Franklin County Coroner Brian Langdon knew immediately when he saw Richard Matt that he could declare the fugitive dead.
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It was 10:55 p.m. when Langdon made the actual declaration of death, having been escorted through the darkness by authorities to where Matt's body lay on the ground in an area of "extremely thick" woods.
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The criminal's face was intact, Langdon said, but "it was very evident that he was deceased," so no further examination was needed.
Autopsy results showed that Matt died of three gunshot wounds to the head. His lower extremities also showed numerous bug bites and blisters.
Langdon is a nurse at the Alice Center in Malone, so he does have a medical background.
Matt was wearing heavy work boots, dark-colored camouflage pants and a dark-green summer jacket, Langdon said.
"Everything was very dark, the forest colors," the coroner said. "He was well dressed to be very camouflaged in the woods.
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The coroner returned early the next morning for the ride to Albany Medical Center, where the autopsy was to be performed.
"Being that this is a major incident, my responsibility is to protect the evidence until the proper postmortem."
He and police officers were present for the four-hour autopsy, watching as tissue and foreign matter was extracted as evidence.
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Matt's body was at Alice Hyde Medical Center on Monday, awaiting burial decisions.
