Page 18 - Daniel Spitz News Today

Certain. >> dr. spitz empties bags of dirt and remains collected at the burial site on to the autopsy table. he finds disintegrated strips of clothes. >> fabric is almost reduced to like thin paper. >> and bones. >> were going to start with carefully cleaning off these bones. these are ribs and fragments of ribs. all the bones were covered in dirt. the skull was completely filled with hard dirt, vegetation, roots, all types of things were growing through all the different orifices of the skull. ...

A lot of it could be post mortem. so well see what kind of injuries if any he has related to that. >> as dr. spitz gets ready to start the internal exam, everyone crowds around to see the photographs taken at the scene of mr. kruegers death. even for seasoned veterans its a shocking sight. >> look at right here. thats how they found him. he really had to fall hard. >> after about an hours worth of prep work, its finally time for dr. spitz to make the first cut for the internal exam. >> when was ...

People around. the lifeguard should put more effort to help people. there are several lifeguard over there. there is not one, not only one. >> tomorrows cases are wheeled into the morgues 42-degree cooler. in just a few hours, theyll be in the hands of dr. spitz. another set of strangers in life, two people who most likely never crossed paths, now share the same room for one night in death before being studied and then sent off to their final resting places. first thing monday morning, all hands...

Authorities to the secret spot. after a ten-hour excavation the remains are brought back to the morgue and examined by dr. daniel spitz, the medical examiner for macomb county, michigan. >> were trying to fill in the gaps as to what actually happened. weve never got a confession on this case. the prosecutor still doesnt know what the cause of death is. we are hoping today to help determine how this girl died. >> ream claims he buried cindy after she accidentally fell down a warehouse elevator sh...

No blood, not on his underwear. a little bit but not dripping down his legs. >> so he broke both bifold doors off their hinges? >> yes. >> and then kept going down the stairs and through the wall. >> dr. spitz performs hundreds of autopsies every year. hes seen a lot since taking this job in 2004 but the case of charles krueger jr. has to be one of the strangest deaths yet. >> yeah. there he is. >> wow. >> totally through. >> so half of his bodys on the landing and the other half is like in the ...

Arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. even though the organs are decomposed you can still at this level of decomposition make a pretty good analysis of everything. you have a stock container? >> all of anns organs turn out to be normal except for her enlarged heart. but until her blood samples are tested for drugs, dr. spitz must move this death investigation as pending. >> one of the things i will exclude before i focus my attention back on the heart is the toxicology concern that i have because...

And the levels and the circumstances which allow you to come to the conclusion as to whether this is a drug related death. >> once toxicology is drawn, dr. spitz begins to remove the womans fragile organs. he quickly sees that his hunch about an enlarged heart is dead on. >> her heart is awful big for a woman, even an overweight woman. so thats one potential problem right there. yeah. thats big. >> the average weight of a female heart is 280 grams. anns heart is nearly twice that size. >> when w...

It loose. >> side by side, renee and her husband snap photos of the deceased. she for the medical examiner, he for the east point police. once they fully assess the scene, renee had the body moved to the kitchen floor so she can do a proper physical exam. when shes done, a company contracted by the county will transport mr. kruegers body to the morgue where dr. spitz will perform an autopsy first thing tomorrow morning. based on his history of alcoholism, it could appear hes the victim of a drun...

Assaulted. a team of forensic nurses is brought in to take samples which will be sent to a lab for analysis. >> and the reason we were called in was because its a suspicious death. its not known at this point what the cause of death was. >> youre done? okay. cool. thanks. >> all autopsies begin with an external exam. as michelle and christina clean off the body, dr. spitz takes note of any physical injuries. >> all right. lets roll him this way and then roll him the other way and we shall soon s...

>> theres no sign of trauma or any other obvious explanation for the womans death. >> really not much else we can do right now, just contact the medical examiner, talk to him, explain the circumstances. >> if you need help ill give you a hand. >> dwayne lockston, a medical investigator for st. claire county which is also in dr. spitz jurisdiction, organizes the transfer of ms. palmateers body to the morgue. dr. spitz will attempt to rule a cause of death in the morning. >> first thing monday mor...