Dr. G: Medical Examiner - Season 3, Episode 2 - Dark Secrets - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: A 29-year-old father comes home intoxicated and passes out on the couch, but when his daughters try
to wake him in the morning-- He has no pulse, no blood pressure. He's basically dead.
NARRATOR: Dr. G. suspects his medical history played a key role in his death, but she uncovers
a far more twisted killer. This is somebody who just needed a slap across the face.
I mean, there's something wrong with this fella. NARRATOR: Then, the police discover an elderly man's
decomposing corpse in the home where he lived with his stepson. The body was completely covered with a comforter
and a large plastic tarp. NARRATOR: And Dr. G. is the only one who can unlock the mystery behind this horrifying family
tragedy. Was there an argument that went on and he killed his father, and he's trying
to just hide it with blankets? The whole situation just sounds bizarre. NARRATOR: Altered lives, baffling medical mysteries,
shocking revelations. These are the everyday cases of "Dr. G-- Medical Examiner."
It's another hectic morning for Dr. Jan Garavaglia, chief medical examiner for the District 9
Morgue in Florida. As a working mother, 24 hours a day are never enough. I need to know what we have today.
Do you know? Is it bad? NARRATOR: And multitasking is the secret to survival. Eight bodies.
You know I have to go to court this morning. NARRATOR: But once she gets to the morgue,
it's all about the job at hand. This one sounds like it might be straightforward.
We've got a 29-year-old man who's a really bad diabetic. NARRATOR: It all started the previous evening.
Tony Solito, a father of two young girls, is coming off a long, hard day at work.
He makes plans to go out drinking with his buddies to unwind. But his wife, Sandra, is concerned.
Thanks, mom. What's interesting about this, he is a diabetic, and the wife's worried that he goes out
and drinks with his diabetes. NARRATOR: But Tony assures his wife that he won't be out long
and he'll be fine. They eat dinner together, but then he leaves and goes parties with his friends.
NARRATOR: When Tony gets home many hours later, he's incoherent and seems drunk.
He comes home fairly late about 4:00 in the morning, and he decides to sleep on the couch.
We get the story from her, so we don't know if they argued or if he didn't want to wake her,
or why he slept on the couch. NARRATOR: The next morning, Tony's daughters run into the living room to wake their father.
Tries to wake up dad, and he's cold and unresponsive. NARRATOR: In a panic, Tony's wife calls 911.
My husband, he won't wake up. He's passed out. NARRATOR: Paramedics soon arrive and try to revive him.
1: Sir? PARAMEDIC 2: Go ahead, take-- [INTERPOSING VOICES] PARAMEDIC 1: Ma'am, I'm sorry.
I can't say, but we're doing the best we can. PARAMEDIC 2: He does not have a pulse.
NARRATOR: But their efforts are in vain. SANDRA: WIFE: Is he breathing? NARRATOR: Tony Solito is already dead.
[OMINOUS MUSIC] DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Yeah, his wife seems to be concerned about him being not
taking care of himself because of the diabetic problems he's got. So she really is, I get the sense
that she's worried that he may have died from the diabetes. NARRATOR: Overcome with guilt, she wonders if she
could have saved her husband had she tried harder to keep him home. She knows all too well that consuming alcohol
could be dangerous for Tony because of its high sugar content. [MUSIC PLAYING] Diabetics like Tony have trouble processing
sugar or glucose because their bodies don't manufacture insulin-- a protein produced in the pancreas.
Without enough insulin, glucose levels can skyrocket, wreaking havoc in the body.
Sometimes even resulting in death. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: They have to have the insulin because pancreas doesn't make insulin.
NARRATOR: To make up for this lack of natural insulin, Tony, like many diabetics, undergoes a daily regimen
of unpleasant injections. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: We do know that he is on insulin. We know he's on insulin on twice a day.
NARRATOR: This ensures that his glucose levels or blood sugar won't climb too high.
But it seems that Tony was not giving his condition the attention it deserved. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: So we get his medical records
and find out that he doesn't really like to take care of himself. His blood sugars are always very high.
His doctor was worried about, told them to increase his insulin. NARRATOR: Now that she's reviewed
all the information available to her, Dr. G. formulates an initial hypothesis. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I mean, certainly
diabetes is high on my list. NARRATOR: But only an autopsy will lead her to the truth.
