Dr. G: Medical Examiner - Season 5, Episode 3 - Unlikely Suspects - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Everyone thought Willie Booker was in peak physical shape, until they
found him dead in his bedroom. He's on the floor. His pants are at his ankle. NARRATOR: Now his devastated family is
counting on Dr. G for answers. It was very excruciating to not know what he had died from.
This can't be true, not my father. What happened to my father? NARRATOR: And then a disoriented man wanders
into the ER drunk and high. Within hours, he is dead. The son thinks that he was assaulted.
NARRATOR: And now Dr. G wonders if she has a murder on her hands. If the person dies as a result of an act of another person,
that's a homicide. [THEME MUSIC] NARRATOR: Altered lives, baffling medical mysteries,
shocking revelations, these are the everyday cases of "Dr. G, Medical Examiner."
[MUSIC PLAYING] DR. G (VOICEOVER): Most days, I'm just the chief medical examiner for the District 9
morgue in Florida. Oh, he's had surgery. DR. G (VOICEOVER): But sometimes I get to also be a teacher.
I got the Girl Scouts here today. Hello. So you can see we have one, two, three, four,
actually five stations here. DR. G: So these are Girl Scouts that worked on their CSI badge.
And we went in the decomp morgue, and I explained a little bit about bones. From what we see on the skeleton, it will help us.
It's really cool to find out just the ways of how they died and helped the, like, family get through everything,
and it's really cool you could do that and help other people. You know, I think it's wonderful
that women are going into-- DR. G: I have a soft spot for Girl Scouts because I was a Girl Scout.
You know, in my day, we made placemats. And, you know, nowadays, these girls are doing all sorts of things.
It's really exciting. Oh, that's cool! DR. G (VOICEOVER): I love sharing what I know with kids.
My next decedent also loved to teach, but unfortunately, his career was cut tragically short.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Shot, boom! NARRATOR: 60-year-old Willie Booker had two great passions--
his family and coaching basketball. He loved basketball. He loved helping people.
He would go to any lengths to try to help you with something you wanted to do, whether it was education,
whether it was playing sports. NARRATOR: So when Willie was asked to coach at the Athletic
Center in Maitland, an Orlando suburb, he seized the opportunity and moved there
from his home across the state. He was excited about his new job. He was ready to get started, ready for basketball
season to get started because he was going back on and throwing that court, and that's what he loved to do.
NARRATOR: Sadly, Willie's dreams of coaching a new team in a new town would soon be shattered.
According to the investigator's report, Willie had just arrived in Maitland, when suddenly
he stopped returning his calls. For about a week, nobody had heard from him. NARRATOR: But then one morning, Willie's nephew Joe
gets some troubling news. JOSEPH WILLIAMS: It was early. I was headed to work, and I received
a call from his employer. And they said that he had missed a very important meeting.
NARRATOR: Concerned, Joe immediately calls Mara, a friend in Willie's new neighborhood,
and asks her to check up on him. She finds his car in the driveway, but gets no answer at the door.
I knew something was seriously wrong at that point. NARRATOR: At Joe's urging, Mara begins to look around inside.
She finds one room after another empty, until she steps into the bedroom. He's on the floor.
His pants are at his ankle. NARRATOR: It's far too late for an ambulance because Willie Booker is already dead.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Willie's family is completely caught off guard by his sudden and mysterious death.
I had just talked to him a couple of weeks before. This can't be true, not my father.
There's nothing wrong with my father. What happened to my father? NARRATOR: They find the tragedy inexplicable,
especially given Willie's lifelong commitment to fitness. I don't ever remember my father being sick.
Always in good shape. It was very excruciating to not know what he had died from.
NARRATOR: Now desperate for answers, they hope Dr. G will shed light on how he died.
At first, she sees little to work with in Willie's file. We really don't have much history about him.
He's-- takes good care of himself. He doesn't smoke. He doesn't drink, doesn't use illicit drugs,
at least that's what the family says. No health problems. NARRATOR: But then she discovers a small detail
in the investigator's report that raises her suspicions. Apparently in the weeks before he died,
Willie had a mild, but persistent cough. He does have a cough. Now people-- I don't want to scare people.
Certainly, most people who have coughs, it's a benign symptom. NARRATOR: The more serious causes of lingering coughs
include lung cancer, pneumonia, and even heart failure. If Willie had suffered a heart attack,
it could explain the sudden collapse and the unusual position of his body. You know, when you just collapse,
you're often in odd positions. And just think about all the things you do during the day,
and then what if you just happen to keel over at that point. And so that's something I'll certainly look into.
