02x11 - A Lingering Question

[bunniefuu]

[music playing]

NARRATOR A woman sh**t her husband to death

and claims self-defense.

He had been drinking.

He became violent towards her.

NARRATOR But a few months later, Dr. G reopens the case

and makes an astounding discovery.

He had a very high arsenic level in his blood.

He'd been poisoned.

NARRATOR Was someone trying to k*ll

the man before he was sh*t?

Then, a father learns his long lost daughter

is found naked and dead in the trailer

of a known sex offender.

It really hurts, because we missed

her through all these years.

NARRATOR Was the death a father's worst nightmare

come true?

Whatever reason, she's in a comatose state.

It's just suspicious.

NARRATOR Altered lives, baffling medical mysteries,

shocking revelations.

These are the everyday cases of Dr. G, medical examiner.

In her years as a medical examiner,

Dr. Jan Garavaglia has performed more than , autopsies.

We've got about eight autopsies, a couple

homicides, a decomp coming in.

NARRATOR Her findings may bring closure for loved ones

or exonerate m*rder suspects.

And at the end of every autopsy, she typically

files the case away forever.

Except when there's a curious twist.

You know, usually when we're done, we're done.

But you know, these things-- you know,

an autopsy report's never written in stone.

NARRATOR Sometimes months after Dr. G has filed a report,

she discovers the real mystery has just begun.

Such was the case with the autopsy

of Chinese immigrant, Tao Chen.

As usual, Dr. G gets the primary facts from the morgue

investigator's report.

It was a domestic v*olence.

A man and his wife got into an argument.

NARRATOR But this argument leads

to far more than a scuffle.

He had a g*n.

She had a g*n, and she sh*t him.

NARRATOR PM, when police arrive, they find the husband

dead, a b*llet hole in his head and his body sprawled

across the front doorway.

You're looking like he's going out the door, because he's--

that's how he falls, right outside the front door.

NARRATOR Inside the house, police find the victim's wife.

In a daze, she tries to explain what happened.

She said she was in fear of her life

and she defended herself.

NARRATOR Her name is June Chen, and according to her statement,

the nightmare began earlier that evening after her husband, Tao,

had been drinking for hours.

She says for many hours he had been drinking.

He became violent towards her.

He eventually went to go get a g*n and began roaming the home,

screaming at her with a g*n in his hand.

NARRATOR Cornered, she reaches for a revolver kept

in the house for protection, and in a desperate moment,

she fires.

She supposedly sh*t at him three times.

[g*nshots]

NARRATOR One b*llet hits Tao in the head,

stopping him dead in his tracks.

We located the weapons that were involved.

One was obviously used to commit the sh**ting,

and the other one was a semiautomatic p*stol

that the victim had but it had no magazine in it.

and it didn't appear to be fired at all.

NARRATOR Because June admits to sh**ting

her husband, though only in self-defense,

police take her into custody.

Sadly, it's one of more than , domestic homicide cases

reported in the US each year.

And like many men involved in domestic v*olence,

Tao Chen was no stranger to trouble.

Investigators soon discover that he

has a criminal record, including as*ault

and driving while intoxicated.

They pretty much terrorized everyone in the neighborhood,

her included, and I think she was in fear of--

of getting brutalized by him again and just took action

this time and fought back.

NARRATOR Despite Tao's criminal record and June's claims

of self-defense, police must approach

this homicide like any other.

We really have to take her statement

and decide, OK, what is she saying, and is it reasonable?

Is it going to hold up, or are there contradictions

or inconsistencies in it?

NARRATOR Now it's up to Dr. G to confirm

whether June's statement stands up to the hard evidence found

at autopsy.

Let's see.
[ … ]

I need to clean his head a little bit.

Do you have a--

NARRATOR The g*nsh*t wound itself will be

the focus of the external exam.

All right. We'll try.

Unless it's--

NARRATOR First, more technicians X-ray the head

for b*llet fragments, then clean the entry and exit wounds

to allow closer inspection.

OK .

Well, what we look for is the size of the wound, the shape

of the wound, evidence that there was

any type of gunpowder residue on the wound

or burning of the wound.

NARRATOR Gunpowder residue or burn marks around the wound

could indicate close range f*ring

and would immediately contradict June's account to police.

But after a thorough examination,

Dr. G finds no such evidence.

The wound was definitely distant.

She had stated that she was on the other side of the room,

so that seemed to fit.

NARRATOR Then as she measures the exact locations

of the entrance and exit wounds Dr. G

discovers something peculiar about the b*llet's trajectory.

