening and when officers arrived on July 10, Shields was killed. The autopsy was not able to determine precisely when.

More than a dozen items, including a yellow cord, a wooden rod, a pair of jeans and a bed sheet were wrapped around his head. His wrists and ankles were bound with even more items, including a phone charger cord, a blanket, a shoelace and a fork in one way or another.

A wound to his chest may have been caused by sharp force trauma, as if from a weapon with a cutting edge, but the autopsy results were inconclusive as to its cause, according to the report. The wound, whatever caused it, was deep enough that it reached his heart.

Also, Shields' prone position may have made it difficult for him to breathe, the report indicated, possibly contributing to his death.

The autopsy also discovered a fracture to Shields' thyroid cartilage, possibly caused by blunt force trauma to his neck.