WEBVTT - Botched 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:18.205 School of Humans. We've all seen episodes of CSI where 0:00:18.285 --> 0:00:21.245 murders get solved in an hour or less. But the 0:00:21.285 --> 0:00:24.445 truth is that in America today, if you put a 0:00:24.485 --> 0:00:27.645 gun to someone's head, you have about a fifty percent 0:00:27.765 --> 0:00:32.405 chance of getting away with murder. In many areas, the 0:00:32.485 --> 0:00:37.765 murder clearance rate is a lot worse. On September ninth, 0:00:38.205 --> 0:00:42.405 nineteen eighty nine, sixteen year old Janie Ward collapsed during 0:00:42.445 --> 0:00:44.645 a high school party at a cabin in the woods 0:00:44.685 --> 0:00:48.565 near Marshall, Arkansas. Some friends put her in the back 0:00:48.565 --> 0:00:51.725 of a pickup truck and drove her into town. They 0:00:51.845 --> 0:00:54.445 ended up at the Bank parking lot, where Janie was 0:00:54.445 --> 0:00:58.445 pronounced dead at eight forty five pm. It could have 0:00:58.485 --> 0:01:02.445 been an accident. That's the official story. But the closer 0:01:02.525 --> 0:01:05.005 I look at the case, the more questions I have. 0:01:05.925 --> 0:01:10.885 Did someone get away with murder? I'm Catherine Townsend, and 0:01:10.925 --> 0:01:48.685 this is helen gone. In many cities in America, experts 0:01:48.685 --> 0:01:51.205 say that a lot of people are afraid to speak 0:01:51.245 --> 0:01:55.005 out about what they witnessed, and fear of retaliation. Doesn't 0:01:55.045 --> 0:01:58.285 just happen in big cities with gang problems. It happens 0:01:58.325 --> 0:02:02.965 in small towns too. Small towns also struggle with death investigations. 0:02:04.005 --> 0:02:06.725 A lot of police forces lack the experience and the 0:02:06.725 --> 0:02:10.405 budget to deal with complex murder cases. As a result, 0:02:10.845 --> 0:02:14.365 mistakes are made and valuable evidence can be lost forever. 0:02:15.725 --> 0:02:18.885 In many counties, the person who examined you after death 0:02:19.005 --> 0:02:22.645 is not a medical examiner, but the coroner, who often 0:02:22.725 --> 0:02:26.805 has no medical training. In Arkansas, you just have to 0:02:26.805 --> 0:02:30.325 be eighteen years old and not a felon to be coroner. 0:02:30.925 --> 0:02:34.685 In Janney's case, Tom Martin was coroner of Cercy County. 0:02:35.285 --> 0:02:37.405 He's the one who pronounced Janeye dead at the bank 0:02:37.445 --> 0:02:41.325 parking lot. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy was 0:02:41.365 --> 0:02:44.765 doctor Fawmy Mallick. He was the chief medical examiner for 0:02:44.805 --> 0:02:47.605 the whole state of Arkansas and located in Little Rock. 0:02:48.165 --> 0:02:51.085 Some coroners are working to get additional training and to 0:02:51.165 --> 0:02:54.805 change the system from within to explain what happens when 0:02:54.845 --> 0:03:00.045 someone dies under mysterious circumstances. Here's an Arkansas corner. My 0:03:00.125 --> 0:03:03.845 name is Joseph. Joseph Blake is the coroner in Stone County. 0:03:04.685 --> 0:03:08.165 He's twenty two, making him the youngest coroner ever elected 0:03:08.165 --> 0:03:11.845 in Arkansas. He's very open about the fact that many 0:03:11.885 --> 0:03:15.365 corners have no medical expertise and stresses the importance of 0:03:15.365 --> 0:03:18.525 additional training. He says that his job starts with a 0:03:18.565 --> 0:03:21.165 call from the sheriff. It all starts normally from the 0:03:21.165 --> 0:03:24.005 Sarf's office. They call me. Let's say it's just a 0:03:24.085 --> 0:03:27.925 regular home unattended death, which that means that nobody was 0:03:27.965 --> 0:03:30.205 present of thee walked in the house and pounce on 0:03:30.325 --> 0:03:32.925 man on the floor. So the Sheriff's office is gonna 0:03:32.925 --> 0:03:36.485 call me, and then I'm gonna check in the radio 0:03:36.565 --> 0:03:38.925 and be in that out. Normally, by the time I 0:03:39.005 --> 0:03:41.845 get there, there's normally an officer that's already made it there, 0:03:42.165 --> 0:03:46.165 or CID guy that's made it there, or