[MUSIC PLAYING] [CAMERA SHUTTERS] As Dr. G. begins the external exam, she considers how diabetes could have killed Tony.
And the primary suspect is a condition known as ketoacidosis. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: If he had missed his insulin, if he
was drinking, yeah, that could put him into ketoacidosis certainly. NARRATOR: Ketoacidosis often begins with an abnormally
high blood sugar level. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: They get very high glucose levels. But the problem is, they don't have their insulin to get
the glucose into the cells. And so you can't utilize the glucose as energy. And so you start almost in a starvation mode.
NARRATOR: Desperate for a source of energy, the body begins burning fat instead of glucose as fuel.
The fat then breaks down into acids called ketones. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: You get fatty acid and filled up
and that turns into ketones, which make your blood very acidic. And that's what makes you so sick and you end up dying.
NARRATOR: If Dr. G. finds both ketones and a high glucose level in Tony's body, she can be almost certain
that ketoacidosis took his life. To find out, she'll need to send samples of Tony's blood, urine, and eye fluid to the toxicology lab.
They will also test for Tony's blood alcohol level. Unfortunately, Dr. G. will have to wait six to nine
weeks for the lab results. In the meantime, she looks for additional clues with her standard external exam.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I look at his arms. I look for needle tracks. I look for trauma.
And I don't see anything. His external examination is pretty benign, pretty negative.
We can find a lot when we go in there but I don't like surprises. NARRATOR: She now hopes that the internal exam will yield more
clues so that she can soon provide some answers to Tony's grieving widow. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Coming up next, Dr. G. explores another possibility. Did Tony Solito fall victim to his own reckless drinking
habit? DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: It's very rare to drink yourself to death, but it certainly happens.
I mean, he's with his buddies. We'll have to see. NARRATOR: When "Dr. G-- Medical Examiner" continues.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Dr. G. reexamines the investigator's report on Tony Solito as morgue techs prepare his body
for the internal autopsy. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: We just know he does have a family on one
side and a wife and two kids. But yet, he goes out and parties pretty heavily with his buddies.
His wife says he's going out drinking. NARRATOR: Tony also has a bad case of diabetes
and his wife Sandra is concerned that the drinking, combined with his disease, finally did him in.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: She is right to be worried about him not taking care of himself.
Him drinking is just one component of that. Him not taking his insulin, him not watching his diet.
He sounds like he's having a very reckless lifestyle. [OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: Dr. G. performs the Y-incision
and opens up Tony's chest plate. She will begin by checking Tony's heart for atherosclerosis, or coronary artery disease,
which is common to diabetics. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: This will be interesting. DR. VICTOR ROBERTS: The major cause
of death of people that have diabetes across the board is cardiovascular disease.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: He's got a lot of blood? MORGUE TECH: Yes. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Down there, and I need to--
WOMAN: OK. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Certainly, I'm going to look for atherosclerosis,
see how his heart looks. NARRATOR: Atherosclerosis occurs when plaque accumulates inside the coronary arteries,
restricting the flow of blood. If Tony's coronary arteries show extensive narrowing from plaque
build-up, it could mean that the blood flow to his heart was blocked causing a deadly heart attack.
As a first step, Dr. G removes Tony's heart for a closer examination. Any extreme narrowing of the arteries
may overrule her ketoacidosis theory. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: The heart muscle. Again, her tissues are starting get maroon and soft.
It looks OK. NARRATOR: But after a thorough dissection, she finds nothing. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: No coronary artery disease.
That's easy to see. Lo and behold, he doesn't have any atherosclerosis. Even though he is a terribly controlled diabetic.
NARRATOR: Immediately, she can rule out one possible cause of death, a heart attack
caused by atherosclerosis. [OMINOUS MUSIC] However, as she continues her examination of Tony's heart,
she makes a critical discovery. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Normal heart should-- for him, it should be over 400.
His is 550 grams. His is enlarged. It weighs more than it should. And the left ventricle that pumps blood to the rest
of the body is thickened. And that tells me that he's probably has some high blood pressure.
NARRATOR: High blood pressure often causes the heart muscle to thicken because it has to work harder to pump
the blood throughout the body. High blood pressure can also be deadly. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Sometimes with high blood pressure,
we certainly can see arrythmias with the heart. NARRATOR: An arrhythmia occurs when the heart loses its beat,
quivering ineffectively instead of pumping blood throughout the body. If Tony had an arrhythmia that lasted over a minute,
his organs would have become starved of blood and then ceased to function. It is a quick and sudden way to die.
