Autopsy

HOBART, Ind. (AP) — An autopsy has found that a competitive billiards player from Michigan whose body was found in an Indiana pond died from asphyxiation. The Lake County coroner's office also ruled 45-year-old Dawn Fital's death Saturday an apparent homicide. An Ann Arbor, Mich.-area man accused of killing the Ypsilanti, Mich., woman was arraigned Saturday at the Washtenaw County jail. Greg Noack is accused of killing Fital — who had been his girlfriend — and dumping her body in a pond behind a strip mall in Hobart, Ind. The Times of Munster reports police think Fital was killed Monday in Michigan.

Police are uncertain how two young boys found their way into the trunk of a car sitting in the driveway of their New Carlisle home Friday afternoon. On Friday night, police revealed that 2-year-old Isaac Dunner died after being shut in the trunk on a day when temperatures reached a high of 85 degrees. Now authorities say his half-brother, 4-year-old Dominik Wilk, has also died. The boys were taken to Memorial Hospital after their mother, Jacqueline Wilk, discovered the children about 3 p.m. Friday.

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.

REFUGIO, Texas (AP) — Investigators say a man has died while in the act of raping an elderly South Texas woman. The Refugio (reh-FYOO'-ree-yoh) County Sheriff's Office identifies the man as 53-year-old Isabel Chavelo Gutierrez. Sheriff's Sgt. Gary Wright says the incident happened June 2 after he rode two miles by bicycle from his home to that of his 77-year-old victim in the tiny coastal community of Tivoli. He says the man, weighing between 230 and 250 pounds, sneaked into the woman's house and raped her at knifepoint.

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.

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.

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.

GOSHEN — Police say a 7-year-old girl died Friday afternoon from a gunshot wound to the head. Officers responded to the call about a possibly accidental shooting around 5 p.m. It happened in the 2500 block of West Wilden Avenue, which is in a residential neighborhood on Goshen’s northwest side. A detective told a WSBT reporter at the scene that this was just a tragic accident and at this time they do not believe any foul play was involved.  The investigation is ongoing.

HICKORY, N.C. (AP) — Authorities have not recovered head of a disabled North Carolina girl whose stepmother has been indicted on a murder charge and accused of dismembering the 10-year-old's body. An autopsy report released Monday shows that medical examiners say the cause of Zahra Baker's death was undetermined homicidal violence. Examiners say many bones were not present for the autopsy, most notably Zahra Baker's skull. Several bones show cutting tool marks consistent with dismemberment.

Former Notre Dame football and Chicago Bears player Dave Duerson was found dead Thurday night at his Miami home. The coroner confirmed Duerson's death but did give a cause. Right now police are calling this an "unclassified death. " They are waiting on autopsy results.   Duerson was an All-American at Notre Dame, and a defensive starter for the Chicago Bears 1985 Super Bowl champion team. He played for the Irish from 1979 through 1982. An autopsy is expected to be conducted Friday.