Autopsy

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.

PORT HOPE, Mich. (AP) — Authorities have ordered an autopsy on the body of a newborn boy found in the attic of a home in Huron County's Port Hope. Sheriff's officials tell the Bay City Times the baby was found Sunday morning in the community near the tip of Michigan's Thumb. Deputies haven't released names of the 13-year-old mother or the 16-year-old boy they believe is the father. Authorities say they began investigating Saturday night after being called to a local hospital.

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.

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.

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.

SOUTH BEND — The autopsy of a woman killed in South Bend is done. The coroner's report says 49-year-old Alicestine Wheeler died from a single gunshot wound. On Tuesday, the family remembered the loving woman who has been taken from them. "My sister, she never did nothing to hurt anybody and she was always there for anybody who needed her," said Alicestine Wheeler's brother, James Wheeler III. While police tape still surrounded the scene in the 700 block of Lawndale Avenue, James set up a memorial of flowers near where his sister's body was found.  "She loved to work, she loved to clean, she loved to cook, she loved to just make everybody laugh, she loved to have fun, she loved to be Alice," James said.

CASS COUNTY - An 11-year-old Howard Township girl was found dead in her bed and some parents are worried about the safety of their own children.  Destany Frick's parents tried to wake her up for school Thursday morning, but she was unresponsive. Other than a news release sent late Thursday, police weren't saying much Friday. There's no indication of how or why Destany Frick died.  A Cass County police spokesman admitted they are looking into her Halloween candy for clues, but a source close to the investigation said they don't believe that's what killed the otherwise healthy little girl.

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.

ELKHART - A 15-month-old baby died, police say, in Elkhart on Saturday night. Officers say they arrived in the 700 block of Bristol Street at 7:16 p.m. to find an unresponsive infant. Taylor Hartung-Mann was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead. The Elkhart County Coroner, John White, says that after an autopsy performed on Monday, he does not have a definite cause of death for the child. He says more toxicology and microscopic tissue exams must be done.