NARRATOR: But Dr. G must also explore another more sinister scenario-- homicide.
And we know he lives alone. There's certainly no witness to what's going on. So we're going to keep our mind open.
NARRATOR: For Willie's loved ones, the possibility he may have been murdered is the ultimate nightmare.
I thought maybe somebody had broken in and killed him or something. I wouldn't be able to rest until I found
out who did it, why they did it, and make sure they was punished. NARRATOR: Now the mystery of Willie's untimely death
and the family's haunting questions fall squarely on Dr. G's shoulders. And I hope that the autopsy tells us more.
We'll see. [MUSIC PLAYING] DR. G: He's got some mummification, drying of the fingertips, a little bit of discoloration.
It looks like he's been in there at least three days. NARRATOR: Discoloration of the skin
could camouflage bruising and other possible evidence of injury. Dr. G begins the external exam, looking
for any signs of foul play. If there's enough trauma there to kill him, I will be able to tell.
NARRATOR: She looks for bruising on the neck, fractures beneath the scalp, even damage to the fingernails
that could point to a struggle. But she finds nothing. In fact, what strikes her the most
is how good Willie he looks. DR. G: He looks actually younger than the mid to-- to early 60s.
He looks like he's actually in fairly good shape. NARRATOR: But then she detects a small clue.
DR. G: On his lower leg just over the shinbone, there are some contusions or bruises.
NARRATOR: The injury was not inflicted by a weapon. Instead, the bruising pattern suggests
Willie fell to the floor and possibly hit the bed frame on his way down. For Dr. G, the scenario brings to mind some very
common causes of death. DR. G: Heart attack, coronary artery disease, a stroke in his brain, all of those things
can strike you very quickly and cause you to go down. NARRATOR: To identify his killer,
Dr. G must now move on to the internal examination. She'll first look for a stroke in his head.
But there's a problem. If his brain is too decomposed, her search for answers may be hindered.
DR. G: So my biggest worry is going to be, will I be able to come up with the cause of death?
NARRATOR: She will be on the lookout for signs of natural disease. And until she gets a look inside Willie's body,
she can't rule out the possibility of foul play, either. You never know what you're going to find
until you do the autopsy. My job is to find the answers. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Using the saw blade to open the skull,
technician Tom Hemphill prepares for Dr. G to inspect 60-year-old Willie Booker's brain.
See, I need a towel, though. NARRATOR: Willie's loved ones can't comprehend what
extinguished the life of a man whose vitality was matched only by his compassion.
Not only was he there for family members, people would call my uncle from all around,
not just in Florida, other states, because they knew him and they knew what he was about
and how he wanted to help people. It's very painful to lose him and not know why,
not knowing what happened to him. And night after night, I just can't sleep. What happened to my father?
NARRATOR: Dr. G suspects a stroke may be the culprit in Willie's untimely death.
But if his brain is decomposed, she may never be able to prove that. [MUSIC PLAYING]
We're ready then? Yes, ma'am. NARRATOR: Dr. G carefully lifts open the top of Willie's skull
and immediately finds something quite unexpected. DR. G: I take the calvarium out, and the brain
looks pretty good actually for how decomposed he was on the outside. It was still held in shape.
It was still firm. NARRATOR: Quickly, she checks the external aspect of the brain.
If Willie had a stroke, she would expect to see either hemorrhaging or areas of dead tissue, known as infarctions.
She makes sure to check also for pools of blood from a fatal blow to the head. But surprisingly, in both her initial examination
and the dissection, she detects nothing. DR. G: I don't see any bruising on the inner aspect
of the scalp, no skull fractures of the skull. There was no evidence of hemorrhage.
There was no evidence of stroke. It looked pretty good. So whatever killed them really probably wasn't in the head.
NARRATOR: But now the elimination of this prime suspect points toward another illness
that could cause sudden death-- heart disease. DR. G: I don't know yet. What I am suspecting is probably going to be in the heart,
though. [MUSIC PLAYING] Okey dokey. NARRATOR: Dr. G makes the standard Y incision
on 60-year-old Willie Booker. She's looking for any indication that his untimely death
was the result of an attack. DR. G: Well, certainly when I make my Y incision, I always
look for blood underneath the skin, see any bruises that I couldn't tell on the outside.
When I remove the skin, he doesn't have any evidence of bruising. NARRATOR: Even with the tissue softened by decomposition,
she's certain that there's no abnormal hemorrhage and that Willie was not the victim of a homicide.
But then the case quickly takes another turn. As she lifts open the chest plate,
she discovers what could be a sign of serious trouble. DR. G: When I look at his lungs, they're heavy.
