GUILTY MI - Jane Bashara, 56, dies in contract killing, Grosse Pointe Park, 25 Jan 2012 #2

[BetteDavisEyes]

..now why would you say that "Bette" ?

:floorlaugh: The Griem Reaper at his grungiest!!! :floorlaugh: Like something that the mouse dragged in - "Griemzabella"

 

[angelindisguyz]

OMG!!!! ROFL!!!! Again, how can three women marry this guy? He opens his mouth and that alone would make you run.

 

[tiredblondy]

..now why would you say that "Bette" ?

:what: Was that a picture taken of him leaving the dungeon?

 

[lauriej]

http://www.freep.com/article/201203...uld-be-lost-as-Jane-Bashara-s-clothes-missing

Key evidence could be lost as Jane Bashara's clothes missing

"We received no clothing from the victim's body from the medical examiner" or police, Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division Director John Collins said Thursday. "There were items in the car that were submitted, but nothing that she was wearing."

"This is important. Very, very important," said Dr. Werner Spitz, former Wayne County medical examiner and coauthor on the standard textbook for medical-legal investigations of death.

Bob Bashara's attorney, David Griem, said his client never got the clothing.

"DNA and other evidence that could have pointed to the killer and that could have exonerated Bob Bashara has now been lost," Griem said.

The loss of clothing is "devastating news for the family," Griem said. "This is a significant roadblock in the search for truth and justice for Jane Bashara."

 

[lauriej]

http://www.freep.com/article/201203...uld-be-lost-as-Jane-Bashara-s-clothes-missing

Spitz called the loss of the clothing "a huge thing." He said clothing often picks up threads from an attacker's clothing, hair, body fluids and other clues, "or a torn button or a million other things."

In criminal cases, Spitz's textbook says, the chain of custody for clothing "as with all evidence must be maintained at all times. A signed receipt listing each item should be obtained from the police officer who takes the clothes to the crime laboratory."

"Sometimes the value of a detailed examination of the clothing may exceed that of the autopsy," Spitz writes.

University of Michigan law professor Len Niehoff, who teaches evidence, said the loss of the clothing is "extraordinarily troublesome."

"If you don't have the clothing, you don't know what was on it, and you don't know what evidence was lost," Niehoff said.

Keeping track of a victim's clothing is "pretty elementary evidence practice," Niehoff said. "It raises questions about the other aspects of the police work."

 

[nursebeeme]

According to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office, an autopsy was conducted Jan. 26. Records show Bashara's body and clothing were released the next day to the A.H. Peters Funeral Home in Grosse Pointe Woods, which handled the visitation and cremation. According to the office, her clothing included black stretch pants, a greenish-blue blouse, house shoes and underwear.

http://www.freep.com/article/201203...idence?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE

:thud:

well at least we know what she was wearing now.... I cannot believe this!

 

[nursebeeme]

An email seeking comment was sent Friday morning to a spokeswoman with the Wayne County prosecutor's office, which on Monday charged handyman Joe Gentz in Bashara's death.
Of the possible missing clothing, Gentz's lawyer Susan Reed said: "That shouldn't happen."

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2012/03/report_jane_basharas_clothes_m.html

 

[stilettos]

http://www.freep.com/article/201203...uld-be-lost-as-Jane-Bashara-s-clothes-missing

Key evidence could be lost as Jane Bashara's clothes missing

OH CRAP. lease: Do not let him get away with this!!:banghead:

 

[nursebeeme]

this is wrong on so many levels...

1) level one: LE

2) level two: ME

3) level three: the funeral home

anic:


eta: I bet some heads will roll because of this :moo:

 

[nursebeeme]

Speaking live on WWJ Newsradio 950, David Griem, attorney for Bob Bashara — Jane Bashara’s husband — said private investigators hired by the family picked up rumors of the missing clothing about a week ago.“They went to the funeral home and the director of the funeral home refused to answer their questions,” Griem said — adding that he’s not sure what is to blame for the loss of evidence.

