18 Tiny Deaths, page 30
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MULTIMEDIA
Of Dolls and Murder (2012, Susan Marks director)
Murder in a Nutshell (in production, Susan Marks director)
Mystery Street (1950, John Sturges director)
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
National Association of Medical Examiners (http://thename.org)
American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (https://www.abmdi.org/)
International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (https://www.theiacme.com)
National Institute of Standards and Technology Forensic Science Standards Board (https://www.nist.gov/topics/forensic-science/forensic-science-standards-board)
Scientific Working Group for Medicolegal Death Investigation (https://www.swgmdi.org/)
American Academy of Forensic Science (https://www.aafs.org)
Harvard Associates in Police Science (https://harvardpolicescience.org/)
REPORTS AND PAPERS
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Coroner/Medical Examiner Laws, by State. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016. https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/topic/coroner.html.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Death Investigation Systems. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015. https//www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/coroner/death.html.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Investigations and Autopsies. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015. https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/coroner/investigations.html.
Collins, K. A. “The Future of the Forensic Pathology Workforce.” Academic Forensic Pathology 5, no. 4 (2015): 526–33.
Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community, National Research Council. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward Washington, DC: National Research Council, 2009. www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228091.pdf.
Hanzlick, Randy. “The Conversion of Coroner Systems to Medical Examiner Systems in the United States.” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 28, no. 4 (December 2007): 279–83.
Hanzlick, Randy, and D. Combs. “Medical Examiner and Coroner Systems.” Journal of the American Medical Association 279, no. 11 (March 18, 1998): 870–74.
Hanzlick, Randy. An Overview of Medical Examiner/Coroner Systems in the United States Washington, DC: National Academies: Forensic Science Needs Committee. https://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/pgasite/documents/webpage/pga_049924.pdf.
Hickman, Matthew J., Kristen A. Hughes, and Kevin J. Strom. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: Medical Examiners and Coroners’ Offices, 2004. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/meco04.pdf.
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee for the Workshop on the Medicolegal Death Investigation System. Medicolegal Death Investigation System: Workshop Summary. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2003. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221919/.
National Institute of Justice. Death Investigation: A Guide for the Scene Investigator. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, June 2011. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/234457.pdf.
National Institute of Justice. Status and Needs of Forensic Science Service Providers: A Report to Congress. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 2004. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/213420.pdf.
Schultz, Oscar T., and Edmund Morris Morgan. The Coroner and the Medical Examiner. Bulletin No. 64. Washington, DC: National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, 1928.
LEGAL MEDICINE AND THE NUTSHELL STUDIES
Eckert, Jack (curator). “Corpus Delicti: The Doctor as Detective.” Center for the History of Medicine at Countway Library, 2016. https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/corpus-delicti.
“Inside the ‘Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death’—360 VR.” Smithsonian American Art Museum. https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/nutshells/inside.
May Botz, Corinne. The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. New York: Monacelli Press, 2004.
“The Nutshell Studies.” 99 Percent Invisible podcast, episode 165, May 19, 2015. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-nutshell-studies.
WORKS BY MEDICAL EXAMINERS AND CORONERS
Baden, Michael. Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner. New York: Random House, 1989.
Bass, William, and Jon Jefferson. Death’s Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2003.
Bateson, John. The Education of a Coroner: Lessons in Investigating Death. New York: Scribner, 2017.
Blum, Deborah. The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. New York: Penguin Press, 2010.
Cataldie, Louis. Coroner’s Journal: Forensics and the Art of Stalking Death. New York: Berkley Books, 2007.
Cumberland, Gary. My Life with Death: Memoirs of a Journeyman Medical Examiner. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2015.
DiMaio, Vincent J. M., and Ron Franscell. Morgue: A Life in Death. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2016.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. “Death Investigations.” HBO, May 19, 2019. https://youtu.be/hnoMsftQPY8.
Maples, William R., and Michael Browning. Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist. New York: Broadway Books, 1995.
McCrery, Nigel. Silent Witnesses: A History of Forensic Science. London: Random House, 2013.
Melinek, Judith, and T. J. Mitchell. Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner. New York: Scribner, 2014.
Noguchi, Thomas T., and Joseph DiMona. Coroner. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.
Ribowsky, Shiya, and Tom Shachtman. Dead Center: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Largest Medical Examiner’s Office. New York: William Morrow, 2006.