But arrythmias leave no physical evidence in the heart. To conclude that Tony's death was a result of an arrhythmia,
Dr. G. must first ruled out every other possible cause of death. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: OK, well, I will cut it out.
Our work is cut out for us. NARRATOR: Everything else appears normal until she gets to Tony's liver.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Oh, is this one big liver. One of the other things I found was a very enlarged liver,
kind of round and fatty. NARRATOR: This could be a result of his diabetes but it could also be the result of drinking heavily.
[OMINOUS MUSIC] If Tony had such a serious drinking habit, maybe that fateful night, he simply drank more than
his body could handle. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: It's very rare to drink yourself to death, but it certainly happens.
It wouldn't be the first one I had. You're with your buddies. You're drinking. Maybe they took also another drug with it,
like a sleeping pill with the alcohol, or like to central nervous system antidepressants,
or anti-anxiety medication with the drinking could put him over the edge. [OMINOUS MUSIC]
NARRATOR: Dr. G. now has several possible causes of death-- ketoacidosis brought on by Tony's high blood sugar;
alcohol poisoning; or an arrhythmia caused by his high blood pressure and enlarged heart.
Dr. G. won't get answers to these questions until the toxicology report comes back.
But she has one more place to look internally for clues-- Tony's lungs. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: And the left lung?
NARRATOR: And there, she finds a crucial piece of evidence. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: When I looked at his lungs,
I noticed they're very heavy. They're 907 grams. NARRATOR: This finding indicates that Tony lingered in a coma
before he died, which typically causes the lungs to fill up with fluid. Dr. G. now knows he did not die suddenly.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: A person who just died suddenly, let's say from an arrhythmia, maybe 350 grams max.
NARRATOR: An arrhythmia would have killed Tony in a matter of minutes. So right away, she can rule that out
as a possible cause of death. But this finding is consistent with ketoacidosis, which often causes victims to go into a coma before death.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: The body just gives me this feeling that he laid there in a coma for a while,
whether that was due to diabetic ketoacidosis or maybe he really drank a lot. NARRATOR: Dr. G's final ruling now hinges on the results
of the toxicology report. She eagerly awaits their arrival, hoping to get to the bottom of this perplexing case.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Because I am worried about how high that alcohol is going to be because his wife
seems to be concerned about it. He was gone for quite a long time with his buddies.
[OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: Coming up next, the results come back from the lab with troubling implications
about Tony's Solito. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: When I look at the tox report I'm very surprised on many levels.
NARRATOR: When "Dr. G-- Medical Examiner" continues. [OMINOUS MUSIC] Dr. G. is counting on the toxicology report
to shed light on the mysterious and sudden death of 29-year-old Tony Solito. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I have some suggestion that maybe he kind
of lingered in a coma somewhat. So far, things aren't looking good for the cause of death.
After the internal exam, I've made the rounds of the organs. I don't have a clear cut cause of death.
NARRATOR: She hopes the report will contain the answer she's been seeking. If she finds that Tony's system contains ketones
and a high blood sugar level, she'll know that he died from ketoacidosis resulting from his diabetes.
If Tony's blood alcohol level is extremely high, she will conclude that he poisoned
himself to death with alcohol. [OMINOUS MUSIC] Finally, after several weeks of waiting,
the toxicology report arrives. But it's not at all what Dr. G. was expecting. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: When I look at the tox report
I'm very surprised on many levels. First of all, the first thing I'm looking at is the alcohol.
And the blood shows none. None at all. NARRATOR: Dr. G, now knows for sure that Tony
did not drink himself to death. Next, she flips through the report to find Tony's ketone and blood sugar.
And again, she is shocked by what she does not find. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: He does not have any acid bodies,
no ketones, or acetone. He doesn't have that. He does have an elevated blood glucose in 200.
So it's probably higher, but probably not enough to kill him. NARRATOR: Which can only mean one thing.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: We have ruled out diabetic ketoacidosis. Poorly controlled diabetic, yes.