DR. G The g*nsh*t wound's on the side of the head

slightly towards the back, and the trajectory

goes from slightly back to front,

which is odd if he is the aggressor towards her.

It makes us suspicious that it was just self-defense.

NARRATOR But while the slight back to front angle

is unusual in the self-defense sh**ting,

it doesn't necessarily fly in the face of June's story.

If her husband were dodging furniture or reacting

to the first b*llet out of her g*n,

his head could be turned aside.

The b*llet's path may suggest June is lying,

but it's not enough to prove it.

To discredit a defendant's version,

that's where you do have to turn to what do you know.

What do you have in hand as tangible, hard evidence?

NARRATOR By the end of the external exam,

Dr. G has yet to find any hard evidence that reveals

whether June truly acted in self-defense

against a violent husband.

Gosh.

I was worried I really wasn't adding much

to the criminal investigation.

NARRATOR Without forensic proof,

an innocent woman could go to jail,

or a guilty woman could go free.

Coming up next, toxicology tests catapult

the case in a new direction.

Could June have something to hide?

I have these forensic facts, and that

just puts the old antenna up.

NARRATOR When "Dr. G, Medical Examiner" continues.

[music playing]

[saw whirring]

Dr. G's assistants remove the cranium

of homicide victim, Tao Chen.

His wife, June, has admitted to sh**ting him in the head

the previous evening.

She claims it was self-defense, but prosecutors

aren't yet convinced.

That is, from her version of events,

that he was threatening her, and that he was

verbally abusive and drinking.

NARRATOR Now prosecutors are counting on Dr. G

to find definitive clues in the internal exam,

clues that could determine if June is a victim or a m*rder*r.

First, Dr. G takes a close look at Tao's brain.

It's pretty clear why he d*ed.

He has a b*llet that went through his head.

It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.

NARRATOR After diagramming the damage to the brain,

she continues with a routine inspection

of Tao's other organs.

.

NARRATOR As expected, there's little else of note,

save for a hint of natural disease.

He had a little bit of coronary artery disease,

but not very much.

NARRATOR And a curious finding in his stomach.

He had some, you know, pinkish material

in his stomach contents.

Huh.

You know, maybe Pepto-Bismol, something along that line.

But not really much else that I could find.

NARRATOR At the end of the internal exam,

Dr. G still has no medical evidence

that clearly contradicts June's story of self-defense.

And I thought that that was-- that was it for this case.

So we'll step back--

NARRATOR Before ending the autopsy,

Dr. G takes samples for a standard toxicology screen.

DR. G We'll take the eye fluid.

We'll take blood, and we'll take urine and bile.

There are possibly history of drinking,

and so we were going to do our routine toxicology.
[ … ]

NARRATOR But when the tests return the results

contain disconcerting new evidence.

While June claims she used the g*n because her husband turned

violent after heavy drinking, the tox report reveals

a glaring contradiction.

There is no alcohol in Tao's body.

Toxicology was negative.

She said he was drinking, and we didn't have any alcohol

at all in his system.

NARRATOR This hard evidence deepens

prosecutors doubts about June.

The autopsy results clearly show there were no narcotics

and no alcohol in his system.

Right there, we know that she's lying.

NARRATOR Now investigators must re-evaluate

every piece of evidence from the crime scene.

The position of the victim's body,

the empty magazine in his p*stol,

the slightly back to front angle of the b*llet wound.

Together with the negative tox results,

the clues suggest a chilling possibility.

The sh**ting may have been a cold-blooded m*rder.

With the cumulative evidence, prosecutors resolve

to take the case to court.

We decided to indict her on the m*rder charge.

NARRATOR But one in three women accused of murdering

their husbands are acquitted, many in killings

involving self-defense.

And in the case of The State versus June Chen,

much of the evidence is not clear cut.

We need to make sure that we can counter any defense

and make sure that our evidence will hold

beyond the reasonable doubt.

NARRATOR For Dr. G, the case is over.

She hands over the final autopsy report

and wishes the prosecutors good luck.

DR. G At this point, it's not my job.

I can't say anything more forensically.

The prosecutor and the police have

to put the pieces of the puzzle together on this one, not me.

NARRATOR A few months pass, filled

with other autopsies, other families, other mysteries.

Car accident like [inaudible].

Playing with the water's very therapeutic.

[saw buzzing]

That's interesting.

NARRATOR The case of Tao and June Chen fades into the flow.

Until one afternoon, Dr. G receives

a jarring phone call from the district attorney's office.

DR. G I get a call from the prosecutor on this case,

and she asked if there's any chance that he

could have been poisoned.

