-Caveat Lector-
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:FRONT62/1:FRONT62091199.html
Updated: Saturday, Sep. 11, 1999 at 01:18 CDT
Lawyers in Waco suit say morgue cooler failed
By Jack Douglas Jr.
and Karen Brooks
Star-Telegram staff writers
This article contains graphic language.
FORT WORTH -- Lawyers in a wrongful-death suit
against the federal government said yesterday that
they have been unable to fully explore the deaths of
about 80 Branch Davidians in 1993 because many of
their bodies liquefied when a cooler failed at the
Tarrant County morgue.
The attorneys are also pursuing reports from a
pathologist hired by the family of Davidian Jimmy
Riddle that portions of Riddle's body disappeared
during the more than two years it was stored in Fort
Worth.
The missing body parts and the failure of a
refrigeration unit at the morgue are expected to be
debated as part of a wrongful-death trial scheduled
to begin next month in Waco.
The cooler failed weeks after Medical Examiner
Nizam Peerwani had performed autopsies on
members of the religious sect, including spiritual
leader David Koresh. The Davidians died in the April
19, 1993, blaze that destroyed their compound near
Waco.
Chris Gavras, Peerwani's spokesman, said yesterday
afternoon that there may be some mitigating factors
concerning reports that the morgue's cooler failed,
but he declined to elaborate.
Peerwani did not return telephone calls to his office.
His secretary, Linda Anderson, said he "has been
advised not to make any further comments" in the
wake of Thursday's appointment of a special counsel
to investigate what happened at Mount Carmel on
the last day of the siege.
He did, however, speak to reporters at the Waco
Tribune-Herald yesterday.
Don Petty, who worked with Peerwani as a forensic
photographer on the Davidian case, and Fort Worth
pathologist Stephen Putthoff, who also worked on the
Davidians' bodies, said the autopsies were conducted
accurately and professionally.
"Dr. Peerwani did a superb job organizing the entire
effort," said Putthoff, a deputy medical examiner for
Tarrant County and chairman of the pathology
department for the University of North Texas Health
Science Center at Fort Worth.
If the cooler malfunctioned, Putthoff said, it would
not have mattered because all of the autopsies had
been completed and the forensic evidence collected.
But the lawyers suing the government say that when
the badly burned corpses were liquefied from
exposure to high temperatures, it prevented a
second, independent examination to learn more
about what -- and possibly who -- caused the
Davidians' deaths.
Kirk Lyons, who is representing three Davidian
survivors of the fire and relatives of 23 dead sect
members, said he has been told that "somebody
accidentally pulled the plug, and the bodies turned to
soup."
"It just destroys any chance for anybody to come
back and challenge what the government said
happened," said Lyons of Black Mountain, N.C.
Petty said he believes that "approximately 40 or 50"
unclaimed Davidian bodies were in the cooler when it
failed.
The cooler, which is behind the morgue and is still
being used, was given to the Tarrant County Medical
Examiner's Office by the federal government to hold
the bodies of the sect members, Petty said.
Peerwani told CNN in an interview this week that his
office was not asked by the government to
determine whether any of the Davidians were killed
by federal agents.
"I don't think that was an issue at the time," he
said.
Peerwani also said he was not asked by the
government to determine the manner of the deaths
-- homicide, suicide or accidental -- which is usually
a
routine procedure in autopsies.
"In this particular case, we were primarily focused on
deciding the cause of death. We had no control over
the information that was surrounding this
compound's tragedy," the medical examiner told
CNN.
Putthoff said the fiery end to the 51-day standoff
between the religious sect and federal agents was an
"extremely complex disaster."
"I think the hardest part for the pathologists ... was
separating out and seeing the bodies of the children
who were co-mingled with the adult female bodies,"
Putthoff said.
Putthoff said that most, if not all, of the Davidian
bodies were terribly burned and damaged by the fire
and shrapnel from explosions, making it extremely
difficult for the team of pathologists at the Tarrant
County morgue to examine them.
Houston lawyer Michael Caddell, who is representing
the relatives of 55 dead Davidians, said the survivors
wanted a re-examination because "we think the
autopsies were by and large not done in the best
manner possible."
Despite the damage done because of the cooler
failure, authorities may still be able to learn more
about the deaths of the Davidians by studying their
bones, said Mary Manhein, professor of forensic
pathology at Louisiana State University and deputy
coroner of Baton Rouge Parish.
Bone marrow can harbor DNA samples for as long as
10 years, and a study of the bones can often solve
the mysteries of a violent death, Manhein said.
But a better preserved body, including the existence
of lung tissue and blood samples, could help
determine whether any of the Davidians died from
smoke inhalation or from poison caused by
government tear gas, said Jay Siegel, professor of
criminal justice and chemistry at Michigan State
University.
"If they didn't find that out on the initial autopsy
... it
would be much more crucial to have something
preserved," said Siegel, a member of the American
Academy of Forensic Science.
Bodies begin to decompose from the moment of
death, but the speed with which they do so depends
on the circumstances, Manhein said.
Decomposition is quicker at hotter temperatures
and, even at room temperature, can cause a body to
deteriorate beyond recognition within two to three
days, Manhein said.
Corpses can be preserved if temperatures are kept
under 40 degrees, she said.
Plaintiffs attorneys also have questions about the
findings of Dr. Ronald Graser, the private pathologist
hired by Riddle's family.
Graser's examination found that body parts
disappeared from Riddle, whose remains were kept
at Tarrant County Mortician Service, a private
mortuary in southeast Fort Worth, court documents
say.
During that time, the body of Riddle, who had been
killed by a shot in the head, was kept in a "crash
bag" and sealed in a metal container in a cooler, said
Tom Ramsey, owner of the mortuary.
But when Graser examined the remains, he said part
of the skull was missing, including the section where
the bullet entered and exited, the court documents
say.
Jack Douglas Jr., (817) 390-7700
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Karen Brooks, (817) 685-3806
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
-----------------------
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