But that isn't killing him acutely. NARRATOR: But the toxicology report reveals very clearly
what did kill Tony Solito. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Well, I'm only surprise at in the tox report is it's
giving me my cause of death. An unexpected answer. NARRATOR: And that unexpected answer is heroin and cocaine.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: He's not going out drinking with his buddies. He's going out using drugs with his buddies.
We're talking hardcore drugs-- heroin and cocaine-- in levels enough that caused him his death.
NARRATOR: The heroin level alone was high enough to kill Tony. The cocaine only further irritated his heart,
possibly finishing the job and causing it to stop beating completely. PARAMEDIC 1: He does not have a pulse, and he's not breathing.
NARRATOR: Dr. G. now has a definitive answer from the tox reports. Tony Solito died of heroin and cocaine intoxication.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I was shocked to see heroin and cocaine in this supposedly family man.
I guess I have the view that once you have children, at the very least, get your life together
as an example. And you have responsibilities to live to take care of your children.
Using cocaine and using heroin is not conducive to a healthy life for living. But maybe this guy didn't care.
He wasn't taking care of his diabetes either. NARRATOR: Dr. G. braces for a difficult phone
call to Tony's widow, Sandra, to explain how Tony died. But first, she lays out the events
leading up to Tony's death. [OMINOUS MUSIC] TONY SOLITO: Great cooking, mom. Everyone thank your mom.
DAUGHTERS: Thanks, mom. NARRATOR: It's Sunday night and Tony Solito, a diabetic father of two,
is having dinner with his family. TONY SOLITO: It was good? DAUGHTER: Ah, no. TONY SOLITO: No?
NARRATOR: When he announces that he's going out drinking with some friends, his wife Sandra objects.
SANDRA: You already went out last night. TONY SOLITO: So? NARRATOR: But Tony goes out anyway.
TONY SOLITO: I'll be back late. SANDRA: Yeah. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: But his wife thinks he's drinking, just
having a few beers with his buddies, although she seems to be a little worried that maybe he drinks too much.
TONY'S FRIEND: Oh, you did. TONY SOLITO: I thought I'd never get out of the house tonight.
NARRATOR: But on this night, Tony never does go out drinking. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Instead of drinking with his friends,
he's out using drugs. NARRATOR: Tony snorts a large amount of cocaine and heroin, which immediately begins
to break down into morphine. The morphine, attaches to receptors in Tony's brain,
causing his bodily functions to grow slow and lethargic. [OMINOUS MUSIC] TONY SOLITO: I got to go.
No, thank you. Thank you. TONY'S FRIEND: All right, see you again. TONY SOLITO: All right.
NARRATOR: By the time he gets home, hours later, he's completely incoherent and appears drunk.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Eventually, he comes home around 4:00 in the morning. Appears to just go on the couch to sleep.
NARRATOR: But Tony is not sleeping. Instead, he slips into a deep coma. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: The heroin attaches to the receptors
at his brain to the point where it depresses it enough or he's probably no longer breathing.
NARRATOR: And soon after Tony stops breathing, he dies. [OMINOUS MUSIC] The news is a shock to Tony's wife.
She now knows that his drinking did not kill him, but the full extent of his recklessness
is difficult to accept. Dr. G. sees many deaths that are senseless and cruel. But in some cases, when death seems so avoidable,
she can only wonder what drives people to make such bad decisions. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: This guy needs a slap across the face,
and to be shaken, to be A, not taking care of himself with his diabetes, letting his glucose
get that high, not eating right, not taking his insulin when he should be. With two kids, and then on top of that
using cocaine and heroin. I mean, there is something wrong with this fella. It really always bothers me, tremendously
bothers me when I see people dying of drug deaths when they have kids. It has a tremendous impact to people who love you
and to your life. [SANDRA LAUGHING] [OMINOUS MUSIC] POLICEMAN 1: Break it. NARRATOR: Coming up next.
Police are baffled when they discovered the decomposing body of an elderly man in the home
he shared with his stepson. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Did he just let his dad die and then doesn't know what to do with the body,
thinking maybe I'll just cover it with a tarp and nobody will notice? NARRATOR: Now, they are counting on Dr. G.
to help them piece together this morbid puzzle. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Something needs to be investigated here.
NARRATOR: When "Dr. G-- Medical Examiner" continues. [MUSIC PLAYING] After a long morning of challenging cases, Dr. G,
Enjoys a break with her medical investigator, Steve Hansen. It's a welcome diversion.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: There's a lot of stress and sometimes you have to get out of this office.
