Death Investigation

NIJ and its multidisciplinary partners have released an updated technical guide for conducting collaborative death scene investigations. The 2024 guide accounts for key changes in the field, including:   This revised edition is a collaborative effort to update the content to ensure the best possible outcome for both death and criminal investigations today.

Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Evidence (OSAC) is developing documentary standards for each forensic discipline. Standards under consideration as well as approved standards are available in the OSAC Registry.

The AAFS Standards Board develops documentary standards for forensics through a consensus process, involving participation by all directly and materially affected persons. Standards are being developed for each forensic discipline.

Investigative series compiled by Pro Publica, in partnership investigation with NPR and Frontline that looks at the nation’s 2,300 coroner and medical examiner offices and reports on problems identified with the system.

U.S. Department of Justice, FBI Laboratory Division. Provides guidance and procedures for methods of collecting, preserving, packaging, and shipping evidence and describes the forensic examinations performed by the FBI’s Laboratory Division and Operational Technology Division.

See pp. 241-268 for the National Research Council’s assessment of the disciplines of forensic pathology and death investigation.

National Association of Medical Examiners. Drafted to improve uniformity in manner of death determinations for death certificates. View additional position papers and accreditation information on the NAME website.

This 2001 report by the North Carolina Medical Examiner Study Group was requested by the legislature in part in response to a series of news articles that raised concerns about the quality of death investigation in North Carolina. The report provides information about the structure and responsiblities of the Medical Examiner system and makes a number of recommendations for improving the system including improved training, utilization of trained death investigators, and assuring adequate resources for the performance of death investigation and autopsies throughout the state.

2001 report by the North Carolina Medical Examiner Study Group was requested by the legislature in part in response to a series of news articles that raised concerns about the quality of death investigation in North Carolina. The report provides information about the structure and responsibilities of the Medical Examiner system and makes a number of recommendations for improving the system including improved training, utilization of trained death investigators, and assuring adequate resources for the performance of death investigation and autopsies throughout the state.

Review of book by M. Lee Goff that uses case studies to explain the process by which different species of bugs break down decomposing bodies.

Some common questions come up in homicide cases when a defense attorney needs to access information from the OCME and regional autopsy centers and speak with the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy in the case. This post addresses some of these questions using information obtained from the four offices that perform autopsies for North …

Attorneys have asked me what discovery should be available from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in cases where an autopsy was performed by that office. The Autopsy Report is a public record. It can be requested through the OCME website, or it can be provided through discovery. Photos, videos, or audio recordings of …

Like many other experts, medical examiners use terms of art which might be confusing for non-experts. The use of the term “homicide” to classify a death might confuse jurors and attorneys alike. It may, therefore, be worthwhile to take steps to ensure that a medical examiner’s testimony conveys the proper information despite using a potentially …

There will be an autopsy viewing and tour of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh for defense attorneys on Friday, August 30th, 2019 starting at 8:45 am. Attorneys and defense investigators will have an opportunity to witness an autopsy and then engage in a guided tour of the OCME and its toxicology …

According to the North American Entomology Association, it is easy for investigators to attribute postmortem damage to a body due to insect activity to antemortem occurrences. Studies have shown that the insects that feed on decaying bodies often leave behind marks or abrasions that can be misinterpreted by investigators. A recent study conducted at the …

A study looking at how the conclusions of forensic anthropologists may be influenced by extraneous information highlights the importance of protecting all scientists from potentially biasing information. Forensic anthropologists determine the gender, national origin, and age of a person at the time of death. In some cases this determination must be based solely on skeletal …

Researchers at Texas State University’s forensic anthropology research facility, one of the country’s five “body farms,” have discovered that failure to take into account the role of vultures may have affected time of death calculations in homicide investigations. See press coverage here. The scientists observed a flock of vultures reduce a corpse that had been …

2024 Wrongful Convictions Law Review article by Jeff Kukucka and Oyinlola Famulegun on research study demonstrating that mock jurors interpret manner of death determinations to be scientific and definitive though they are not intended to be scientific according to forensic pathologists.

This article provides a framework for identifying potential errors in death investigations. Attorneys should consider whether any of these are potential issues in their homicide cases. The types of errors identified are: oversights in autopsy technique, incorrect collection of photographic and video material, unauthorized attendance at the autopsy, missing/mistaken reporting at any stage of the forensic activity, failure to notify the party forensic consultant, using histological or toxicological nonaccredited laboratories for forensic activities, and lack of observance of the chain of custody.

This study investigates the effects of contextual information on forensic toxicology testing and analysis. By Hilary J. Hamlett & Itiel E. Dror

The Health In Justice Action Lab of the Northeastern University School of Law has created a toolkit for attorneys defending death by distribution of drugs. The toolkit includes recent favorable caselaw and links to the amicus curiae briefs filed by the Action Lab and its partners that were successful in those cases; an expanded section on racial disparities and person-first representation; more material and case law in several of the states that are most aggressive in pursuing DIH enforcement; a brief section on ineffective assistance of counsel claims; and information regarding forthcoming DIH research conducted by the Action Lab. Entire toolkit is available for free download. 2021 Edition.

Free 10-part webinar series on toxicology and drug-related deaths offered by CFSRE

Free webinar series offered by CSFRE. Recorded presentations should be available to registrants after the program is complete.

