Autopsy

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) — Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel acknowledges that an independent autopsy showing a Michigan banker was shot in the head contradicts one done earlier claiming no evidence of blunt force. Hackel tells WWJ-AM Thursday the discrepancy between an original autopsy performed by Macomb County medical examiner Daniel Spitz and one performed by Oakland County doctor L.J. Dragovic is "unfortunate" and delayed a search of Lake St. Clair where 62-year-old David Widlak's body was found Sunday.

An autopsy is planned for later today on the body of a Lake County sheriff’s detective. The body of 57-year-old Jim Spannan was found in his boat slip at Washington Park Marina in Michigan City Saturday. Spannan’s wife had reported him missing several hours earlier A friend who went to check on him found tools but no sign of the man. A portion of a ladder extending down toward the water was also missing. Divers began an underwater search and found Spannan's body in eight to ten feet of water.

WARSAW -   The Kosciusko County Coroner's office is out with new information today on the death of a Warsaw couple. 47-year-old James Kinzer and his 46-year-old wife Jane Kinzer were found dead Tuesday morning inside their mobile home in the 2700 block of Country Club Road. Coroner John Sadler says Mr. Kinzer died after shooting himself in the neck, while Mrs. Kinzer died from a gunshot wound to the head. However, an autopsy was not able to determine if Mrs. Kinzer's injuries were self-inflicted or not. Deputies found a lengthy suicide note at the home.

DECATUR - An autopsy is expected Tuesday following a deadly house fire in southwest Michigan. Police say shortly after 8 p.m. on Monday, firefighters were sent to a home in the 4700 block of 78th Avenue in Decatur. That is in Van Buren County When police arrived they found the home engulfed in flames. After the fire was put out, a body was found inside. No word yet on what started the fire.

SOUTH BEND — An autopsy for the 23-year-old woman found dead Tuesday at the St. Joseph County Jail provides few clues to the cause of her death. Deputy Coroner Randy Magdalinski said Wednesday that the autopsy for Stephanie Braasch, of Argos, found no signs of foul play, but didn’t provide a conclusive cause of death. Instead, investigators now are waiting for toxicology tests to be finished, a process likely to take several weeks. According to county jail records, Braasch was booked into the jail at 11:45 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of a felony drug offense.

BOURBON, Ind. - The Marshall County coroner says preliminary autopsy results for 75-year-old Louis Cady of Nappanee indicate he died from drowning following a rollover crash in Marshall County early Thursday morning. The crash happened late last night or early this morning along Beech Road, just north of U.S. 30. The coroner believes Cady was unfamiliar with that stretch of road. His truck drifted and rolled down an embankment, landing upside down in the water-filled ditch.

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) - State authorities are planning an autopsy on the remains of a body found in a Maine storage unit last week that may be those of a woman missing since 1983. The Sun Journal (http://bit.ly/rqgLQZ ) reports that an autopsy is set for Monday on the remains found in an unplugged freezer in Lewiston. Law enforcement authorities think the remains may be Kitty Wardwell, who was reported missing in July 1983 after last being seen with her former boyfriend, Frank Julian.

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — An autopsy has found that a young woman who disappeared from Big Rapids last year was killed by a blow to the head. WWTV-WWUP reports remains found April 18 in Mecosta County's Austin Township, near Big Rapids, were determined to be those of Kristin Spires. Earlier this year, four people were charged in an investigation related to Spires' disappearance. They're not charged with harming the Barryton woman. Rather, they are charged with being accessories after the fact, a felony.

The Elkhart County coroner made an official accidental death ruling after an autopsy performed Monday on a 7-year-old Goshen girl killed by her father's gun.  Karlee Byler died Friday after a handgun fell out of her dad's coat pocket and accidentally fired. Monica Chupp, the family's spokesperson, says the father, Jay Byler, returned home from work Friday evening and put the gun in his pocket to carry into the house.  She says Byler has a license to carry a concealed weapon.

CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - An autopsy is scheduled for a newborn boy apparently born in a southern Indiana motel room with a twin sister to a woman who didn't know she was pregnant. Poliice say they couldn't revive the boy after finding him under the girl in a toilet in a room at a Clarksville motel on Friday, and he was pronounced dead at Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville. The News and Tribune says the girl remains hospitalized there. Their mother, 36-year-old Betsy Dalton, told police she didn't know she was pregnant.