Unfortunately, sometimes I can't. I've got so much work to do. But occasionally, lunch is a little oasis for me
that I can just say, OK, let's put this aside for a minute and go out to lunch. It's kind of set up like American Idol.
And I was one of the judges. There's three judges, it's not-- Sometimes when we go out for lunch, we talk work.
I hate that. But when I go out and we can just talk about our families and talk about our lives, that's a lot more relaxing for me.
NARRATOR: But the break from work is short lived. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I daydream of taking the afternoon off,
but unfortunately, it's no fun because then you start thinking about all the work you
have to do back in your office. Unfortunately, people don't stop dying. NARRATOR: Back at the morgue, a rather unusual corpse awaits.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: We have a man that's dead in the middle of his living room covered with tarp.
The whole situation just sounds bizarre. Sometimes you cannot make these stories up.
[OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: Once in the exam room, Dr. G. gets more details from the investigator's report on 78-year-old retiree,
Alonzo Garcia. [MUSIC PLAYING] A recent widower, Alonzo lived alone in a small retirement
compound in Kissimmee, Florida, until his stepson, Miguel, abruptly lost his job and moved in with him.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: They live on a golf course, at a nice community. NARRATOR: But one day, this seemingly peaceful life
is cut short. [MUSIC PLAYING] Alonzo's sister, Leah, is the first to sense that something is amiss.
Her brother hasn't returned her calls in a week and she can't imagine why. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: The sister who lives in another state
wants to know where he is. NARRATOR: But Miguel was evasive and incoherent. MIGUEL: No, I got to go. I will talk to you later.
He could hear from you. I got to go. Bye. NARRATOR: Alarmed, Leah contacts a friend
on the local police force who agrees to check in on him. And as soon as the detective arrives at the house,
he knows something's wrong. DETECTIVE OLSON: Hi, I'm Detective Olson. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: They actually smell a horrible odor.
MIGUEL: What are you doing here? NARRATOR: And when Miguel opens the door, he is paranoid, jittery, and extremely agitated.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: He looked like he was high. DETECTIVE OLSON: The neighbors-- the neighbors have
said they haven't seen him. MIGUEL: He's probably on vacation. He's on vacation.
DETECTIVE OLSON: He's not here now? MIGUEL: No. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Then he becomes very belligerent,
doesn't want anybody in the house. [OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: They return a few hours later with a search
warrant, but the house is mysteriously silent and Miguel is nowhere to be found.
POLICEMAN 1: Break it. NARRATOR: As they enter the house, they encounter an appalling scene.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: The place is a mess. There are bugs all over the place. There is roaches all over.
There's really not much food in the house except alcohol. NARRATOR: And in the middle of the living room
is the source of the fetid stench. The decomposing body of Alonzo Garcia. [OMINOUS MUSIC]
BILL STRATTON: He was sitting in the recliner completely covered with the comforter
and a large blue plastic tarp. NARRATOR: Investigators thoroughly searched the house for evidence that could shed light
on this bizarre discovery. What they find next has troubling implications. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: There is evidence
of drug use in the house-- crack, cocaine use. BILL STRATTON: There was a pipe or smoking device that
had ash on it and charring. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Investigators wonder if Miguel is a drug addict.
And if so, could his father's death be a result of neglect or abuse? DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I have seen drugs
totally destroy people to the point where they cannot function. NARRATOR: Perhaps Miguel was so incapacitated
that he couldn't adequately care for his aging father. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: There is no real clear explanation
on why he would just cover the father with tarps. Did he just let his dad die and then
doesn't know what to do with the body, thinking maybe I'll just cover it with the tarp and nobody
will notice. [OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: But then the team finds a disturbing clue about Alonzo's mysterious death.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: My investigator at the scene thought he saw maybe some contusion on the forehead.
NARRATOR: Now, they must consider a terrible and tragic scenario. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: So there is this worry--
could he have done something to the father? It's very possible it could have been a homicide.
NARRATOR: But before police can accuse Miguel of any crime, they need proof. Evidence that can only come--
[OMINOUS MUSIC] --from Dr. G. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I mean, was the man murdered or did he die a natural death?