They're just congested, and they appear to have edema fluid in them. That's the fluid accumulation in the tissues of your lung
without the red blood cells, just the fluid part of the bloodstream kind of leaking into your lungs.
NARRATOR: This edema fluid could explain Willie's persistent cough, and Dr. G wonders if it's all
a symptom of a fatal illness. DR. G: Could be congestive heart failure. Maybe his heart's giving out.
It cannot pump enough of the fluid out. The fluid starts building up and backing up,
and that fluid starts going into the lungs. But he certainly is the right age. I mean, the early 60s, early to mid 60s,
you know, we see a lot of people that succumb to sudden cardiac disease that never
knew they had heart disease. NARRATOR: To find out if heart failure was, in fact, Willie's
killer, Dr. G cuts open the pericardial sac and extracts the muscle for dissection.
Dr. G carefully dissects the coronary arteries and draws a conclusion. DR. G: When I look at his coronary arteries,
they look good. There is no obstruction to flow. He doesn't have coronary artery disease.
So I'm not sure what the etiology of the edema fluid in his lungs are. That's very non-specific.
His cough could just be something I may never see at autopsy. NARRATOR: For Dr. G, the negative findings
are a setback. So far, this case is leaving her with no clue as to a cause of death.
DR. G: OK, let me get clean gloves on. NARRATOR: Her only option now is to press on
with the rest of the autopsy. As her next step, she begins searching the abdominal organs.
[MUSIC PLAYING] At first, the search continues to be discouraging. DR. G: I look in the abdomen, and there really
isn't much abnormal there. Bowel looked pretty good. NARRATOR: But then something grabs her attention.
Oh, gosh. DR. G: What really strikes me is that his liver is yellow. It's rounded, it's enlarged, and yellow.
It was just fatty. NARRATOR: It's clear right away that Willie has fatty liver disease.
This means that his liver cells are damaged, greatly diminished in their ability
to process fat and cholesterol. Fatty livers have long been associated with sudden death,
though the exact mechanism behind it is still unclear. But what is certain is that the condition
is often caused by alcoholism. DR. G: It is a possibility that-- that he died from alcohol and alcohol-related liver disease.
The family is saying that he doesn't drink, but maybe this is really the answer and that they really don't know what's going on.
NARRATOR: If Dr. G is correct, the news could devastate those that admire Willie,
both family and athletes alike. He was a really good mentor to a lot of them. NARRATOR: But these ramifications
aside, there's something about this diagnosis that bothers even Dr. G. DR. G: It didn't give me a cause of death that's clear cut.
So in this case, you know, we're going to do a full toxicology. We'll certainly look for alcohol.
The wait was very excruciating. I had to know what was wrong with him. NARRATOR: But when the test results arrive a few weeks
later, what they reveal sends shockwaves through Willie's family. [MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING] Deep within the walls of Florida's Wuesthoff Reference Laboratory, 60-year-old Willie Booker's eye fluid
spins inside a centrifuge. The wait for results is sheer anguish for his loved ones.
You know it's coming. You know it's coming. You got to have a final answer. It has to be a closure.
NARRATOR: Now six weeks later, Dr. G finally receives Willie's toxicology report, but the answer it holds
could be a rude awakening for the family. Decedents give up their secrets to me in the morgue, sometimes things
that they don't tell their family, especially drugs, alcohol. I can sometimes pick up on these things in the morgue
that the families don't know about. NARRATOR: In Willie's autopsy, she found a fatty liver that suggests he may
have died from alcohol abuse. DR. G: So when I look at the toxicology, I'm expecting the alcohol to be fairly high.
But alcohol wasn't there. Something that I really didn't expect was there, and that was acetone.
NARRATOR: Acetone, a flammable liquid well known for its use in household items, such as nail polish remover,
is an oxidized form of alcohol and belongs to a group of chemicals known as ketones.
In the human body, its presence can signify disorders such as starvation or advanced diabetes.
But the acetone in Willie's system mystifies Dr. G. DR. G: I'm thinking, could he?
Could he have died from diabetes? But we don't have any history of that. Could be from starvation, but why would he be starving?
None of this is making sense. I really don't know where-- how much farther to go with this.
I'd like to talk to a family member. [PHONE RINGING] NARRATOR: The next day, as though in answer,
she receives a phone call from Willie's daughter. Hi. I was trying to find out what was happening,
why was it taking so long. DR. G: And I was explaining to her that I don't know which
direction to go, that I suspected that he died from maybe diabetes. And I asked her, did he ever-- was he ever?
And then she goes, well, he was diagnosed with borderline diabetes about a year ago.