NARRATOR The prosecutor explains

that the question arose while interviewing

potential witnesses for the trial.

We did locate a cousin who let us

know that the deceased had been very

ill very recently to his death.

NARRATOR The cousin had seen Tao suffering inexplicably

from diarrhea and nausea, starting about

two weeks before his death.

Dr. G and the prosecutor agree.

Tao being poisoned before getting sh*t

sounds like a figment of a grieving family's imagination.

DR. G I've been down this road before.

People always accusing somebody of poisoning somebody,

and it always ends up to be a dead end.

NARRATOR But then Dr. G recalls the Pepto-Bismol

in Tao's stomach, a piece of evidence that might

corroborate the cousin's story.

[retching]

He also gave history that he was very weak,

that he was having some neurologic symptoms,

and that just puts the old antenna up.

That's pretty classic for arsenic poisoning.

Right.

NARRATOR There was only one way to put

this bizarre notion to the test, run another tox screen.

Arsenic is something we don't routinely test for.

It's not commonly seen.

NARRATOR The rd element in the periodic table, arsenic

is a heavy metal whose compounds are

found in everything from rat poison to laundry detergent.

Yeah.

Arsenic kills you by several different ways.

It's all on the cellular or molecular level.

NARRATOR Protein molecules vital to the body's

every function are destroyed under the att*ck of the much

smaller arsenic molecules.

And it causes the protein to malfunction

and your enzymes malfunction, and your cells don't work.

NARRATOR First popularized in the Middle Ages

as the king of poisons and the poison of kings,

arsenic was known for being tasteless, and hence,

easy to slip into meals or a glass of wine.

Acute arsenic poisoning could cause

heart failure and paralysis, but death was hardly easy.

Even if a huge amount's given to you,

you probably aren't going to die for to hours.

It's just very slow.
[ … ]

I mean, it's hard to put up with--

with-- you know, the lingering.

NARRATOR A man possibly poisoned,

then sh*t to death by his wife.

The prospect is intriguing, but Dr. G remains skeptical.

Poisonings are very, very rare.

I really was thinking we weren't going to get

any positive results here.

OK.

NARRATOR Coming up next, frustrations

mount when the tox screen comes back with unusable results.

The person inside me, you just want to scream.

NARRATOR When "Dr. G, Medical Examiner" continues.

[music playing]

Three weeks have gone by since Dr.

G ordered a second toxicology test

for sh**ting victim, Tao Chen.

His wife, June, is facing trial for the k*lling,

though she claims it was in self-defense.

And now prosecutors have found a witness who believes

there's more to Tao's death.

They think he'd been poisoned prior to being sh*t.

I've got to figure it out.

NARRATOR If the new tests turn out positive for arsenic,

it could suggest that Tao Chen's life had been in danger

long before he was sh*t.

The lab results finally arrive, and Dr. G

can't believe her eyes.

Well, low and behold, we get the test back and it is high.

If I hadn't found a cause of death,

I would have said it was an arsenic.

NARRATOR Tao Chen has . unit grams

of arsenic in every milliliter of his urine, times

the normal amount.

Somebody really wanted that guy dead.

NARRATOR Dr. G immediately calls

the DA's office, where prosecutors are

equally shocked at the news.

These were unusually high arsenic levels.

Not something that would have just appeared

in a normal person's body.

NARRATOR The arsenic levels could indicate

that someone tried to m*rder Tao weeks before his wife sh*t him.

When prosecutors also consider the back to front head wound

and June's apparent lie about his drinking, they have to ask,

was Tao intentionally poisoned before he was sh*t?

Based on the investigation thus far, Dr. G and the prosecutors

hypothesized the following.

About two weeks before the fatal night,

Tao begins experiencing severe nausea and diarrhea.

Toxicology suggests that these symptoms

were from ingesting arsenic.

Perhaps the arsenic came from a household toxin

such as crushed rat poison.

Certainly him taking Pepto-Bismol was probably

trying to get over that--

that kind of GI upset.

NARRATOR But the medication is no match for arsenic.

It att*cks Tao's body on the molecular level,

destroying the functions of his proteins and cells.

Day by day, Tao grows weaker, but he does not die.

It's not a quick way to k*ll somebody over time.

It's-- it's just kind of a slow, lingering thing.

NARRATOR Prosecutors believe that if June can be tied

to the poisoning, they can also suggest that the lingering

nature of the illness finally drove her to the edge

and made her reach for the g*n.

Something must have triggered if she sh*t him.

[g*nshots]

NARRATOR The b*llet enters Tao's head

just above his right ear, and he collapses in his doorway, dead."], index ,…}

The arsenic in Tao's body appears

to be reasonable circumstantial evidence for prosecutors.