both, and 0:03:46.205 --> 0:03:50.485 they're they're they've kind of done there an investigation part. 0:03:51.165 --> 0:03:55.645 I'm normally the last person call for anything nine times 0:03:55.685 --> 0:03:58.005 out of ten. That's that's how it's gonna be the 0:03:58.045 --> 0:04:02.245 cause they like to do their investigation first. When talking 0:04:02.285 --> 0:04:05.245 to Joseph, I get a sense that the relationship between 0:04:05.245 --> 0:04:08.925 the Coigner's office and police departments hasn't always been the best, 0:04:10.045 --> 0:04:12.885 and while he's been the Stone County corner, repairing that 0:04:12.965 --> 0:04:15.725 relationship has been one of his top priorities. This is 0:04:15.725 --> 0:04:18.045 getting a lot better since I've took office. But there's 0:04:18.045 --> 0:04:21.805 not been a good relationship between corners and police officers. 0:04:21.845 --> 0:04:24.805 There's not really. If you was a corner, you thought 0:04:24.845 --> 0:04:27.205 police officers were done. If you was a police officer, 0:04:27.245 --> 0:04:29.325 you thro all the corner. So it was kind of 0:04:29.325 --> 0:04:33.165 that hand. But now it's gotten a lot better with 0:04:33.365 --> 0:04:35.725 me after developed a good relationship with their guys here 0:04:35.885 --> 0:04:39.965 just don't county, and so they're normally there. They take pictures, 0:04:40.205 --> 0:04:43.205 get a lot of information, and I get there. My 0:04:43.485 --> 0:04:47.685 job is I'm kind of the missing pieces kind of guy. 0:04:48.365 --> 0:04:51.485 I look and make sure that anything that they didn't miss, 0:04:52.165 --> 0:04:55.165 I get pretty much the same information they get. Who 0:04:55.285 --> 0:04:59.845 found them, down their normal bedtime schedule, just kind of 0:04:59.885 --> 0:05:04.405 gathering information to my corner report. And then I pronounced 0:05:04.445 --> 0:05:09.085 them is legally dead at that point, and then we 0:05:09.125 --> 0:05:13.685 asked the family from there if if everything lo file 0:05:13.805 --> 0:05:16.965 place affected. When I asked the family, you know which 0:05:17.005 --> 0:05:19.525 funeral home they want to choose, and it goes from 0:05:19.525 --> 0:05:26.285 the natural. That's very easy, and it don't sound like 0:05:26.325 --> 0:05:30.685 a lot. Every death, every death I'm you moved to 0:05:30.725 --> 0:05:35.005 the nursing home. Every death is like that. As a 0:05:35.005 --> 0:05:39.285 homicide until proven otherwise. Every death is looked at as 0:05:39.285 --> 0:05:44.365 a homicide until proven otherwise. But in Jennie's case, Ron 0:05:44.445 --> 0:05:47.365 said that coroner Tom Martin didn't even bring up an 0:05:47.365 --> 0:05:52.085 autopsy until Ron insisted. Tom instead just asked which funeral 0:05:52.125 --> 0:05:56.365 home the family wanted to use. This is odd given 0:05:56.365 --> 0:05:59.445 that the paramedics had already said it was a suspicious death. 0:06:04.405 --> 0:06:10.725 Janie's funeral on September fifteenth. After Janie's death, Ron starts 0:06:10.765 --> 0:06:15.045 recording and taking notes everywhere he goes. The funeral was 0:06:15.085 --> 0:06:19.245 no exception. What have you have? A word of Mars 0:06:20.045 --> 0:06:26.885 that's Saturday came the math at age sixteen. He wrote 0:06:26.925 --> 0:06:30.285 down that five hundred people attended the funeral and said 0:06:30.325 --> 0:06:32.685 that a lot of them looked into the open casket 0:06:32.845 --> 0:06:45.085 and sought injuries on Janie's face and body. We read 0:06:45.085 --> 0:06:49.045 in one of his notebooks more trauma showed up on 0:06:49.085 --> 0:06:51.965 her body, things that were not noticed the night of 0:06:51.965 --> 0:06:55.245 her death. What showed up on Jannie's wrists were what 0:06:55.325 --> 0:06:58.805 appears to be restraining marks and bruises on the back 0:06:58.845 --> 0:07:02.005 of her hands, and a splinter about a quarter of 0:07:02.045 --> 0:07:06.605 an inch long under her right thumbnail. Ron had photos 0:07:06.605 --> 0:07:09.925 taken of Jennie at the funeral to document what he saw. 0:07:10.365 --> 0:07:13.125 When we talked to Janie's sister Crystal and her mom, 0:07:13.205 --> 0:07:17.525 Mona Cristal also remembered additional injuries on Jennie. One thing 0:07:17.525 --> 0:07:21.125 I'll never forget and I was eleven when I saw 0:07:21.205 --> 0:07:24.565 Jannie there the first time in the coffin, and I 0:07:24.765 --> 0:07:27.245 pointed this out to Dad. Jenny had claw marks in 0:07:27.285 --> 0:07:33.085 her face. She had nicks different places that were claw marks. 