Text Excerpt 17, Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum Forensic Evidence Not Wanted [Note to readers: Many of the official autopsy reports of the Branch Davidians, autopsy photographs, and official diagrams showing the locations of body recoveries are available for viewing at the Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum website. Unfortunately, this documentation cannot be included in a text excerpt.] Professional evidence handlers remove and perform autopsies quickly for a number of reasons. Time can erase traces of poison like cyanide, says noted medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden. Speaking of one case he was working on, Dr. Baden says: "The defense was saying that no cyanide was found in the bodies, but the absence of cyanide didn't mean they weren't given it. After a few days you can't find cyanide in a body. That's one of the reasons it's such a good murder weapon." (Baden, pg. 130). (Note: Visitors to the Museum's web site will be able to review the Autopsy Reports and notice the presence of cyanide in some Branch Davidian remains; the explanation of this phenomena awaits competent scientific analysis.) With the exceptions Mt. Carmel Does 32 and 33, the remains recovered on April 22-23 were not autopsied until May 6. See Autopsy Reports of Mt. Carmel Does 30, 31A, 31B, 31DE, 31F, 49 (see List of Decomposition States for complete list, and List of Autopsy Reports to review the Autopsies). The autopsies on the last of the remains recovered from under the cartridge shells were still being performed on May 11. There was no need to have these remains wait until the staff at the Tarrant County Medical Examiners Office could handle the load. We have already seen that three other pathologists had volunteered to help (Dallas Morning News, April 22, 1993), and that Waco was within easy driving distance of Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Some of the remains could have been distributed to those centers for quick and orthodox handling. But instead the remains waited their turn in the queue at the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office. Once again, it is clear that Dr. Peerwani was chosen for a reason (see "Plausible Denial: Enter Dr. Nizam Peerwani," at the Museum website) and all autopsies were to be done under his supervision. Disarticulation and Time of Death Disarticulation occurs when the connective tissue in the bone joints decomposes. Heads fall off necks, and arms out of shoulder sockets. Let's hear from Dr. Ubelaker: "From our work in forensic science, we knew that the process of decomposition follows a predictable course, and that the muscles and ligaments gradually decompose to the point that when a skeleton is picked up or otherwise disturbed at any time beyond a certain period after death, it will fall apart. At earlier stages, certain desiccated ligaments hold together some of the vertebrae or other parts, and the integrity of the body diminishes as time since death increases." (Ubelaker, pg. 41.) "Obviously, a body that was buried within a week of death would be nearly intact at the time of interment; this isn't enough time for a skeleton to fall apart before it goes into the ground. If death occurs three months before the burial, enough decomposition sets in so that an excavator would be likely to find a skeleton in segments, but not completely fallen apart. If death had occurred two years before the burial, there would not be any soft tissue left at all, and the bones would be isolated." (Ubelaker, pg. 41.) Many of the bodies found in the concrete room are both severely decomposed and dismembered or pulped. But the Autopsy Reports of at least four sets of remains present a different picture--the remains were separated due to the decomposition of the connective tissue between the joints. The Autopsy Report of baby Paiges Gent (Mt. Carmel Doe 64), reads: "Body is disarticulated mainly because of advanced postmortem decomposition . . ." The Autopsy Report of Abigail Martinez, 11 years old, (Mt. Carmel Doe 56), who was said to have died from a gunshot wound to the head, reads: "The body is that of a young hispanic female measuring 51" in length and consisting of a disarticulated head, chest, abdomen upper and lower extremities." The body is severely decomposed. The Autopsy Report of the unidentified remains of Mt. Carmel Doe 59, a 14-19 year old girl, reveals: "The head is disarticulated with most of the facial soft tissue absent . . . Furthermore, there is no brain tissue present. Cervical vertebrae are disarticulated and without trauma. Hyoid bone and the larynx are absent as is the soft tissue of the neck. Chest and abdomen reveal advanced decomposition with bone structures and decomposing tissue commingled. All the ribs are identified and are partially articulated from the thoracic vertebrae. Chest and abdominal and pelvic organs are severely decomposed and reduced to mushy pasty foul smelling partially liquefied tissue. Individual organs are not recognized. Upper extremities are disarticulated with soft tissue markedly decomposed." The Autopsy Report of five-year-old Serenity Sea Jones, Mt. Carmel Doe 72, said to have died from smoke inhalation, states that the flesh is sloughing off the disarticulated head with gravity. Since the word "disarticulation" was used along with the information on the states of decomposition, and no other reason for the falling apart of the body was given, we may assume that disarticulation in these four cases occurred as a result of decomposition. These cases should have been a flag to the autopsist that, given the normal course of events, the time of death was far earlier than April 19. No Evidence That Eye Potassium Tests Given According to Dr. Baden, there is a reliable way for determining the time of death--the potassium eye fluid test. "The test measures changes in the level of potassium in the eye fluid. In life, there is a small amount of potassium in the eye fluid. After death the red cells break down, and the potassium in them enters the vitreous fluid very slowly. The level rises predictably. This happens regardless of temperature." (Baden, pg. 96.) Many of the bodies found in the concrete room did not have heads; of the bodies with heads, most did not have eyeballs. However, several of the corpses did have eyeballs, and the potassium test could have arguably been performed on those. Look at the remains of Joseph Martinez (Mt. Carmel Doe 52), "Orbits are intact and contain black desiccated residual eye balls;" Julliete Martinez (Mt. Carmel Doe 54), "The eyes are decomposed and collapsed;" and Crystal Martinez (Mt. Carmel Doe 57), "The eyes are decomposed and collapsed." These remains had eyeballs, and yet there is no mention in the Autopsy Reports that the potassium test was done or even had been considered. Why was there so little interest in establishing the time of death? No Refrigeration Problems Some Waco Holocaust students speculate that the severely decomposed condition of most of the bodies in the concrete room was caused by refrigeration problems before the autopsies were performed at the Tarrant County facilities. But in fact, the Texas Ranger on site at the scene of recovery in the concrete room just after the fire on April 19, 1993 complained about the stench from the bodies. "All I smelled was rotten bodies, it was a horrible smell ... It was just a rotten body smell, that's all you could smell." (Trial testimony of Raymond Coffman, Transcript, pg. 956.) It surely would be rare for bodies, just 24 hours old and kept in cool spring weather, to smell so badly. The last body buried in the spent cartridges in the concrete room was recovered on April 29, 1993; the last such body was autopsied on May 11. There is no indication of any refrigeration problem in any of the Autopsy Reports. At least a full year later, in 1994, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark began representing some Branch Davidian family members in a wrongful death action. He sent a letter of intent to the US government in preparation for the suit. Independent autopsies are often requested in such suits. Shortly after Ramsey Clark's letter would have been received, there was a "problem" with the refrigeration units at the Tarrant County facilities and the cooling system "broke down" leading to a further deterioration of the bodies. Next: Excerpt 18: Dismemberment ---------------------------------------------------- Entire set of text excerpts from the Museum available with anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.public-action.com/wm2-0txt.zip Excerpted by Carol Valentine. Images omitted. Visit the Museum at http://www.holocausts.org/waco. SkyWriter@holocausts.org Copyright 1996-2000 by Carol A. Valentine, on loan to Public Action, Inc. All commercial rights are reserved. Full statement of terms and conditions for copying and redistribution is available in the Museum Library. "Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum," "SkyWriter," and the skywriting logo are trademarks of Public Action Inc.