Rape kit performed during autopsy ...

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Autopsy Service

MEDICAL EXAMINER JURISDICTION: (Page 4 MIM#406) The county medical examiner is an officer of the State of North Carolina. The medical examiner's primary purpose is to detect, analyze, and document the medical aspects of certain types of deaths. The following types of deaths in North Carolina must be reported to a Medical Examiner: homicide; suicide; accident; trauma; disaster; violence; unknown, unnatural or suspicious circumstances; in police custody, jail or prison; poisoning or suspicion of poisoning; public health hazard (such as acute contagious disease or epidemic); deaths during surgical or anesthetic procedure; sudden unexpected deaths that are not reasonably related to known previous disease; deaths without medical attendance; and migrant agricultural workers and their dependents. The Medical Examiner has discretion as to whether a given death is within their jurisdiction. However, every death that is due to or might reasonably have been due to a violent or traumatic injury or accident, is to be investigated by the Medical Examiner. This includes all murders, suicides, accidents, poisonings, etc. Note that every death due to a violent cause is to be investigated, regardless of the duration of survival (including hospitalization) of the decedent after injury. If there is any question as to whether a case should be investigated by the Medical Examiner, call the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) for consultation at 1-800-672-7024.

AUTOPSY REPORTS: Autopsy reports will be issued within the following timeframes. Reports will be available on the Clinical Workstation after completion.

Provisional Autopsy Report - 2 Work Days
Final Autopsy Report - 30-60 Days

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

NC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner

The ME must make a record of his/her findings and of the circumstances of the death on the "Report of Investigation" form and on such diagrams, etc., as may be needed to completely document the case. These records are to be sent to the OCME within 14 days of notification of the death. The ME should keep a copy of all documents for his/her records.

The ME Report of Investigation and the autopsy report once received and reviewed at the OCME are public records.

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This is just a complete guess but it sounds to me like if there were any visible injuries that would have prompted the ME to do a rape kit, those injuries would have to have been noted on the diagram. As we know, nothing of the type was noted.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

We might be able to answer this question with the information we already have.

The autopsy report itself states the following:

Additional Procedures:
Radiographs - None
Microbiology - None
Chemistry - None
Evidence collected - The t shirt is retained along with a sexual assault kit that includes a blood sample.
Personal Effects Disposition - The remainder of the clothing and the personal effects will be released with the body.

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The fact that the sexual assault kit is listed under additional procedures leads me to believe that it is not a standard part of the autopsy.

 

[SouthEastSleuth]

It also occurs to me, and this is speculative for sure, that IF the ME had any concerns that Janet had been sexually assaulted, etc., then wouldn't they have kept ALL of her clothing, not just the t-shirt? It would seem that all of a victim's clothing could be a critical part of the "rape kit" evidence... Again, just thinking out loud, and this could have no basis whatsoever.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

I wonder if it's possible that someone close to the investigation knew that a rape kit had been done, and so that person subsequently developed a story about rape being the possible motive?

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Did we ever find out if a rape kit is standard in Durham? And how about the blood test that was performed on Janet that showed that she was pregnant. Is that standard?

 

[RainbowsAndGumdrops]

I thought that the pregnancy was determined by the changes in the female organs. Isn't that what the autopsy said?

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

The article referenced in this old post is no longer available but the pertinent part was contained in this post. From an article in the Herald Sun:

"A blood test discovered that she was in an early stage of pregnancy."

Here's a link to the original post:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Media Links Only Please, No Discussion

 

[SouthEastSleuth]

I wonder if it's possible that someone close to the investigation knew that a rape kit had been done, and so that person subsequently developed a story about rape being the possible motive?

You know, I think this is still a really good question. I mean unless doing a rape kit and pregnancy test are STANDARD, then SOMETHING would have motivated the ME to do these tests... I guess I could see, perhaps, that the preg test MIGHT be standard, but a rape kit? Seems like that would ONLY be done if there was evidence pointing in that direction?

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

And why is it so difficult to find information on standard procedure??? :banghead:

 

[BirdHunter]

You know, I think this is still a really good question. I mean unless doing a rape kit and pregnancy test are STANDARD, then SOMETHING would have motivated the ME to do these tests... I guess I could see, perhaps, that the preg test MIGHT be standard, but a rape kit? Seems like that would ONLY be done if there was evidence pointing in that direction?