0:07:33.365 --> 0:07:35.645 You don't get that from falling off of port roofs 0:07:35.685 --> 0:07:37.805 all the way down. She had bruises down it was 0:07:37.885 --> 0:07:41.325 fingernails where Nag had clawd her scratched her face and 0:07:41.405 --> 0:07:44.805 that's cat fine. Oh. Yes. She had a splinter under 0:07:44.845 --> 0:07:48.245 her thumb half an inch long. Also. That was never 0:07:49.245 --> 0:07:55.205 spoken of or addressed in the autopsy, but we saw 0:07:55.245 --> 0:07:58.605 it in the cast at a funeral. I saw it, 0:07:58.765 --> 0:08:01.965 Ronnie saw it. We all commented on it. Why was 0:08:01.965 --> 0:08:07.685 that not in the autopsy. The state's chief medical Examiner, 0:08:08.045 --> 0:08:11.925 doctor Fawmy Malick, performed Janey's autopsy at the State Crime 0:08:12.005 --> 0:08:15.285 Lab in Little Rock on September eleventh, two days after 0:08:15.325 --> 0:08:18.565 she died. The cause of death was listed as an 0:08:18.645 --> 0:08:21.645 upper spinal cord and neck injury from landing on the 0:08:21.645 --> 0:08:24.325 back of the head. The manner of death is listed 0:08:24.365 --> 0:08:29.805 as undetermined. The autopsy mentions a single small bruise bluish red, 0:08:30.125 --> 0:08:33.725 circular in shape with a cleared center on Jane's lower back, 0:08:34.365 --> 0:08:37.205 but says nothing about the injuries Ron says that he 0:08:37.405 --> 0:08:42.365 and others saw at the funeral. Doctor Malick wrote, the 0:08:42.485 --> 0:08:46.045 neck is loose, but no apparent external injury is present. 0:08:47.485 --> 0:08:51.685 To Jane's parents, this doesn't make sense. How could someone 0:08:51.725 --> 0:08:55.445 have such a catastrophic injury falling off a portstep that 0:08:55.565 --> 0:08:59.685 was less than ten inches high. Also, Jane's body was 0:08:59.725 --> 0:09:02.525 clean when it arrived in Little Rock. There was no 0:09:02.645 --> 0:09:05.765 mention of the dirt or debris or any ante sort 0:09:05.765 --> 0:09:10.245 of why her body could have been wet. Today is 0:09:10.525 --> 0:09:15.445 Friday's twenty seventh, nineteen eighty nine. This tape is Ron 0:09:15.485 --> 0:09:18.085 Ward at the Arkansas State Crime Lab in Little Rock 0:09:18.125 --> 0:09:22.205 with his friend Robert on Friday, November twenty seventh, nineteen 0:09:22.245 --> 0:09:27.245 eighty nine. Ron had requested the autopsy report after several 0:09:27.285 --> 0:09:30.405 months of waiting. He said all he received was the 0:09:30.405 --> 0:09:35.005 first few pages determine. Ron heads to Little Rock to 0:09:35.045 --> 0:09:40.165 get the report himself, get help us, get a coffee 0:09:40.205 --> 0:09:45.045 of the roapopture. Well, how are you kneing an autopsy 0:09:45.125 --> 0:09:47.605 report on? He isn't one who needs it. It's w daughter, 0:09:47.685 --> 0:09:53.965 my daughter, okay, And what's your NA award? I'm sorry, 0:09:54.125 --> 0:09:58.085 Ronald Ward Ron. And what's your daughter's fame? Her name 0:09:58.125 --> 0:10:02.325 was Olivia Jane. It was listed I think probably as 0:10:02.365 --> 0:10:05.285 your records as in Janie. When Ron shows up at 0:10:05.325 --> 0:10:08.485 the office, he's told by the receptionist that doctor Malik 0:10:08.565 --> 0:10:10.805 is in the middle of an autopsy elsewhere in the building. 