And after he died, they actually contacted his secretary, which we knew nothing about, and the secretary
gave a very odd history. And she was saying that at one lunch, he drunk 15 glasses of water.
Then at another lunch, he had five big lemonades. DR. G: And that she thought something
was really odd about the guy because he wouldn't stop drinking. NARRATOR: For Dr. G, the new information strongly
suggests Willie was diabetic. Excessive thirst is a classic symptom caused by dangerously high levels
of blood sugar or glucose. DR. G: That elevated glucose in your blood actually causes your kidneys to try to dilute it,
and that gets washed out of your body and you become very dehydrated. All righty.
All right, bye bye. NARRATOR: There's just one problem. According to Willie's toxicology tests,
his glucose may have been low, not high, at the time of his death. DR. G: His glucose is almost zero.
It could be low just because he's so decomposed, so I really would like better proof that he's a diabetic.
NARRATOR: To get this proof, Dr. G decides to take an unusual step. She orders an additional test on Willie's blood cells
called the hemoglobin A1C, a test normally conducted on live patients only. DR. G: I went back to my clinical training.
That's a test that's common for people who have their glucose monitored who are diabetic to see
how much glucose is attached to your hemoglobin inside your red blood cells. NARRATOR: It takes another excruciating wait,
but at last, Dr. G gets her answer on Willie's glucose level while he was alive.
DR. G: And so when we get that hemoglobin A1C, we find out that it's off the chart.
His glucose wasn't controlled, and it was really high. So that was the final piece of the puzzle
that put it all together. NARRATOR: The acetone, the dehydration, the elevated blood sugar.
For Dr. G, the clues now add up to a clear cause of death-- diabetic ketoacidosis.
[MUSIC PLAYING] It's a life-threatening complication of untreated diabetes that develops when the body
cannot use glucose for fuel because it lacks the hormone insulin. The condition can even cause a fatty liver,
leading her to believe that Willie's liver disease was completely unrelated to alcohol.
DR. G: Right now, I've got no history of alcohol and no alcohol in him. So chances are, alcohol is not playing a role in his death
at this point. NARRATOR: With all the evidence in hand, she finally can explain to Willie's family what
ultimately struck him down. [MUSIC PLAYING] [WHISTLE] Bring it over this way. Shoot it--
NARRATOR: It's 10:00 AM on a sunny Sunday, and as Willie Booker begins his new coaching job,
the furthest thing from his mind is what a doctor told him over a year ago, that he might be developing diabetes.
As far as Willie is concerned, it's completely under control. I think he was trying to fix it himself by eating healthier.
DR. G: He was just starting a new job as a coach at the age of, you know, mid-60s, early 60s.
That, you know, you don't want somebody to know you're ill or that-- you know, you want to seem strong.
And I think he probably was some-- in some denial. And maybe he just didn't have time to deal with it,
and he ignored it. Men are great at ignoring symptoms. NARRATOR: But Willie's fortitude alone is no match for diabetes.
He's got a lack of insulin. The glucose starts building up in his blood. NARRATOR: The lack of insulin causes distortion
in the way the fat is metabolized in his body, to the point where fat accumulates in his liver cells.
And as he sits down to lunch with his secretary, even his kidneys are in overdrive battling the disease.
DR. G: His body trying to flush that glucose out of his system, he gets thirstier and thirstier.
NARRATOR: But his body simply can't keep up. On the day of his death, with no insulin to feed glucose
into his cells, Willie's condition finally erupts into a full-blown crisis known as diabetic ketoacidosis.
Starved of energy, his body begins to break down fat and proteins for fuel instead.
This triggers a catastrophic side effect-- the buildup of ketones, byproducts that turn
his blood dangerously acidic. DR. G: Once your blood becomes very acidic, it's incompatible with life.
You start getting confused. Probably went down very quickly and didn't-- and passed out.
NARRATOR: Willie needs emergency help, and he desperately needs insulin. But sadly, neither is in reach, and ultimately, he
dies alone in his bedroom. Upon hearing the final results of the autopsy, Willie's family is torn between relief and regret.
Boy, I tell you this really was a shock, and I was very disappointed that something so preventable
took his life in the manner it did. DR. G: The mortality for diabetic ketoacidosis
with proper fluid management and replacement with insulin is less than 2%. So tremendous step forward from medical science
that this isn't such a deadly disease. But if you ignore the symptoms, you're going to die from it.
If he had been to the doctor, it could have saved him. Being on medication and besides all
the other healthy things he was doing, it would have made him live a lot longer.