You know, I have heard just the opposite. That the rape kit is automatic as to rule out that as a motive for the murder. The pregnancy test is only done if the victim appears to be pregnant or there is some reason for LE to believe that this might be possible. For example, if someone told them she was.

 

[ewwwinteresting]

You know, I have heard just the opposite. That the rape kit is automatic as to rule out that as a motive for the murder. The pregnancy test is only done if the victim appears to be pregnant or there is some reason for LE to believe that this might be possible. For example, if someone told them she was.

:waitasec: Hmmm....who would have known Janet was pregnant when she was not that far along....hmmm......maybe Mr. :loser: ?

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

That IS interesting! I wish we could know for sure. Because if someone gave the ME a reason to check for pregnancy, then that would solve the question about whether or not anyone knew that Janet was pregnant. If we could find something to tell us what the standard tests are and pregnancy testing is NOT on that list, then clearly Janet knew she was pregnant, and she told SOMEONE about it. If I'm not mistaken, in the one interview that the family did a while back, it was stated that the family was shocked when they heard - they had had no idea that she was pregnant. So it would have had to be someone other than Janet's family that led the investigators to look for pregnancy.

 

[Jenifred]

If I'm not mistaken, in the one interview that the family did a while back, it was stated that the family was shocked when they heard - they had had no idea that she was pregnant. So it would have had to be someone other than Janet's family that led the investigators to look for pregnancy.

So that obviously leaves us with only a few options--friends (co-workers, maybe that's why they were so concerned) or (let's all say it together) RAVEN!!

Just think of the implications if Raven knew she was pregnant. Those would be pretty serious, don't you think?

 

[RainbowsAndGumdrops]

Does anyone here have a copy of the autopsy report. I deleted the copy I had because it was just plain disturbing to read about how someone dies. I would like a copy again to check some facts about a lack of blood pooling around the heart and the pregnancy. I tried to find it online again today without success. I would like to double check my facts, but I would swear up and down that when doing the autopsy, there were physical changes in Janet's body noted that indicated that she was pregnant. I do not recall the autopsy stating a blood test was done to confirm this. I also do not recall it being listed in the evidence collected. Am I saying a blood test wasn't done, no. But I am saying that I believe that the autopsy gave them the reason to believe that she was pregnant. Noone would have had to mention a thing.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

I'm sorry R&G. Your recollections are just plain incorrect. There were no physical changes to indicate that Janet was pregnant. It was indeed a blood test that discovered it. I do have the autopsy report but I have it saved to my hard drive and not in a format that can be posted. To be honest, I wouldn't post it even if I could out of respect for the family. But if you check around the forum, everything you need is here. We had some lengthy posts about the type of test that was performed, what can be inferred from it, and so on. We also have listed in several locations what was noted about Janet's uterus. Hope this helps.

ETA: This thread has some info. Post #8 is a post that I put together, mentioning what was stated about Janet's uterus along with some information from WebMD:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - Did Raven know Janet was pregnant?

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

R&G, here's a link to an online form to request the autopsy report:

NC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner

Unfortunately, I don't know how much help it will be as many of us that requested the report this way still have not received it. Your best bet might have been to hold on to that copy you had on your computer. Those of us that had a copy were extremely fortunate to have gotten our hands on it in the first place. In many cases, that report isn't available at this stage of the game.

Well, hopefully the link above can help.

 

[RainbowsAndGumdrops]

Thanks JerseyGirl. Without having to find a copy of the autopsy report, your post #8 that you referenced above did include the information that I was looking for. Now I just have to sit here and go Hmmm...

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

You're welcome. Please feel free to let us know your impressions. That part of this case is very intriguing to me, and I'd love to hear what other people think.

 

[SouthEastSleuth]

I know this info is elsewhere, but in light of this discussion, I thought it might be useful to quote the ME report, regarding pregnancy, etc., here as well:


"Reproductive tract: The uterus is unremarkable. The ovaries are unremarkable."

...and then later:

"A postmortem beta HCG shows that the decedent was pregnant at the time of death." (The "toxicology report" notes simply that there were two blood specimens taken postmortem, one from the aorta and one from the vena cava.)