0:10:11.885 --> 0:10:14.445 She motions for him to sit and wait for doctor 0:10:14.445 --> 0:10:17.045 Malick to get back so he can authorize the release 0:10:17.085 --> 0:10:20.845 of the autopsy report. Ron sits in the tight waiting room. 0:10:21.845 --> 0:10:29.365 Then the phone rings, move on and like, okay, I'll go. 0:10:32.845 --> 0:10:34.645 I don't know if you ever talk pay or what? 0:10:34.885 --> 0:10:42.245 Let me kick Yes, come. Doctor Malik invites Ron back 0:10:42.285 --> 0:10:44.885 to his office to explain the autopsy results. I will 0:10:45.045 --> 0:10:51.485 pretend you all to them, to do a lot of 0:10:51.605 --> 0:10:56.685 things for you. Ambo I have for the body. If 0:10:56.725 --> 0:10:59.805 you're left to see if I see it shortly, you don't, 0:10:59.925 --> 0:11:05.245 don't you will see it? Sure? Yeah? Doctor Malick shows 0:11:05.325 --> 0:11:08.005 Ron and photographs and an X ray of Jennie's spine. 0:11:08.125 --> 0:11:14.525 Let's part the junction between the skull and the bone 0:11:14.925 --> 0:11:19.725 then become loose, and the believing was here when she landed. 0:11:20.125 --> 0:11:22.565 The cause of death is an upper spinal cord and 0:11:22.685 --> 0:11:29.205 neck injury. High put extension studn HYGHT extension can snap 0:11:29.285 --> 0:11:33.165 her neck like that. Doctor Mallick clarifies it's a hyper 0:11:33.205 --> 0:11:36.965 extension injury. He says that the next snap back and 0:11:37.005 --> 0:11:40.005 then snap forward with enough force to cause hemorrhaging in 0:11:40.005 --> 0:11:44.685 the upper neck. He says it's severe whiplash and compares 0:11:44.725 --> 0:11:46.725 the injury to one you'd get if you were rear 0:11:46.845 --> 0:11:50.765 ended in a car. When she lived, what would happen? 0:11:50.925 --> 0:11:56.405 Not lucky if she lived? A record with me? Why 0:11:56.525 --> 0:12:00.445 does undertaining Let me explain this to you, because I 0:12:00.525 --> 0:12:03.925 wanted the head for the first hand. Before that, Doctor 0:12:03.965 --> 0:12:07.485 Malick explains why he left. The result is undetermined? Is 0:12:07.565 --> 0:12:15.765 this uh game? As a game? Feeling her own nobody 0:12:16.005 --> 0:12:21.965 touch it could be an extent or that. But if 0:12:21.965 --> 0:12:28.845 somebody just push the ther it can't to change the story. 0:12:31.325 --> 0:12:35.005 Uh As maybe homicide and homicide different. It's a bit 0:12:35.045 --> 0:12:38.285 hard to make out, but here doctor Malick is explaining 0:12:38.445 --> 0:12:41.805 that if someone intended to harm Jenney, that's homicide, but 0:12:41.885 --> 0:12:45.805 there could also be negligence intend to harm her, maybe neighbors, 0:12:45.885 --> 0:12:49.205 and you see what I mean. So he had the 0:12:49.365 --> 0:12:56.445 difference between accident and homicide just a little thin line. 0:12:56.685 --> 0:13:00.365 The difference between accident and homicide is a thin line. 0:13:00.645 --> 0:13:07.765 And because I don't know, I can't U yes, so 0:13:07.925 --> 0:13:12.725 I can't throw it either way. The bottom line is 0:13:13.445 --> 0:13:16.685 he can't rule it either way. He also couldn't tell 0:13:16.765 --> 0:13:20.005 Ron about the missing white pinstriped shirt or why Janie's 0:13:20.005 --> 0:13:22.645 body was wet and covered with sand and dirt. This 0:13:22.885 --> 0:13:27.485 mighty pedipus to show you in order to listen to Roma. 0:13:27.685 --> 0:13:30.765 Here he's saying he doesn't notice any bruising that would 0:13:30.765 --> 0:13:36.205 indicate that someone attacked Jennie. Nobody again seeing and submediate 0:13:38.165 --> 0:13:42.285 the girl landers and had that and snap their neck. 0:13:43.525 --> 0:13:46.525 There are some stretches in the back, as he noted, 0:13:46.565 --> 0:13:53.405 but otherwise no, no, nobody a doctor. Melick seems very 0:13:53.445 --> 0:13:57.005 polite in the tape. He's sympathetic to Ron when Ron 0:13:57.045 --> 0:14:00.605 says he hasn't been getting information from the police. But 0:14:01.685 --> 0:14:06.125 see they haven't told him anything, and he'll ask, I 0:14:06.165 --> 0:14:09.405 mean tell him that he can't, and they say you 0:14:09.445 --> 0:14:12.365 don't need to know that. Well, for me is a 0:14:12.525 --> 0:14:14.765 sorry way, you know, and a way he is a 0:14:14.925 --> 0:14:17.405 father he should he has. Uh, That's why we came 0:14:17.445 --> 0:14:20.085 down here literally, Miss Silver. Let me tell your sense 0:14:20.125 --> 0:14:26.125 against school, the law, the way hit just anything