It still hurts a lot. NARRATOR: Thankfully, there is one consolation, that through his death, Willie was
able to save others in his family, including his beloved daughter. DR. G: She went to the doctor after that
and got diagnosed with diabetes and now takes very good care of her levels. It's made me so much aware of diabetes.
I tell everybody now, go to the doctor. DR. G: Things can be happening inside of you
that you just don't know. You know, we know so little about each other, and sometimes we know so little about ourselves.
[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Willie's family was shocked to discover how little they knew about his health.
But in Dr. G's next case, it's what the family does know that's disturbing them.
We have the son telling us that an assault occurred. NARRATOR: And now Dr. G wonders if she
has a homicide on her hands. We need to look inside at that brain. [MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING] We take each other to lunch on our birthdays, which is kind of counterproductive
because our birthdays are in the same month. But it's the thought that counts. So probably since '94, we take each other
out for lunch on our birthdays. STEVE HANSON: And sometimes Dr. G remembers the right day.
One day I brought Steve a birthday cake. STEVE HANSON: A really nice cake. DR. G: A really good birthday cake, homemade.
But I got his birthday wrong. I thought it was in, like, early part of September,
and his birthday's not till September 30. So here I brought it in, and we were going
to all sing happy birthday. And he goes, why are you guys doing that? My birthday's not for three weeks.
STEVE HANSON: [LAUGHS] Me bad. We had the cake anyway. DR. G: Yeah. NARRATOR: For Dr. G and her staff,
lunch helps them clear their minds as they prepare for the afternoon's autopsies.
And today, they'll need the break more than ever because getting to the bottom of the next case
will take every bit of their concentration and know-how. [MUSIC PLAYING] Dr. G opens the file of 54-year-old Johnny Diaz.
And on page 1, there's some surprising information. Records provided by the local hospice where he passed away
have already determined his cause of death. DR. G: He died from a subdural and intracerebral hemorrhage,
meaning hemorrhage inside the brain tissue, and hemorrhage over the brain. NARRATOR: But as she quickly discovers,
what caused the fatal bleed in the first place remains unknown. According to the investigator's report,
Johnny first arrived at a Kissimmee area hospital two nights ago, when he wandered into the emergency
room disoriented and confused. Sir, can you tell me your name? NARRATOR: At first, ER workers are puzzled,
but routine tests soon reveal why he's so incoherent. Johnny is drunk and high. DR. G: He definitely had amphetamine in his urine,
and he had a very high alcohol level. So they were treating him for the acute intoxication
and possible drug overdose. NARRATOR: But strangely, as time passes, Johnny doesn't seem to sober up.
DR. G: Things are slowly getting worse. He becomes more confused and finally becomes lethargic.
He clearly goes downhill quite precipitously after about two hours. NARRATOR: Alarmed, the ER doctors perform
a CAT scan on his brain. DR. G: And that's when they found the inner cerebral bleed, some kind
of bleed inside of his brain. NARRATOR: The computer imaging reveals a serious amount
of hemorrhage, enough to cause irreparable brain damage and possibly death. [BEEPING]
Yeah, going to move you into surgery. NARRATOR: The medical team immediately preps him for surgery to find and repair
the source of the bleeding. But the surgeon soon realizes that their patient is beyond help.
DR. G: They realize that his brain is swelling because the hemorrhage was so bad.
There's nothing they can do for him. NARRATOR: Doctors immediately transfer Johnny to the hospital's hospice center for what they
expect will be his final hours. The hospice is a situation where a person is admitted once they've
been diagnosed as terminal. They'll go ahead and provide palliative care to the person,
plus support to the family to help them deal with the death of their-- of their loved one.
NARRATOR: A staff member there manages to locate Johnny's son Matt, who rushes in to discover that his father is
quickly declining. Just a few hours later, Johnny's brain stops functioning and he dies.
[HEART MONITOR FLATLINING] DR. G: He'd only spent less than, I think, six hours in hospice before he died.
NARRATOR: Johnny's sudden death comes as a major blow to his son. Now he's counting on Dr. G to find out exactly what happened.
It's kind of confusing at this point. We have a lot of different versions of what's going on.
NARRATOR: At the core of the mystery is what caused Johnny's fatal brain hemorrhage.
DR. G: The doctor treating him thought it was a spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage,
meaning it just occurred naturally. NARRATOR: Dr. G notes that Johnny did test positive for amphetamines,
a stimulant which can increase the risk of a cerebral hemorrhage. But another possibility is that the cerebral hemorrhage was
caused by trauma to the head. In this case, the injuries could have been sustained in a recent bar brawl that went too far.