And so that's going to be pivotal right here. Their investigation is hinging on what
we provide them at autopsy. I just need to give them the facts. [OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: One glance at Alonzo's body and Dr. G.
can tell that this autopsy will not take place in the morgue's usual exam room. Rather it will be in the decomp room,
a separate room where she performs autopsies on decomposing bodies. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: We've got a separate autopsy
room because he smells. And people don't want to be exposed to it. [MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Determined to unravel this case, she begins the meticulous search for trauma,
starting with the head. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Now my investigator thought since he's possibly saw some contusions or bruising
on the head. Well, it's very difficult when a body has decomposed to find external trauma.
We will be looking for discoloration, a darker kind of bruise. But the skin has already kind of green
to black so it's difficult to interpret that. NARRATOR: But a careful inspection yields no marks.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I don't see it. I just see a lot of decompositional changes.
NARRATOR: Nevertheless, 20 years experience tells her trauma can be extremely elusive in the external exam.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: So we really have to look internally. I really cannot rule out foul play at this point--
for scars. NARRATOR: Next, Dr. G. shifts her attention to the rest of the body. First, a search for the hallmarks of violence.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: We're going to look for any type of trauma. I obviously don't see any knife wounds.
I don't see any gunshot wounds. NARRATOR: Then a search for possible signs of neglect.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I'm looking for bedsores. Was he confined to a bed and nobody checked on him
or move him? NARRATOR: Dr. G. painstakingly examines Alonzo's eroding skin. On his elbows, on his hips, until finally, she's satisfied.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I don't see any drama. So we're going to look internal, and look
on the inside for trauma. Certainly you can miss some. NARRATOR: There are no antemortem defects
of any kind on his body. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: At this point, I'm no longer really thinking that it
was a neglect situation. NARRATOR: But for Dr. G, eliminating neglect only heightens her primary concern.
The haunting possibility of homicide. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: There is a body here that's being hidden.
What did he really die of? [OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: Coming up next, Dr. G. makes a killer finding.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: His lungs actually have a lot of blackening. There's also a breakdown of the tissues of the lungs.
NARRATOR: When "Dr. G-- Medical Examiner" continues. [MUSIC PLAYING] Dr. G. reflects the scalp of Alonzo Garcia,
keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of trauma. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Now, I have to make sure he doesn't
have a blow to the head. NARRATOR: Yesterday, police discovered the 78-year-old's rotting corpse under a comforter
and large plastic tarp. Allegedly, Alonzo's stepson, Miguel, had simply covered his father's dead body
and left him on a recliner in the living room. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: We don't know what happened.
Why is he trying to cover up the body? Did he do something? NARRATOR: Alonzo's sister in California
fears that her nephew, once the pride of the family, may have spiraled out of control after losing his job.
BILL STRATTON: There were some older photographs of him that show that he was well-built, rather
muscular, neat. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: He was an educated professional, nothing what he looks like now.
He's very thin, unkempt, very ill-looking. NARRATOR: Dr. G. wonders if drugs could be behind this tragic transformation.
And as an unemployed man, Miguel would need money to feed his habit. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: The deceased man
receives a check that gets automatically deposited to his account. NARRATOR: Police cannot discount the theory that Alonzo could
have been killed for his money. [MUSIC PLAYING] Dr. G. inspects the skull for fractures.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: A little congestion over here, but I don't think that's-- I think that's just the way he was found.
It doesn't look like a bruise. NARRATOR: And finds none. But an injury to the brain itself may be lurking beneath.
[OMINOUS MUSIC] DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: So I have to open up the skull, take the calvarium off.
NARRATOR: It's a procedure she's done more than 1,000 times. But this time, she faces a formidable challenge.
Once again, decomposition. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Yeah, you have to look at these really
quickly because they'll disintegrate right in front of your eyes. At this point, the brain is going to be very
soft and kind of semi-liquid. It'll hold its shape for about a split second when
you take that calvarium off. So you got about a split second to look and make sure there's no blood on the outside of that brain.
It just kind of all part on me. There's not a whole lot of forensic pathology you got to be quick on.
But when you're opening up the calvarium of a decomposed body, you got to be right there and you got to be quick.
NARRATOR: And her concerns are justified. As soon as she extracts the organ, it begins to fall apart.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Semi-liquid, it's like a toothpaste. You know, toothpaste just doesn't keep its shape.