is 0:14:26.125 --> 0:14:30.165 there's some cruel people do as they tell you. The 0:14:30.325 --> 0:14:34.805 uthopic is up confidential, but I'm my father, I don't. 0:14:34.845 --> 0:14:37.685 That's why I do it her if this happened to 0:14:37.725 --> 0:14:39.845 why I would left to know you see what that 0:14:39.965 --> 0:14:41.965 you I do know some people just stick to the 0:14:42.005 --> 0:14:44.245 law and tell the law. But we should be human 0:14:44.325 --> 0:14:49.765 as the child. You know. I know that at that 0:14:49.885 --> 0:14:53.845 funeral home. I know when you saw her she looked 0:14:53.845 --> 0:14:57.485 this way. When I saw her, they had different short arms. 0:14:57.725 --> 0:15:00.485 Ron asked if you could take one of the Autosi photos. 0:15:00.925 --> 0:15:04.725 May may I have this? Doctor Mallick hesitated, but said 0:15:04.765 --> 0:15:11.925 yes you w Later Ron wrote in his notebook that 0:15:11.965 --> 0:15:13.725 what he walked out of the crime lab wod that 0:15:13.805 --> 0:15:17.045 day would become very significant toward helping piece together the 0:15:17.085 --> 0:15:19.925 events of nine nine eighty nine in the death of 0:15:19.925 --> 0:15:24.405 his daughter, sixteen year old Olivia Jane Ward. We'll be 0:15:24.525 --> 0:15:37.525 right back. I'm pouring over autopsy reports trying to find 0:15:37.565 --> 0:15:41.285 similar cases that could explain what happened to Janey. The 0:15:41.285 --> 0:15:44.525 photo doctor Mallet gave to Ron shows a dissection of 0:15:44.605 --> 0:15:48.005 Janey's spinal column. The column is made up of thirty 0:15:48.005 --> 0:15:52.525 three vertebra protecting the spinal cord around the neck. There's 0:15:52.645 --> 0:15:55.005 less space between the bone and the nerves, making it 0:15:55.125 --> 0:15:59.965 much more vulnerable. An arrow points to the injury. Doctor 0:16:00.005 --> 0:16:05.245 Malick examined Janie's stomach. He wrote, the stomach contains ten 0:16:05.285 --> 0:16:09.285 hoursnces of digested food matter, in which tomato particles are encountered. 0:16:09.925 --> 0:16:14.525 No oranges are noted. He mentioned oranges because that's the 0:16:14.605 --> 0:16:17.245 fruit that the party host, Jay had soaked in rubbing 0:16:17.245 --> 0:16:21.285 alcohol for the PGA punch. People at the party saw 0:16:21.365 --> 0:16:24.765 Jane chewing on orange slices, but the contents of the 0:16:24.765 --> 0:16:27.605 stomach were not tested, So if Malach only made a 0:16:27.645 --> 0:16:30.965 visual inspection, it hits me that orange slices soaked in 0:16:31.005 --> 0:16:35.765 red punch would look exactly like tomatoes. He noted that 0:16:35.845 --> 0:16:38.485 it didn't appear that she had any other medical condition 0:16:38.605 --> 0:16:42.725 that would have caused her to drop dead suddenly. Janey's 0:16:42.765 --> 0:16:46.405 blood alcohol level was point zero five, or the equivalent 0:16:46.485 --> 0:16:50.365 of around one shot or glass of beer. No trace 0:16:50.405 --> 0:16:53.685 of drugs was found in her system, which means that 0:16:53.725 --> 0:16:55.845 at least some of the rumors can be put to rest. 0:16:57.165 --> 0:16:59.885 The evidence points to the fact that it wasn't an 0:16:59.925 --> 0:17:04.405 overdose of drugs or drinking that killed Jane. According to 0:17:04.405 --> 0:17:08.405 the rology report, Janney was not pregnant and no blood 0:17:08.485 --> 0:17:11.845 or seamen were found. But there are still so many 0:17:11.885 --> 0:17:16.125 things that are unexplained, like why didn't the crime lab 0:17:16.205 --> 0:17:19.405 test the residue on Jane's body, which Ron insisted was 0:17:19.445 --> 0:17:23.525 from the creek bed. Also, one of the paramedics on 0:17:23.565 --> 0:17:26.885 the scene put a bag around Jannie's hands. This is 0:17:26.925 --> 0:17:29.925 normally done so the material underneath the fingernails can be 0:17:30.005 --> 0:17:33.805 tested later for DNA, but in Janney's case, this was 0:17:33.885 --> 0:17:38.005 never done. This seems to be a huge oversight because 0:17:38.005 --> 0:17:41.765 fingernails can give all kinds of clues. They can point 0:17:41.805 --> 0:17:44.445 to the cause in a natural death case, and they 0:17:44.445 --> 0:17:47.045 can also show if there is DNA from a fight. 