Investigators are now trying to figure out exactly what happened to that clothing, or if it even still exists.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/03/09/key-evidence-missing-in-jane-bashara-murder-investigation/


and another snip:

(is this why they went back to the house a second time???)

Langton and Griem both said the loss of evidence could be devastating to the criminal case against Gentz.

“The defense could make a motion to throw the case out if there isn’t substantial evidence and that would be a real tragedy here. We’ll have to see if police have other evidence and I suspect that that’s why police went back to the Bashara house to see if they could possibly find that DNA evidence,” said Langton.

laaawd have mercy.....

 

[stilettos]

This is horrible. Just horrible. :maddening:

 

[mrsu]

http://www.freep.com/article/201203...idence?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE

Phillip Potter, an A.H. Peters funeral director, signed for the body and clothing. He said Thursday that he didn't remember what was done with the clothing. The funeral home's usual practice is to discard soiled or bloodstained clothing in the trash rather than return it to the family, Potter said.

WHAT? Does this seem odd to anyone else? Discard the clothing in the trash? In a murder investigation? You would think at the very least the clothing would be handed over to investigators immediately after removal from the victim and let LE decide what to do with it. Surely the funeral home knew this case was high profile. HOW does this happen? I do not understand??

Call me skeptical but I want to know who Bob knows at that funeral home and what connections he has there!

Also, can someone answer 2 questions for me:

1. Are autopsies usually done in the actual funeral homes or does the ME have a different location and then they are transferred to funeral homes once the autopsy is completed? Do ME's work for funeral homes?

2. I think I remember Bob wanted Jane cremated. Did this ever happen or did she have a normal burial? Sorry, I can't recall.

 

[nursebeeme]

WHAT? Does this seem odd to anyone else? Discard the clothing in the trash? In a murder investigation? You would think at the very least the clothing would be handed over to investigators immediately after removal from the victim and let LE decide what to do with it. Surely the funeral home knew this case was high profile. HOW does this happen? I do not understand??

Call me skeptical but I want to know who Bob knows at that funeral home and what connections he has there!

Also, can someone answer 2 questions for me:

1. Are autopsies usually done in the actual funeral homes or does the ME have a different location and then they are transferred to funeral homes once the autopsy is completed? Do ME's work for funeral homes?

2. I think I remember Bob wanted Jane cremated. Did this ever happen or did she have a normal burial? Sorry, I can't recall.

one of the links upstream say she was cremated.

what bothers me the most is that there was a CHAIN of people who should have been responsible and professional enough to prevent this from happening...

First LE didn't (obviously) do the right thing with the clothes... so they go to the ME (who was the one who ruled it a homicide and obviously didn't do the right thing with the clothing.. and I believe he or she would have removed the clothing to do the autopsy if it wasn't already removed)... and than you have the funeral home who had to have heard it was a high profile case of murder (it is literally all over the news here including the radio... I am about an hour give or take from the D) not "remember" what they did with the clothing. Really?

Hope people have their duct tape ready to put their heads back on.... because lots of heads are gonna roll over this obvious loss of the "chain of custody" of the clothing that was directly connected to a homicide.

:moo::moo::moo:

 

[TracyLynnS]

In the case of an obvious murder, isn't the ME's office considered part of the LE end of things? And even if they weren't, why would a ME's office give evidence in a murder to anyone (except the authorities) including a funeral home?

A funeral home isn't officially included in any part of a legal process. They just prepare the body for viewing and handle the burial/cremation arrangements. Unlike the ME office, who is actually responsible for determining the cause of death, which in Jane's case, was MURDER!

I'm with mrsu. I think bb may know someone at the funeral home. He chose it for a reason....

 

[nursebeeme]

In the case of an obvious murder, isn't the ME's office considered part of the LE end of things? And even if they weren't, why would a ME's office give evidence in a murder to anyone, including a funeral home?