The story that we got was that several weeks earlier, he had supposedly been in some sort of a fight
or had been assaulted. The son or the next of kin advised that he believed there might have been another assault possibly
a couple of days before he died, and that's what we had to check out. NARRATOR: Matt confirms that his father
was prone to drunken brawls. Now he fears that Johnny may have been beaten to death.
We have the son telling us that an assault occurred. We have the emergency room knowing nothing about assault.
So we're definitely going to have to see what's going on. I need to get the facts on the autopsy
because, you know, forensics, you don't just jump to conclusions, you see where the facts lead you.
What caused this blood inside the brain? NARRATOR: It's now up to Dr. G to provide Johnny's son
with the answers he seeks and possibly pave the way for a murder investigation. [MUSIC PLAYING]
As Dr. G begins the external examination, she finds clues that prove Johnny led a troubled life.
DR. G: He's thin. He looks unkempt. He looks the part of an alcoholic. NARRATOR: Dr. G's first step is to search
for any sign of injury that may have been sustained during a fight. She starts with his head.
DR. G: Clearly something was going on in his head, so, of course, I'm looking at him very carefully
for any evidence of trauma. NARRATOR: Initially, his face and skull show no signs of a struggle.
DR. G: I see no fractures to his face, and I don't see any trauma to his head. NARRATOR: Next, she gently palpates Johnny's scalp.
If he suffered a head wound, her fingers may discern bumps, broken bones, or even pockets of blood
pooled underneath the skin. DR. G: But even in palpation, I don't feel anything.
I felt nothing unusual or saw anything usual to his face or head. NARRATOR: But in order to rule out a possible homicide,
she must carefully examine the rest of his body as well. DR. G: You know, does he have defensive marks?
Does he have abrasions on his knuckles? Was he in a fight? NARRATOR: At first, she finds nothing out of the ordinary.
But then, as she examines his chest, her eyes are drawn to something unusual. All right, see what we have here.
DR. G: The chest has got a little aging contusions over the sternal region. NARRATOR: The bruise could have been a result of resuscitation
efforts, such as CPR. But it's also possible that the imprint was the product of an assault, just as Johnny's son fears.
DR. G: If this is a homicide, I need to gather the information and see what we can say.
[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: 54-year-old Johnny Diaz died two nights ago of a mysterious brain hemorrhage.
Now his son Matt fears that it may have been the result of a recent barroom brawl.
The son thinks that he was assaulted. If the person dies as a result of an act of-- of another
person, that's a homicide. So that's why we-- it's important for us to figure out.
NARRATOR: The bruise that Dr. G discovered on Johnny's chest could be evidence of assault, but she must
investigate further to be sure. [MUSIC PLAYING] Dr. G makes the standard Y incision down his torso.
But when she peels back his skin and subcutaneous fat, what she sees is inconsistent with the exterior
bruise. DR. G: There is an old fracture to his first rib. And this already had a well-formed callus,
bony callus, so it's-- it's old. It's not just a week old or a couple days old, it's-- it's old.
NARRATOR: The fracture could be a result of the alleged assault that his son claims happened a few weeks earlier,
but the bruise is more recent, and thus, unrelated. DR. G: So there is nothing yet to support an assault.
NARRATOR: Now Dr. G wonders if Johnny's doctors were right and his brain hemorrhage was simply
triggered by a medical condition or even drug abuse. [MUSIC PLAYING] One by one, she begins checking each organ for signs
of natural disease, and it isn't long before she finds some serious damage in his liver.
That is one big liver, huh? DR. G: He clearly had liver damage and was on his way to cirrhosis.
NARRATOR: Cirrhosis, or the scarring of tissue, can lead eventually to liver failure and death.
In the United States alone, the disease kills more than 25,000 people each year.
Johnny's liver disease doesn't appear advanced enough to have killed him. But for Dr. G, the condition does
shed new light on the circumstances of his death. DR. G: It didn't surprise me that he
showed up drunk to the emergency room with this liver. NARRATOR: Next, she moves on to Johnny's chest.
And there in his lungs, she discovers yet another potential killer. DR. G: His lungs have a pneumonia
to them, not uncommon for people who are unconscious, on a respirator. NARRATOR: Many intensive care patients never
recover from this type of infection, and it can lead to their death. [MUSIC PLAYING]
But in Johnny's case, where the cause of death is a cerebral hemorrhage, finding pneumonia
adds little to Dr. G's investigation. So she quickly proceeds to her next stop--
his heart. Carefully, Dr. G cuts open the heart's pericardial sac and detaches the blood vessels anchoring it.
And there, she immediately notices a problem. DR. G: His heart was mildly enlarged,
particularly considering he-- how thin he was. NARRATOR: She weighs the organ, then begins slicing it into 4
millimeter-thick sections. And with each draw of the blade, she finds alarming evidence.