It's almost semi-liquid. We just got to look at them quick. It's partially liquid over there.
NARRATOR: But Dr. G. can see enough to tell that there's no blood. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: So it looked like a normal decomposed brain.
And so I don't see any trauma to the head at all. NARRATOR: Despite the investigator's earlier
suspicions, if Alonzo had suffered a violent death, it was not from a blow to the head.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: No blood inside the brain, no blood in the brain stem. NARRATOR: Now, Dr. G must dig deeper for clues,
inside his body. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: When we open them, all bets are off. I don't know what I'm going to find.
[OMINOUS MUSIC] Take some of that. We could squeeze all that off of there. NARRATOR: Dr. G. makes the standard Y-incision
from Alonzo's shoulders to his torso. Any injuries found in this area could indicate a struggle.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: An old person may die from trauma that is a lot less severe than somebody
who is 20 and healthy. NARRATOR: Dr. G scours his decomposing abdomen. But soon ends her search empty handed.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: All I can say is there is not one bit of trauma in the skella.
There is no blood in there. I don't see any rib fractures. NARRATOR: These negative findings
shed light on at least one aspect of Alonzo's mysterious death. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: He did not die from trauma.
Basically, it looks at this point that it's unlikely that the son overtly killed his father.
NARRATOR: But the unsettling question remains-- what could have possibly been the motive behind Miguel's
inexplicable behavior? DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: You just don't let your loved one rot in the middle of your house and just
keep putting blankets and tarps over him because he's smelling bad. NARRATOR: To completely exonerate
the stepson in the eyes of the investigators, Dr. G. must scientifically prove what did kill Alonzo Garcia.
And there's only one way to do it. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I have to continue the autopsy
to make sure that he has some natural disease to determine why he died. NARRATOR: She inspects the liver, the stomach, the spleen.
None show more than a hint of disease. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Everything here looks normal, except for the decompositional changes.
His kidneys show evidence of high blood pressure, but we're not coming out of it too much.
NARRATOR: She quickly moves on to his respiratory system. And suddenly, she makes an alarming discovery.
Skella had anthracotic pigment. Hard to say if the disease. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: His lungs actually have
a lot of blackening pigment. There's also emphysema breakdown in the tissues of the lungs.
NARRATOR: Both the blackening and the emphysema are serious lung diseases. Doctor G's findings suggest that at some point in his life,
Alonzo had a very unhealthy habit. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: He must've smoked at one time.
NARRATOR: Emphysema alone affects almost two million people in the US. 10 times more common than lung cancer,
it's the most deadly respiratory disease. But Dr. G. doesn't think this is what killed him.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Certainly, you can die from emphysema. But we usually don't see it in the morgue
because you don't die suddenly from emphysema. It's usually a slow process. You're needing more and more oxygen.
So you're followed by a doctor. He usually signs the death certificates. It's not somebody who just dies suddenly in an old easy chair.
NARRATOR: Now, as Dr. G. approaches the end of her autopsy, Alonzo Garcia's cause of death
remains elusive. [OMINOUS MUSIC] Coming up next. The clues add up to one big mystery.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: All we have proof of is that the man is dead. NARRATOR: When "Dr. G--
Medical Examiner" continues. [OMINOUS MUSIC] Now, Dr. G. is left with only one of Alonzo Garcia's organs
to inspect-- the heart. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: So I'm not really finding anything clear cut killing him.
So then it's important to go to the heart. NARRATOR: The 78-year-old man's stepson, Miguel,
had been a suspect in his father's death. But Dr. G. found no signs of foul play.
But without forensic evidence proving what did happen, this family may always question how Alonzo died.
[OMINOUS MUSIC] DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Say, I think we're going to take a chance. We're going to see--
sometimes you can see a few things in the heart. We're going to see if we can see anything.
NARRATOR: Like the rest of his body, Alonzo's heart is soft from decomposition. But to her expert eye, something about its shape
doesn't seem right. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: His heart looked like it was starting to dilate or get bigger.
NARRATOR: As a next step, Dr. G. begins to dissect the organ. [OMINOUS MUSIC] And suddenly comes face to face with Alonzo's killer.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: I look at his native heart or natural coronary arteries, and they're very severely
narrowed, all of them, very filled with the cholesterol plaque. NARRATOR: It's clear that Alonzo had been suffering
from a dangerous condition that afflicts 2.3 million Americans-- atherosclerotic coronary artery disease or atherosclerosis.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: The arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the heart build-up with plaque,
and they build up with plaque-- cholesterol plaque. They calcified atherosclerosis stays.