Zugibe, Frederick, and David L. Carroll. Dissecting Death: Secrets of a Medical Examiner. New York: Broadway Books, 2005.
OTHER BOOKS
Boos, William F. The Poisoner’s Trail. New York: Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1939.
Frankfurter, Felix. The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti: A Critical Analysis for Lawyers and Laymen. Buffalo, NY: Little, Brown & Co., 1927.
Gardner, Erle Stanley. The Court of Last Resort. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1952.
Jentzen, Jeffrey. Death Investigation in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Larson, Erik. Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. New York: Crown, 2003.
Puleo, Stephen. Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. Boston: Beacon Press, 2003.
Spears, Timothy B. Chicago Dreaming: Midwesterners and the City, 1871–1919. University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Tejada, Susan. In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti: Double Lives, Troubled Times, and the Massachusetts Murder Case That Shook the World. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2012.
Tyre, William H. Chicago’s Historic Prairie Avenue. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2008.
Watson, Bruce. Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind. New York: Viking Adult 2007.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The undertaking of a project like this isn’t done alone. One name is on the cover, but many people were involved to make this happen. Some provided feedback or encouragement, while others helped in more substantial ways. I am thankful for all of it.
Several individuals shared documents and other material produced in the course of their own work. I am particularly grateful to documentary filmmakers Susan Marks and Virginia Ryker and curator Katie Gagnon for their generosity.
This book could not have been completed without the cooperation and assistance of William Tyre, executive director and curator of the Glessner House museum. Tyre allowed exclusive access to the Glessner papers, without which this book would not be possible, and patiently answered countless questions. During my time at the museum, Gwen Carrion was graciously welcoming. I also enjoyed meeting Kathy Cunningham, who shared her enthusiasm for the Glessners. Tyre and the museum’s interns have done commendable work to document the lives of the Glessner family and bring that material to the public. Joan Stinton and Cray Kennedy organized and cataloged Frances Glessner Lee’s papers. The museum’s blog, Story of a House, has been an invaluable resource and is fascinating reading about life during Prairie Avenue’s heyday.
Dominic Hall, Jack Eckert, and Jessica Murphy of the Center for the History of Medicine in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard were helpful and accommodating during my research. Eckert curated an online exhibit, Corpus Delicti: The Doctor as Detective, that is very informative.
I am indebted to the staff at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, especially conservator Ariel O’Çonnor, who revealed so much that was previously unknown about the Nutshell Studies. O’Connor was assisted by Gregory Bailey, Constance Stromberg, and Haddon Dean. I also want to thank Nora Atkinson, Scott Rosenfeld, Dave DeAnna, Sean White, and many others for their work on the exhibition of the Nutshell Studies.
I’m grateful for the assistance of New Hampshire State Archivist Brian Nelson Burford, Helen Conger of Case Western University Archives, Lee Hiltzik of the Rockefeller Archive Center, Dale Wilkins of the Temecula Valley Museum, Clare Brown of the Bethlehem Heritage Society, Nigel Manley of The Rocks, Sandra L. Fox of the Navy Department Library, Denise McNally of the National Association of Medical Examiners, Jane Warren of the American Board of Pathology, Cheryl Irmiter of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, Harvard Associates in Police Science, the Maryland Medico-Legal Foundation, and Dr. Kim Collins. Stacy Dorsey and Sruti Basu provided editorial assistance. Thanks also to my brother, David Goldfarb, for feedback and advice.
It’s been an honor to befriend many members of the Glessner/Lee family: John Maxim Lee, Percy Lee Langstaff, Lee M. Langstaff, Virginia Lee, Gail Batchelder, Paula Batchelder, Liz Carter, and many others. Getting to know the wonderful extended Glessner/Lee family has been an unexpected reward.
I’m grateful for the support and encouragement of many friends and colleagues: Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, Kathy and Ed Rusen, Sarah Archibald, Dave Mastric, Nick Kolakowski, Tim Friend, Katie Horton, Meg Fairfax Fielding, Maria Stainer, David Rivers, Risa Reyes, Ernie Gambone, Larry Goldfarb, Rafael Alvarez, and the members of the Aging Newspaperman’s Club and the Ladies Auxiliary.
It’s my privilege to work with a group of people who rarely receive public recognition for the important tasks they perform. They are dedicated professionals, good people interested in nothing but the truth and the best interests of decedents. Each has, in their way, shaped and informed my understanding of forensic science.