DR. G: He had severe atherosclerosis, narrowing to the blood vessels that supply the oxygen in his heart.
NARRATOR: Dissecting the vessels, she discovers that Johnny's atherosclerosis was so bad that it had previously
required surgical intervention. DR. G: Looks like he had a stent put in, meaning they go up
through the vessel and put the little wire mesh to help keep that coronary artery open.
He had two of those. NARRATOR: But that's not all. In his heart muscle, Dr. G also spots pale scar
tissue, telltale signs of a heart attack, or a myocardial infarction. DR. G: There's actually an evidence
of an old myocardial infarction in the lateral wall, the side wall, but there's also a slightly newer
myocardial infarction, still not fresh, but slightly less old than the other one.
[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Although the previous heart attacks are clearly not the cause of death, Dr. G believes
the other findings in his heart are still significant. Johnny's heart is enlarged, and this is often
linked to high blood pressure. And high blood pressure is seen in 70% to 90% of Americans who suffer a spontaneous
intracranial hemorrhage, like the one that killed Johnny. Furthermore, his high blood pressure
may have been compounded by the amphetamines found in his system. DR. G: But what I'm worried about
is that stimulant, the amphetamine, and did that play a role in causing that, what they called, spontaneous hemorrhage inside the brain?
NARRATOR: Now, it's looking like Johnny's son was wrong. His father's death does not appear
to have been the result of a fatal assault, but rather a consequence of his high blood
pressure and possibly drug use. DR. G: It's looking like maybe the hospital's right.
It's just a spontaneous bleed. But I've got to investigate the head. The head's where the money is on this one.
[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Dr. G makes a long incision around Johnny's head from ear to ear.
Then, she peels back his scalp to access the skull and brain. And suddenly, she's thrown off track.
There's a portion of the inside of his scalp that's clearly bruised. DR. G: Now I see the bruise that you couldn't
really see on the outside. It was on the back left side. It's about 2 and 1/2 by maybe 1 and 1/2, 2 inches.
That's a pretty good contusion. NARRATOR: So while there was no detectable evidence of trauma
on the outside of Johnny's head, the inside tells a different story. What's more disturbing, she can see further damage
in the galea aponeurotica, the tough membrane that covers and protects the upper part of the skull.
DR. G: He's got hemorrhage also not just in the scalp, but in the galea covering over the bone itself,
which indicates more force. NARRATOR: As she wipes the bone clean, she makes the most shocking discovery of the autopsy.
Oh, wow. DR. G: Whoa. Lo and behold, there is a skull fracture. It's a 6-inch skull fracture, though, that goes across,
and it's somewhat horizontal what-- right as what we'd call the hat rim area. NARRATOR: Johnny's hospital report
made no mention of a fractured skull, but Dr. G is not surprised by the oversight.
DR. G: They miss that on CAT scan. That actually is not unusual for a CAT scan to miss a skull fracture like that that's low on the skull.
I see that all the time. NARRATOR: Suddenly, the autopsy has come 360, and it's looking like Johnny son's
theory about a deadly assault may have been right after all. DR. G: This is not a spontaneous hemorrhage.
We've got a scalp contusion. We have blood under the galea. And now underneath that, we have a skull fracture.
So now this is really looking like trauma. NARRATOR: But as the evidence adds up,
Dr. G still needs to answer a disturbing question. DR. G: How did he get that trauma?
Did somebody hit him on the back of the head? [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Dr. G carefully documents
the large fracture she's just discovered on Johnny Diaz's cranium. Six inches, pretty good skull fracture back there.
This is all recent. This is all pointing to the reason he has blood inside his skull.
NARRATOR: She is now wondering if Johnny's brain hemorrhage was caused by head trauma
from a deadly assault. [MUSIC PLAYING] If so, evidence she finds in autopsy could help convict the killer in court.
Her next step, dig deeper. DR. G: We need to look inside the cranial cavity. We need to look inside at that brain.
[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Technician Ashley Shaughnessy cuts through the skull cap with an oscillating saw.
And as she removes the skull cap, Dr. G can see the full extent of damage to Johnny's brain.
Immediately, she notices bleeding in the back of the brain at the site of the fracture.
But then, something totally unexpected captures her attention on the front side of the brain.
Here she discovers a bigger second area of bleeding. [MUSIC PLAYING] DR. G: He has a massive amount of blood on the tips
of his frontal lobe. NARRATOR: After complete dissection of the brain and finding no other bleeding, Dr. G can identify
the nature of the trauma. The two-pronged damage is characteristic of an injury pattern known as a coup contrecoup injury.