0:17:49.565 --> 0:17:52.365 A few weeks after visiting doctor Malick at the crime lab, 0:17:53.005 --> 0:17:55.485 Ron received a copy of his daughter's X rays in 0:17:55.525 --> 0:17:59.605 the mail, but Ron insisted that the x rays were 0:17:59.685 --> 0:18:01.805 not the same ones he saw at the crime lab. 0:18:02.765 --> 0:18:04.645 The X rays looked like they had been tampered with. 0:18:05.645 --> 0:18:09.205 When we met with journalists Mike Masterson and Janie's mom, Mona, 0:18:09.765 --> 0:18:12.965 this was obviously something that still baffles them. The side 0:18:13.085 --> 0:18:15.325 X ray, the one where they blanked it out all 0:18:15.325 --> 0:18:18.085 the way up her neck, which was not the one 0:18:18.125 --> 0:18:19.845 they showed you when you went to the crime lab, 0:18:19.925 --> 0:18:21.885 which she didn't even have the official stamp of the 0:18:21.965 --> 0:18:25.365 crime lab lie in it, so obvious they were tampered with. 0:18:26.045 --> 0:18:28.645 You know, the very area that was supposed to be 0:18:29.805 --> 0:18:33.445 X ray was white it out. You know what when 0:18:33.445 --> 0:18:36.285 you first saw it, because Ronnie dead, he made the statement, 0:18:36.445 --> 0:18:38.885 that's why killed her? Right there it was separated. So 0:18:38.965 --> 0:18:41.125 what was the purpose of an X ray if it's 0:18:41.165 --> 0:18:43.525 all white it out? The lateral X ray shows the 0:18:43.525 --> 0:18:46.485 side of Jannie's skull, but her entire neck is covered 0:18:46.485 --> 0:18:50.165 by a hazy semicircle basically a white blob in the 0:18:50.165 --> 0:18:52.925 bottom part of the X ray film. The crime lab 0:18:53.005 --> 0:18:55.365 seal is also not on this view of the X ray. 0:18:56.845 --> 0:18:59.845 When we asked Mona about doctor Malick, she made her 0:18:59.845 --> 0:19:03.605 feelings clear and he wasn't very smart. You know he 0:19:03.725 --> 0:19:06.885 wasn't smart at all. He was so confident he didn't 0:19:06.925 --> 0:19:10.325 know what he was doing. It was obvious. It was 0:19:10.325 --> 0:19:12.125 so obvious he did not know what he was doing. 0:19:12.765 --> 0:19:15.125 I just wanted to note in case you didn't know this, 0:19:15.845 --> 0:19:19.445 Fammy Malick, he not only watched my sister's case, but 0:19:19.565 --> 0:19:24.045 many many while he was in the Bill Clinton administration 0:19:24.165 --> 0:19:26.245 while he was the governor of the state of Arkansas. 0:19:27.765 --> 0:19:32.085 Fammi Malick's controversial career in the many botched autopsies during 0:19:32.085 --> 0:19:34.925 the years he ran the Arkansas State Crime Lab or 0:19:34.965 --> 0:19:39.085 the stuff of nightmares. By the time doctor Malick performed 0:19:39.085 --> 0:19:42.125 the autopsy on Janey, he'd been working in the crime 0:19:42.205 --> 0:19:45.645 lab for about ten years. At that point, he had 0:19:45.645 --> 0:19:51.205 performed thousands of autopsies. Ron collected articles about doctor Malick. 0:19:52.205 --> 0:19:55.285 One headline from a yellowed article written in nineteen ninety 0:19:55.885 --> 0:19:59.405 accused doctor Malick of lying on the stand, tampering with evidence, 0:19:59.485 --> 0:20:03.365 and manufacturing convictions, and the words wouldn't be the first 0:20:03.405 --> 0:20:07.685 family appalled by doctor Malix's autops the results. Families joined 0:20:07.685 --> 0:20:11.885 together and formed a group called Victims of Malix's Infuriating Testimony. 0:20:12.485 --> 0:20:16.565 The acronym for that group is vomit. The author of 0:20:16.565 --> 0:20:20.605 that article from nineteen ninety was Rod Lorenzen. I asked 0:20:20.645 --> 0:20:24.325 him what made Malix so problematic. He had no oversight 0:20:24.645 --> 0:20:30.485 from state government. His decisions affected things like insurance payouts, 0:20:30.725 --> 0:20:34.725 you know, on life insurance policies. He was in a 0:20:34.765 --> 0:20:40.365 position to do favors for politicians if they needed something 0:20:40.405 --> 0:20:43.245 done in their district, for example, if they needed a 0:20:43.285 --> 0:20:47.165 decision on an autopsy to go a different way. My 0:20:47.245 --> 0:20:51.405 impression was that that would get done, and so he 0:20:51.605 --> 0:20:55.765 just had a lot of power and freedom in how 0:20:55.805 --> 0:20:58.605 he decided cases. You know. That was the one thing. 