A funeral home isn't officially included in any part of a legal process. They just prepare the body for viewing and handle the burial/cremation arrangements. Unlike the ME office, who is actually responsible for determining the cause of death, which in Jane's case, was MURDER!

I'm with mrsu. I think bb may know someone at the funeral home. He chose it for a reason....

bbm... oh I completely agree!

I just meant that say you are the director of a funeral home and you get the remains of a homicide victim and her clothing... would you maybe call to check before you threw them out?

I still cannot understand how it got out of the hands of LE and THAN the ME! Incredible!

 

[nursebeeme]

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...ody-is-missing/-/1719314/9266928/-/6ymwg0z/-/

 

[angelindisguyz]

I thought that they left her in position in the SUV so that they could examine everything as she was left. When her body was removed from the SUV and an autopsy done, wouldn't you think the clothes would be bagged and then sent to the crime lab ASAP??? I just don't see how this could of been overlooked by all the professional people involved!!! bb must be loving this!! God help us on this!!!

 

[nursebeeme]

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/report:-jane-bashara's-clothes-may-be-missing-20120309

 

[mrsu]

Forgive my ignorance here, but are people normally transferred to funeral homes in the nude? I would think that obviously the ME would have to remove all clothing to complete the autopsy and would bag the clothing then? Surely they don't put the clothing back on the corpse do they? Or maybe they do to maintain integrity?? Anybody know?

If ME remove the clothing, I don't see why it would even need to go to the funeral home.

 

[TracyLynnS]

Also, can someone answer 2 questions for me:

1. Are autopsies usually done in the actual funeral homes or does the ME have a different location and then they are transferred to funeral homes once the autopsy is completed? Do ME's work for funeral homes?

<snip>

Hopefully someone with more knowledge that I have will be able to answer. All I know is things I've read over the years.

In Jane's specific case, her autopsy would have been handled by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. It's completely separate from any funeral home. (http://www.co.wayne.mi.us/hhs_meo.htm ) This is what they say about themselves: The purpose of the Medical Examiner's Office is to provide forensic death investigations, autopsy, and toxicological services to the general public and medico-legal community so they can have documented, timely, and accurate cause and manner of death.

I would assume that police would have been directly involved with this office regarding Jane's death and should have been given the evidence found on/with her body.

In smaller towns, a local dr/ME may go to the funeral home to conduct an autopsy simply because they are already equipped for handling a body and/or the area is so small and remote, they can't justify having a dedicated ME office. I've heard of that happening mostly in cases from the 80s or earlier, tho. In Wayne County, which is highly populated and includes Detroit, there's no way this could be done. Their volume is so high, they have to have a dedicated facility.

My husband has a client who is a doctor in a very small farming community in south MI. I've met him and visited at his home. He and his family are very nice folks. He acts as the local medical examiner and, IIRC, has done some smaller ME type work at a local funeral home, but, and I'm assuming the following, I would think that if he came across an obvious murder, he'd call the State Police or whatever legal governing body would be appropriate so a complete investigation, including a full autopsy, could be done.

I've been following a cold case murder for over 20 years (Keith Warren) where the clothes went missing. The victim was murdered but the police picked a funeral home and sent the body there instead of to the ME office. His body was not examined and was immediately embalmed. The family was not given the victim's clothing because the body had been so decomposed, the clothes had to be destroyed. Years later, they found out that his body was found not even wearing his own clothes, his body was in very good condition and not decomposed at all, and they had to have him exhumed to finally have an autopsy conducted. Among people who discuss that case, we're divided between deliberate cover up or police incompetence.

Now that the clothing is missing in Jane's case, I can't decide between those two. Is it a cover up involving bb's friends in high places, or are the officials so incompetent that they would lose evidence in a murder case that was one of the most high profile I've ever seen here. I don't even watch the local news and you still just can't get away from how highly publicized this has been in the area. Every one of the people directly involved had to know how big this was when they were processing all the evidence they "lost".