Drs. Mary Ripple, Pamela Southall, Zabiullah Ali, Carol Allan, Russell Alexander, Patricia Aronica, Melissa Brassell, Stephanie Dean, Pamela Ferreira, Theodore King, Ling Li, J. Laron Locke, John Stash, Jack Titus, and Donna Vincenti. Dr. Nikki Mourtzinos deserves special thanks for answering questions about forensic pathology.
I learned a lot on the job from Det. Sgt. Edward Wilson of the Baltimore City Police Department. Wilson is among the most proficient and skilled fingerprinters in the country. Genuine, decent, always good with a story, Wilson personifies the everyday dedication at the OCME.
Special thank you for all the help from Eleanor Thomas, who has coordinated the Francis Glessner Lee Seminar in Homicide Investigation for many years. I am particularly grateful for the friendship and assistance of Jerry Dziecichowicz, who assigns the Nutshell Studies during the homicide seminar and keeps the secret solutions under lock and key.
I wish to thank the secretaries and clerks who picked up the slack in my absences: Amber Conway, Sandra Dornon, Tiffinney Green, Marlene Groom, Angela Jones, Sharon Robinson, and Coriann Self. Especially Linda Thomas, who always has my back.
Forensic investigators past and present have been close colleagues. They are serious, well-trained, and dedicated professionals who have taught me a lot. Kristine Carder, Randolph Dailey, Dawn Epperson, Bethany Miller, Melinda FitzGerald, David Foehner, Stacy Groft, Aaron Hearn, Saundra Hensley, Stephanie Kimmel, Christina Rzepecki Leonard, Gray Maggard, Courtney Manzo, Anthony McCaffity, Joseph Mullin, Brittany Munro, Keith Opher, Charlotte Rose Noranbrook, Stephanie Rollins, Bryant Smith, and Kimberly Winston. People who work in the toxicology and histology labs include Abraham Tsadik, Saffia Ahmed-Sakinedzad, Andra Poston, Xiang Zhang, Cindy Chapman, and Angela Dean.
The hardest working and most underpaid at the medical examiner’s office are the autopsy technicians. Autopsy techs don’t get thanked often enough for the job that they do, so let me thank them: Mario Alston, Darrolyn Butler, Ricardo Diggs, Larry Hardy, Leroy Jones, Curtis Jordan, Jessika Logan, Robert Mills, Mozelle Osborne, and Raymond Zimmerman.
Also: Tom Brown, Mike Eagle, Rebecca Jufer Phipps, Dawn Zulauf, Donnell McCollough, Brian Tannenbaum, William Spencer-Strong, Dr. Juan Troncoso, William Rodriguez, Dr. Warren Tewes, Craig Robinson, Barbara Haughey, Samara Simmorins, Ricky Jacobson, David Koch, Stoney Burke, and Dustin Saulsbury. Tim Bittner deserves special mention for his assistance bringing the Nutshell Studies back home after the Renwick Gallery exhibit, and Albert Kaniasty for being a fan.
I am grateful for the support of my boss, Dr. David R. Fowler. Every day at work is a seminar. I have learned much from Dr. Fowler about forensic science, governance and the law, integrity in the search for truth, running a busy forensic medical center at the top of its game, and many other things. I can’t thank him enough for allowing me the flexibility to pursue this project and for taking the time to answer questions and provide information and resources. Dr. Fowler is the best boss anybody could hope for.
I’m fortunate to be represented by Tamar Rydzinski, who worked with me very patiently until I got it right. She is a fantastic agent, and I am grateful to UMBC friend Bryan Denson for the introduction. I owe a debt of gratitude to Sourcebooks editor Anna Michaels, who helped shape and improve the story immensely.
Most of all, I am deeply appreciative for the support and love of my family. My wife, Bridgett, has been a patient listener and provided key insights to the material. This book represents a sacrifice for the entire family—meals and events missed, nights away from home, hours spent at the keyboard. I couldn’t have done this without their understanding and patience, and their commitment to having Lee’s story told. This is from all of us.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© Jennifer Bishop
Bruce Goldfarb is an award-winning writer who specializes in science, medicine, and health care and has written for national and local newspapers, magazines, and web publications. He works as an executive assistant for the chief medical examiner for the state of Maryland, where he maintains Frances Glessner Lee’s Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. Bruce lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
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Bruce Goldfarb, 18 Tiny Deaths