MARSHALL COUNTY - After an autopsy Tuesday, Marshall County Coroner Bill Cleavenger says preliminary results show violence or foul play did not play a role in the death of a Marshall County Correctional Facility inmate. Investigators say 44-year-old Kerry Pinder of Culver died suddenly Sunday. He had a history of medical issues, according to Cleavenger. Pinder was booked into the jail Saturday morning. Toxicology results are expected next week.

SOUTH BEND - Police say the man killed in a crash early Saturday morning was 24-year-old Jonathon Maure of South Bend. This happened in the 1900 block of East Inwood Road in South Bend just before 4 a.m. That's just off of Ironwood. Police say Maure lost control and ran into a tree. The vehicle was split in two and Maure was trapped and had to be extricated. Speed was a contributing factor in the crash, say police. An autopsy, including blood testing, will be performed.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia's medical examiner is conducting an autopsy on a woman whose body was found bound and burned inside a home in downtown Philadelphia. Firefighters responding to the home Monday afternoon found the woman's body on fire, with her ankles and wrists bound. Police say there was no sign of forced entry or anything taken from the home. Officer Christine O'Brien, a police department spokeswoman, said the victim has been identified as 35-year-old Melissa Ketunuti.

ELKHART - Investigators hope to find more clues today in the weekend fire death of an Elkhart man. 88-year-old Dan Gagex died Saturday morning after a fire started in his bedroom at his home in the 1300 block of Magnolia Ave. Fire investigator Tony Balzano said Gagex's mother-in-law tried to rescue Gagex and suffered minor burns to her arms. She was treated and released, while a city firefighter suffered a pulled muscle while fighting the blaze. He's expected to be off work for a week.

MARSHALL COUNTY -- Questions surrounding the double fatal shooting of two people in Culver-- one a juvenile -- should hopefully be answered sometime Monday. Autopsies are scheduled in Mishawaka Monday for 16-year-old Stephen Suthard and 44-year-old Michael Price. The two were found dead -- with gunshot wounds -- by Price's wife in their Culver home on November 28. Since then, police there haven't said whether the shooting is being considered a homicide or a murder-suicide.

WARSAW -   The Kosciusko County Coroner's office is out with new information today on the death of a Warsaw couple. 47-year-old James Kinzer and his 46-year-old wife Jane Kinzer were found dead Tuesday morning inside their mobile home in the 2700 block of Country Club Road. Coroner John Sadler says Mr. Kinzer died after shooting himself in the neck, while Mrs. Kinzer died from a gunshot wound to the head. However, an autopsy was not able to determine if Mrs. Kinzer's injuries were self-inflicted or not. Deputies found a lengthy suicide note at the home.

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY -- A St. Joseph County Metro Homicide investigation into the death of an infant on the west side of South Bend has been closed after an autopsy determined the child died from natural causes. Emergency responders were dispatched to the west side home in the 1000 block of Lincoln Way West just after 4:30 p.m. CPR was started at the home, and the baby was pronounced dead at 5:31 p.m. at the hospital. It is standard procedure for Metro Homicide to investigate when an infant dies under suspicious circumstances.  Police cars and a Metro Homicide van sat outside the home for more than nine hours Monday into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

SOUTH BEND - Police today said an autopsy performed on a man found dead in a sport utility vehicle found no signs of trauma. Maximino Colon, 37, of Elkhart, was found dead in the back of the vehicle after a minor crash about 7 a.m. Saturday in the 5200 block of Miami Street. The driver told investigators he hit a curb and lost control while trying to avoid a car that came into his lane, causing him to smash into a mailbox and flagpole. Police do not believe the crash killed Colon.

PIPESTONE TOWNSHIP - An autopsy revealed 21-year old Tyler Carr of Watervliet died from severe injuries to his chest and a torn aorta. Police say these injuries were caused from being run over by a vehicle. Carr's body was found Sunday morning in a field behind the home in the 2500 block of Fairview Road in Pipestone Township. Carr is a 2009 Watervliet High School graduate who now lives and works in Kalamazoo. Carr was at a party Saturday night with some his old high school friends.

BOURBON, Ind. - The Marshall County coroner says preliminary autopsy results for 75-year-old Louis Cady of Nappanee indicate he died from drowning following a rollover crash in Marshall County early Thursday morning. The crash happened late last night or early this morning along Beech Road, just north of U.S. 30. The coroner believes Cady was unfamiliar with that stretch of road. His truck drifted and rolled down an embankment, landing upside down in the water-filled ditch.