They were thrilled, because I thought, you know,

now we can put some premeditation

into this g*nsh*t wound.

Legally, that changes everything for them.

If they can show that she was poisoning him,

they can show that she'd been thinking about k*lling him.

NARRATOR Dr. G prepares to support

this theory by presenting the tox results in court.

But just days before the trial, prosecutors

deliver a shocking message.

I was not allowed to mention the very toxic level of arsenic

that was in his body.

NARRATOR After pursuing the poisoning theory in depth,

investigators had hit a brick wall.

While the tox results proved without a doubt

that Tao had ingested arsenic, they

could find no physical evidence that his wife had personally

intentionally fed it to him.

Just because you prepare someone's food

doesn't mean that you're poisoning them.

Having poison in a home doesn't necessarily mean anything.

NARRATOR With no tangible link between June, the arsenic,

and the sh**ting, their theory, based

solely on circumstantial evidence,

is inadmissible in court.

The jury could never be told about the poisoning.

There is no way to introduce evidence
[ … ]

that we believe that the defendant

was poisoning her husband.

That is highly prejudicial.

A jury is clearly going to listen to that

and be moved by that.

But if we don't have it established

beyond a reasonable doubt, it's not going

to meet the standard of proof.

NARRATOR Instructed not to mention

a word about the poison, Dr. G takes the witness stand.

The trial is a surreal version of what she imagined.

The DA asked me specific things that

kind of go against her story.

Did the toxicology show alcohol?

What was the angle of the g*nsh*t wound?

NARRATOR The jury returns its verdict.

Guilty, not of m*rder but manslaughter

committed in self-defense.

June Chen receives eight years probation and a $, fine.

I don't believe she spent a day in jail.

NARRATOR Dr. G must face a hard reality

that even forensics has its limitations

under the burden of proof.

I cannot say forensically that she did it.

I can't prove that she did it.

But, you know, in our legal system,

we don't want to wrongly accused people of things

unless we have, uh, proof.

NARRATOR Dr. G closes the books on this case for the second

and the last time.

It's a reminder of how in a medical examiner's job,

there's no such thing as the final word.

I love it when you know exactly what happened

and who did it, and the forensic evidence

points to somebody clearly.

But that's-- you know, that's not all the time.

NARRATOR Coming up next, a life-long runaway

turns up dead in the home of a sex offender.

Did he k*ll her?

I don't know.

She's naked on the floor.

I wanted to find out how did it happen.

NARRATOR Can Dr. G put an end to the father's

dark nightmares?

When "Dr. G, Medical Examiner" continues.

[music playing]

I'll come and get you.

I'll be there in a--

I'm putting my seat belt on.

NARRATOR It's Monday night in Orlando, Florida,

and Dr. G's got a hot date to cheer on her oldest

son and his basketball game.

As a mother, Dr. G makes it a top priority to support

her sons in everything they do.

Your whole focus in life is to keep your kids from being

a lost soul, and you do everything

you can to to know they're loved and they have a place.

But you know, ultimately, you don't know

how they're going to turn out.

NARRATOR Even tonight as she enjoys

spending time with her sons--

Get it, [inaudible].

NARRATOR --just a few miles away in a trailer park

on the outskirts of Orlando, someone else

has lost their child forever in a possible r*pe and m*rder.

She doesn't know it yet, but this will be Dr.

G's first case in the morning.

[buzzer]

Tuesday, AM.

[inaudible]

NARRATOR Dr. G's work begins with a review

of the reports on Mildred Robinson,

the woman found last night.

OK.

So this is our mystery case of the day.

She's years old.

She's found in a trailer, a travel trailer,

on the floor, unclothed and dead.

NARRATOR Apparently a drifter, Mildred had d*ed suddenly,

naked and with no witnesses.

Under the circumstances, police must assume

the worst, a r*pe and m*rder.

And in this case, the owner of the trailer who found the body

could be their leading suspect.

His name is Jesse Burke, and he tells police

that he brought the victim home three

nights ago from a local bar.

I guess they start shacking up.

They supposedly had sex.

He did not even know her actual name.

He called her Lisa.

NARRATOR When the weekend is over,

Burke claims he went to work and left

Mildred alone in the trailer.

He says that she was fine at that time.

Or at least that's his story.

NARRATOR And that's the last time anyone sees Mildred alive.

Burke's statement could be true, but then police

discover a highly suspicious fact about him.

At the time that this death was reported,
[ … ]

we had a sexual misconduct allegation against him.