0:20:58.645 --> 0:21:02.045 This wasn't anybody watching the guy, I don't think. My 0:21:02.125 --> 0:21:05.125 impression was that he was not very good at his job, 0:21:05.165 --> 0:21:09.205 to story, and yet he was there for several years, 0:21:09.205 --> 0:21:12.645 mainly just because there was no ower sight of that position. 0:21:13.165 --> 0:21:16.605 In his article, Rod refers to Malik as a tool 0:21:16.605 --> 0:21:19.405 of the state and points out that in Arkansas at 0:21:19.405 --> 0:21:23.205 the time, the medical examiner held the sole power to 0:21:23.285 --> 0:21:26.845 determine the cause of death. This differs from other states, 0:21:27.125 --> 0:21:29.885 where county coroners also have some input in decisions and 0:21:29.925 --> 0:21:34.565 provide evidence of foul play suspected, but in Arkansas, in 0:21:34.605 --> 0:21:38.925 the late eighties, Malik ran the crime lab. No one 0:21:39.005 --> 0:21:41.805 really knew what happened with the evidence Corners gathered and 0:21:41.845 --> 0:21:44.365 sent to the crime lab and if it was ever 0:21:44.485 --> 0:21:48.525 used in making decisions. Rod told me that while he 0:21:48.565 --> 0:21:51.165 was writing about the crime lab, he reached out to 0:21:51.205 --> 0:21:54.925 doctor Malick multiple times, but that doctor Malik always denied 0:21:54.965 --> 0:21:58.525 requests to speak to media. Then, after Rod wrote his 0:21:58.605 --> 0:22:03.205 pieces about Malik, Malik's attorney threatened to sue him. Rod said, 0:22:03.205 --> 0:22:05.725 when he was writing about the crime lab, he got 0:22:05.765 --> 0:22:09.645 creeped out. Malik's employees were kept on a tight leash 0:22:10.005 --> 0:22:13.125 and afraid of speaking out against him. When I was 0:22:13.165 --> 0:22:15.485 an interview on one of one of the guys that 0:22:15.645 --> 0:22:20.245 worked for Malik, they just called themselves Meathollers. This guy 0:22:20.325 --> 0:22:24.605 told me that in some cases Malik would come into 0:22:24.645 --> 0:22:28.685 the lab and he would know something about, say a 0:22:28.765 --> 0:22:32.205 victim that had come into the lab. And this guy 0:22:32.285 --> 0:22:35.365 told me that Malick would already have his mind made 0:22:35.445 --> 0:22:39.005 up about what the cause of death was gonna be. 0:22:39.605 --> 0:22:43.445 Malix's controversial rulings include the June twenty eighth, nineteen eighty 0:22:43.485 --> 0:22:46.605 five death of Raymond p. Albright, a fifty year old 0:22:46.605 --> 0:22:48.925 man from Mountain home, who was found in his yard 0:22:48.925 --> 0:22:52.765 dead of gunshot wounds. Malik ruled the death of suicide, 0:22:53.565 --> 0:22:56.645 even though Albright had been shot five times in the chest. 0:22:58.765 --> 0:23:01.365 One finding the infamous Boys on the Tracks case in 0:23:01.445 --> 0:23:07.405 Saline County was particularly controversial. On October twenty third, nineteen 0:23:07.445 --> 0:23:11.365 eighty seven, seventeen year old Kevin Ives and sixteen year 0:23:11.365 --> 0:23:14.285 old Don Henry were run over by a train near 0:23:14.325 --> 0:23:18.085 the town of Alexander. Doctor Malick ruled that the boys, 0:23:18.205 --> 0:23:21.205 who were best friends, had been smoking pot and just 0:23:21.245 --> 0:23:24.085 happened to fall asleep on the tracks, but a second 0:23:24.125 --> 0:23:27.365 autopsy indicated that Henry had been stabbed in the back, 0:23:27.885 --> 0:23:30.325 that Ives had been struck on the skull, and that 0:23:30.405 --> 0:23:33.605 both boys probably had been placed on the tracks unconscious, 0:23:34.165 --> 0:23:38.005 maybe already dead. The case would later be linked to 0:23:38.125 --> 0:23:41.205 high level cocaine dealing through an airport in Mina, Arkansas, 0:23:41.805 --> 0:23:47.885 involving state officials at the highest level. Two years after 0:23:47.965 --> 0:23:52.085 Janey died in nineteen ninety one, Malik quit among a 0:23:52.125 --> 0:23:56.285 flurry of allegations that he botched autopsies, and after losing 0:23:56.285 --> 0:24:00.085 the support of then Governor Bill Clinton. He applied for 0:24:00.085 --> 0:24:03.005 a position in Guam, but his employment was put on 0:24:03.085 --> 0:24:05.485 hold after officials there found out about all the contents. 