It occurs when the brain moves violently in one direction because of one impact,
then hits the far side of the skull in a secondary impact. DR. G: The coup is the slight contusion when he actually
got the skull fracture, so the contrecoup contusion is that secondary impact, with the brain
moving forward hitting the inside of the skull. NARRATOR: For Dr. G, the injury pattern
has staggering forensic implications because it's not consistent with a homicidal blow.
DR. G: Just standing there and getting whacked, you don't usually get that severe contrecoup.
NARRATOR: Instead, Johnny's double brain injury points to an unforeseen manner of death--
an accident. DR. G: His injuries are not consistent with an assault. They're not consistent with spontaneous
intracerebral hemorrhage. Typically, we see them with a fall, and everything is consistent with a fall for him.
NARRATOR: Looking back on the autopsy, all the evidence seems to support the scenario.
DR. G: Particularly the location of where he impacted his head. Single impact site, not multiple.
Multiple would suggest an assault. We see a horizontal skull fracture right at the hat brim
area, which is the prominent portion of the skull consistent with a fall. And then we have that severe contrecoup
contusion, the massive injuries to the exact opposite location. His brain is massively swollen.
It's inconsistent with life. This is clearly why he died. NARRATOR: Now Dr. G can finally reveal to Johnny's son
the tragic truth behind his father's sudden death. [MUSIC PLAYING] It's 11:00 AM on a Wednesday, but for Johnny Diaz,
who struggles with addiction, it's not too early for a drink and a couple of amphetamine pills.
Over the years, alcohol has damaged his liver, and drugs have likely driven his blood
pressure up, possibly even causing his two previous heart attacks. But today, the drugs and alcohol take
their toll in a different way. They dramatically impair his motor functions. And this time, the result is deadly.
DR. G: You know, I think alcohol and drug use played a big role here. So he fell back, probably in a stuporous state
with his drugs and alcohol, hits the back of his head, cracking the skull. The sudden deceleration causes his brain to bounce forward,
impact the inside of the skull, causes those hemorrhage. NARRATOR: Severely bruised and bleeding, Johnny's brain
begins to swell, though he still maintains enough function to seek help. He didn't die immediately, makes it to the emergency room.
NARRATOR: But the more the brain swells, the more it impedes his bodily functions.
In the ER, doctors assume that intoxication is the sole cause of Johnny's incoherence.
DR. G (VOICEOVER): They actually watch him for a possible drug overdose because there is a little bit
of confusion at the beginning. NARRATOR: Precious time slips by before his doctors realize
something is terribly wrong. DR. G: They do an emergency CAT scan. They find this blood inside his brain and over the brain.
NARRATOR: But the damage is already done. Johnny's brainstem is so compressed, the nerve cells within it can no longer relay
vital signals to his body. His breathing and heartbeat wind down to a halt and he dies.
[HEART MONITOR FLATLINING] Upon hearing that his father's death was not a homicide,
Matt reacts with mixed emotions. DR. G: I'm not so sure that my information gave him any comfort.
Is it better to have died from an assault or better to have died drunk hitting your head?
He was on his way of dying a slow not pleasant death associated with alcohol when you die from liver failure,
and his liver was on the way to having cirrhosis. But alcohol can kill you acutely, too,
by the effects it has on you, and in this case, most likely precipitating that fall.
Alcohol plays a huge role in the unintentional deaths that we see here in the morgue.
[MUSIC PLAYING] MAN: (WHISPERING) Atlas.

Dr. G has a challenge on her hands: a victim's body spent days decaying before it was found, and decomposition could get in the way of her investigation.

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

Brief Summary

Willie Booker died from diabetic ketoacidosis, while Johnny Diaz's death was due to an accidental fall caused by alcohol and drug use.

Key points

Willie's Mysterious Death. Everyone thought Willie Booker was in peak physical shape until he was found dead.
Dr. G's Investigation. Dr. G is called to uncover the truth behind Willie's sudden death.
The Shocking Autopsy Findings. Dr. G discovers unexpected clues during Willie's autopsy that lead to a shocking conclusion.
The Cause of Death Revealed. Dr. G concludes that Willie died from diabetic ketoacidosis, a complication of untreated diabetes.
Willie's Tragic Death. Willie's condition leads to a fatal crisis due to lack of insulin.
Johnny's Mysterious Brain Hemorrhage. Johnny's sudden death raises questions about possible assault or drug use.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This can't be true, not my father.

A son grappling with his father's sudden death.

0:41WatchJun 15, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.