I didn't read the article the same way you did.
My understanding is that the medical examiner's office knows how Hannah died, but will only release that it was a homicide. They are cooperating with authorities and not releasing details to the public. The article in the Washington Post implies that they simply aren't telling what they know:
"Frank Battle, an administrator in the medical examiner’s office, said Tuesday morning that investigators have made a determination of how Graham died but withheld the information at the request of law enforcement agencies."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...10156c-6f37-11e4-893f-86bd390a3340_story.html[/Q
My understanding is that the medical examiner's office knows how Hannah died,
BBM
How Hannah died is being confused with what caused her death IMO. HOW relates to the circumstances surrounding her death or the manner; and cause is WHAT the physiological mechanism that ended her life.
I gather everyone is inferring that LE knows the cause of death from the second paragraph? I can see your interpretation now, but this paragraph is misleading and ambiguous at best, so I am sticking with with the really clear info that has been established repeatedly in this article. LE has ruled her manner of death a homicide, but the cause of death is "undetermined".
The chief medical examiner’s office in Richmond determined the cause of Graham’s death to be “homicidal violence” but did not specify what killed her. It is the first time that Graham’s death has officially been called a homicide.
First, "homicidal violence" cannot be a cause of death. Again the homicidal violence refers to the manner or HOW she died. I think we are taking the article writer's point of view and seeing it as the ME's words. The author of the article is saying they seem to know more than they are letting on; this assumes they know what killed her but are not specifying what that is.
I see it as something else entirely for several reasons but the clearest one is that if they knew her cause of death or needed more testing or time to determine it would have a "pending" status, not be ruled as "undetermined".
From Virginia Dept of Health's ME FAQ page:
What does it mean when a case “pending”? Death certificates are deemed to be pending when laboratory studies or investigations are needed to determine the cause and manner of death. Unfortunately, a time frame for when a specific case will be completed cannot be established. The circumstances of cases differ and each case is handled independently. Depending on circumstances, some cases can take more than 12 weeks to complete.
http://www.vdh.state.va.us/medExam/FriendsFamilyFAQ.htm
They most likely have a time limit on the pending status; especially if they want to bring the case to trial. I could be wrong on all this, and I see how you have interpreted it differently, I just am not convinced based on this particular article.