0:24:07.045 --> 0:24:10.965 Malick eventually ended up in Clearwater, Florida. He died in 0:24:11.005 --> 0:24:20.565 August twenty eighteen at the age of eighty five. When 0:24:20.565 --> 0:24:24.005 you ask people in Arkansas about doctor Malick, he's considered 0:24:24.045 --> 0:24:27.765 a pariah in a statewide embarrassment. But when we talked 0:24:27.765 --> 0:24:31.765 with journalist Mike Masterson, he had another perspective on doctor Malick. 0:24:32.565 --> 0:24:35.725 He said he was someone that he once considered a friend. Oh, 0:24:35.765 --> 0:24:37.365 I was going to ask you about I know, you 0:24:37.445 --> 0:24:39.565 told me a little bit about your relationship with Fommy 0:24:39.645 --> 0:24:41.845 and how he was good at his job. But then 0:24:41.845 --> 0:24:44.405 something happened. Yeah, But when he came to Arkansas, he 0:24:44.405 --> 0:24:49.365 replaced a medical examiner named Stephen marx Well. Stephen had 0:24:49.365 --> 0:24:52.725 been canned and I think ended up down in Texas. 0:24:53.285 --> 0:24:57.845 FAMMI started, we became friends. I met him. Pommy started 0:24:57.885 --> 0:25:01.005 telling me about things that he thought, as a journalist 0:25:01.245 --> 0:25:05.845 I should know about involving the medical examiner's office. Well, 0:25:06.165 --> 0:25:09.125 the first one was a girl who had died in 0:25:09.165 --> 0:25:13.285 the Lake Hot Springs. It had been ruled that she drowned. 0:25:14.165 --> 0:25:17.725 He suspected that wasn't true. So I wrote a column 0:25:17.725 --> 0:25:19.965 I'm not called. Back then, I was writing stories. This 0:25:20.045 --> 0:25:22.485 case Mike is describing would end up with the body 0:25:22.525 --> 0:25:25.845 being exhumed and the cause of death change from drowning 0:25:26.005 --> 0:25:28.765 to being shot through the head. And that was just 0:25:28.805 --> 0:25:32.165 the first case that Mike wrote about. Anyway, cases like that, 0:25:32.205 --> 0:25:35.205 there were several, and after they dug up six bodies, 0:25:37.165 --> 0:25:39.765 Bill Clinton said, Okay, we're not going to dig up 0:25:39.805 --> 0:25:43.485 the entire state of Arkansas. Now. I say this only 0:25:43.485 --> 0:25:48.965 because Fomi Malek was at that point struck me very 0:25:49.005 --> 0:25:53.005 much as someone interested in truth and a clean medical 0:25:53.005 --> 0:25:58.445 examiner's office. So another reporter and I after that dug 0:25:58.485 --> 0:26:02.325 into the medical examiner's office and found all kinds of 0:26:03.045 --> 0:26:06.805 stuff wrong with it. Under Stephen Marx Malick seemed to 0:26:06.845 --> 0:26:11.485 be although later in his career he had some pretty 0:26:11.565 --> 0:26:15.045 dark periods until he finally left. During that period, he 0:26:15.085 --> 0:26:17.485 seemed to be trying to help that family, and I 0:26:17.485 --> 0:26:20.805 think he felt for him. He's a father himself. He 0:26:21.365 --> 0:26:23.485 was a smart man. He was from Egypt, but he 0:26:23.525 --> 0:26:27.485 could see the truth this case thinks that I haven't. 0:26:27.725 --> 0:26:31.565 Whatever his motives were, Mike said that doctor Malick inherited 0:26:31.605 --> 0:26:35.205 an already corrupt crime lab, so it's no wonder that 0:26:35.245 --> 0:26:39.445 the Wards would be suspicious of any result. In their eyes, 0:26:39.885 --> 0:26:42.405 Janey's autopsy could be another one that was botched or 0:26:42.445 --> 0:26:48.205 intentionally mishandled to help a political ally. In the years 0:26:48.205 --> 0:26:51.445 that he covered doctor Malick, Rod ended up writing a 0:26:51.485 --> 0:26:56.485 few stories about Janey. I met mister Ward, I guess 0:26:56.605 --> 0:27:01.085