Free 2-day in-person training in Durham offered by NCIDS, NCAJ, and NACDL. This program is complete, but materials are available upon request.

Free webinar offered by Godoy Medical Forensics

Free-to-attend recorded webinars offered by CSFRE. Recordings available on demand.

Free to attend live webinar offered by Godoy Medical Forensics

Free to attend live webinar offered by Godoy Medical Forensics

Free to attend live webinar offered by Godoy Medical Forensics

Free to attend live webinar offered by Godoy Medical Forensics

Free to attend live webinar offered by Godoy Medical Forensics

Free-to-attend webinar presented by Godoy Medical Forensics

Free-to-attend webinar offered by Godoy Medical Forensics

Offered by Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Northwest AHEC

This activity is meant to inform and educate partners and learners in the medicolegal death investigation field about the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s system and its role in death investigations. Topics covered will include recent changes in the practice and guidelines for the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s system as well as current trends in cause and manner of death within the state. Also discussed will be public health implications of these investigations, differentiation of sharp and blunt force injuries, medical examiner jurisdiction, documentation of findings and appropriate scene investigation techniques and documentation.

Objectives

• Describe recent legislative changes and changes in practice guidelines for the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s system.
• Cite current trends in cause and manner of death in North Carolina enabling better communicates with our stakeholders.
• Identify and document blunt force and sharp force injuries.
• Describe the appropriate public health implications of the medical examiner system including appropriate mandatory reporting guidelines and be able to communicate with appropriate stakeholders.
• Differentiate between those cases which fall under the jurisdiction of the North Carolina Medical Examiner system and those which do not.
• Provide accurate documentation of medicolegal death investigations and external examinations.
• Perform on site scene investigations along with other agencies and provide accurate and timely documentation of these activities.

Speakers

• Michelle Aurelius, MD, Chief Medical Examiner
• Mark A Giffen, DO, Assistant Professor
• Sean M Reid, BS, D-ABMDI

+ Show more speakers

Audience

This activity is designed for county medical examiners and their investigators, nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, pathologist assistants, paramedics, law enforcement, attorneys, forensic scientists, students in criminal justice programs, emergency medical technicians, laboratory/ medical technicians and all others interested in updating their knowledge of forensic pathology.

Live full-day webinar April 22, 2023 Offered by Northwest Area Health Education Center (AHEC), a program of Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Live full-day webinar offered by Wake Forest School of Medicine and Northwest AHEC

Week-long training program on death investigation.

Free to attend webinar offered as part of the IDS Forensic Science Education Series. Speaker: Dr. Greg Davis

Virtual CLE offered by the Mecklenburg County Public Defender's Office. Presenter: Dr. Christena Roberts

The annual Western NC Death Investigation Conference will be presented via live webinar on April 10, 2021. The program is being offered by the Northwest AHEC. 6 hours of CLE credit is anticipated. Topics include expert witness testimony, investigation of death due to possible elder abuse or neglect, gunshot wound characteristics, identification and forensic aspects of radiology, and more.

Catherine Bailey, research attorney for the National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law, discusses the scientific and legal implications of virtual autopsies in a three part video.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Sample direct and cross-examinations of various forensic witnesses, including a firearm/toolmark expert, fingerprint expert, pathologist, DNA expert, and other forensic experts.

Free or low-cost software tools that may be of assistance in understanding forensic evidence disciplines of digital forensics, arson investigation, DNA, death investigation, and more.

Bartleby.com edition of Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body features 1,247 illustrations and a subject index with 13,000 entries.

The North Carolina Medical Examiner System is a network of medical doctors and allied health professionals throughout North Carolina who voluntarily devote their time, energy, and medical expertise to see that deaths of a suspicious, unusual or unnatural nature are adequately investigated. The OCME investigates all deaths in North Carolina due to injury or violence, as well as natural deaths that are suspicious, unusual, or unattended by a medical professional.

The Medicolegal Death Investigation Subcommittee of OSAC focuses on standards and guidelines related to sudden, unnatural, unexplained or suspicious deaths, including homicides, suicides, unintentional fatal injuries, drug-related deaths and other deaths that are sudden or unexpected; determination of the cause and manner of death.

Trial court erred in allowing a forensic pathologist’s opinion that the decedent’s death was a homicide as opposed to a suicide that was based on his interpretation of non-medical information conveyed to him by law enforcement officers. The State failed to adequately explain how the expert was in a better position than the jurors to evaluate whether the results of the officers’ investigation were more suggestive of a homicide than a suicide. Thus, based on the principles set out in McGrady, his opinion failed to pass muster under the new test governing the admissibility of expert witness opinion testimony that is now required in light of the 2011 amendment to Rule 702.

• Order of Dismissal with Prejudice – 2011 Superior Court order dismissing the charge of first degree murder with prejudice where forensic evidence was destroyed prior to the defense having the opportunity to examine it, despite defendant’s filing of a motion to preserve evidence. The Court found that material and favorable evidence to the defendant was intentionally destroyed and that the defendant suffered irreparable prejudice as a result of the violation of his constitutional and statutory rights.
• Court of Appeals decision – reverses the trial court’s order granting the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Vacates trial court’s order imposing discovery sanctions against the State.