The rest your heart can decompose but the atherosclerosis will stay there. [OMINOUS MUSIC]
NARRATOR: If severe enough, this illness can stop blood from flowing through the heart
altogether, triggering an arrhythmia-- an irregular and fatal heartbeat. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Unfortunately he
may not have had any symptoms. You certainly can die suddenly with this. We see that all the time.
NARRATOR: Looking back at the other findings from the autopsy, Dr. G. can see how Alonzo was at high risk
for this heart disease. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: High blood pressure will accelerate it.
Smoking certainly will accelerate it. NARRATOR: Now there's no doubt what killed Alonzo Garcia.
An arrhythmia brought on by blocked arteries. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: Because of the severe nature of his heart
disease, with no evidence of trauma, no other natural disease, it appears that he probably just died in his sleep
while he was sitting on that recliner. There is no other cause of death. NARRATOR: At last Dr. G. has enough forensic evidence
to describe what-- not who-- killed Alonzo Garcia. [MUSIC PLAYING] Lonely after his wife's death, Alonzo welcomes his stepson,
Miguel, into his home. According to the medical investigator's report, Miguel is unemployed and unstable.
But Alonzo appreciates the company. He never suspects he's now living with a killer.
Not his stepson, but a formidable enemy lurking much closer inside his heart. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: He's got the narrowing
to his coronary arteries. So arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the heart build-up with cholesterol plaque.
NARRATOR: Over time, his smoking and hypertension accelerate the problem. As the arteries close up, Alonzo's blood
must struggle harder and harder to reach his heart. Until one day, while Alonzo naps in his easy chair,
the condition turns deadly. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: The blood is not going to the heart.
It's starting to fail. The muscle just isn't contracting. It probably isn't pumping enough blood.
NARRATOR: His heart falters and his pulse degenerates into a fatal arrhythmia. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: The heart starts to quiver, and die.
[OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: With no circulating blood, his vital organs shut down one by one.
And slowly, peacefully, Alonzo Garcia dies. [OMINOUS MUSIC] Dr. G. makes her final ruling--
a natural death due to heart disease. Now, with these autopsy results, police can officially close the case.
To the family's relief, Alonzo's stepson is cleared of all suspicion. Still, there's one aspect of the case that troubles Dr. G.
DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: There is no real clear explanation on why he would just cover the father with tarps.
We don't know exactly why he's going to leave a body there. NARRATOR: In the end, police find no evidence
that Miguel was collecting his stepfather's social security checks. Why Alonzo's stepson left him in that chair,
is one mystery that even forensic science will never solve. DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA: So we don't know exactly what went on.
We just don't know. We'll never know. The sad part is that he has a son that lets him decompose.
And this is a son that's educated. He knows better. The man is dead. Has been left there dead, and his body has been covered
with tarps and death ignored. That's really sad. [MUSIC PLAYING]

A diabetic man dies after a night out. Meanwhile, an elderly man's decomposing body is found in his son’s home. Dr. G realizes that finding the causes of death will be anything but straight-forward.

A Florida medical examiner takes viewers through puzzling cases while explaining procedures and conclusions.

Brief Summary

Tony Solito died from drug intoxication; Alonzo Garcia from heart disease.

Key points

A Father's Reckless Night. Tony Solito, a diabetic father, goes out drinking but ends up dead. His wife is concerned about his health, but he reassures her.
The Shocking Discovery. Dr. G uncovers that Tony's death was not due to diabetes but heroin and cocaine intoxication.
A Life Cut Short. Tony's reckless lifestyle leads to his tragic death, leaving his family in shock.
A Bizarre Discovery. Dr. Jan Garavaglia encounters an unusual corpse covered with a tarp.
The Mystery of Miguel. Alonzo's stepson Miguel exhibits strange behavior after his father's death.
The Cause of Death Revealed. Dr. G uncovers that Alonzo died from heart disease, not foul play.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The whole situation just sounds bizarre.

Describing the strange circumstances surrounding Tony's death.

1:10WatchJun 8, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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