He had a history of sexual offenses.

Did he k*ll her?

I don't know.

She's naked on the floor.

As of right now, we have to treat her as a homicide

until I can prove otherwise.

NARRATOR When delving into any autopsy,

it's critical that Dr. G first learn as much as possible

about the decedent's history.

In Mildred's case, that means first taking

an inventory of her possessions, all of which

fit into a single bag.

DR. G So what does she have?

, , , , cents.

We're trying to get a glimpse of who she is,

what she is, what's she doing?

NARRATOR Even for her family, understanding Mildred

has been a lifelong challenge.

Most tragically, she had been running from home

for more than years.

It's just the way she wanted to live.

She did not want anyone to keep track of her per-say,

or put her in an environment that she didn't control.

DR. G Oh, look at this.

NARRATOR Dr. G also finds a diabetic kit

in Mildred's purse complete with a glucose

monitor and insulin syringe.

So she may-- you know, we're thinking she's got diabetes,

but a lot of people have diabetes.

And you certainly couldn't be m*rder*d with diabetes.

NARRATOR And though there are no illicit dr*gs in Mildred's

bag, substance abuse is always a possibility among those

with transient lifestyles.

So what or who did k*ll Mildred?

How did it happen?

I wanted to find out if there was any foul play,

or if she was involved in something

that led to her demise.

[music playing]

OK.

Let me get fresh gloves on, and we're going to have to move her

out a little bit, [inaudible].

NARRATOR Because Mildred was found

in the home of a sex offender, Dr. G begins her external exam

with a r*pe kit.

You know, we say r*pe kit.

All that means is gathering evidence for a sexual as*ault.

NARRATOR Using gynecologist tools such as a speculum

or plastic spreader, Dr. G searches

for residual signs of a r*pe.

After a thorough exam, however, she can

only come to one conclusion.

I'll tell visually that there's no trauma there.

And she has no trauma.

NARRATOR Without trauma, there is no way to prove

whether Mildred was r*ped.

Instead, she must look for evidence of m*rder.

Mildred's body has no s*ab or b*llet wounds,

but there's one common type of m*rder-related trauma

that's surprisingly hard to detect.

Strangulation.

Yeah, I can see finger marks, but I don't always.

You could strangle somebody with a soft cloth

and not see the marks.

NARRATOR Dr. G finds no external injuries on Mildred's

neck, but there's only one way to completely

rule out strangulation.

I have to do a very thorough neck dissection.

NARRATOR Dr. G performs the standard Y-incision, exposing

Mildred's chest cavity, and quickly

homes in on Mildred's neck muscles

to see if they've bled from the pressure

of a strangler's hands.

So I take out the muscles and I reflect

them by layers, one by one.

I was going to take the neck out then.

OK.

[inaudible]

NARRATOR Dr. G also pays close attention to the tiny bones

that can fracture during strangulation,

such as the thyroid cartilage or Adam's

apple, and the U-shaped hyoid bone,

about the size of a wishbone.

I look at that little bone that

holds your tongue muscle that sits underneath your mandible.

NARRATOR Every bone she examines, however, is intact.

I don't see any break there.

We often see that.

The thyroid cartilage, the back of it sometimes breaks.

I don't see that.

She doesn't have anything with their neck.

You couldn't even make up the fact that she was strangled.

[saw buzzing]

NARRATOR As a final step, she also looks

inside Mildred's skull to see if there's

damage from a fatal blow that had left no external marks.

But after a thorough search, she still comes up empty handed.

I don't see a thing.

I look for trauma externally.
[ … ]

I look for trauma in her neck, and I

look for trauma in her head as if she'd

had a blow to the head.

None of it was there.

NARRATOR But if trauma didn't cut Mildred's life short,

what did?

Until she finds an answer for the grieving family,

her job is far from over.

To truly discount that she was m*rder*d,

I have to find the real cause of death.

So what really k*lled her?

NARRATOR With foul play looking unlikely,

she must now turn to the next prime suspect in a sudden death

like Mildred's, dr*gs.

Coming up next, Dr. G uncovers disturbing signs

of an overdose.

Because this lung is not looking good.

NARRATOR When "Dr. G, Medical Examiner" continues.

[music playing]

How we doing over here?

NARRATOR Dr. G removes Mildred Robinson's organs one by one

in an attempt to solve the mystery of her sudden death.

Could have been a homicide, but she

has absolutely no trauma.

NARRATOR Last night, Mildred was

found naked and dead in the trailer

home of a known sex offender.

Surprisingly, Dr. G has found no evidence

so far of a r*pe or m*rder.

And now she is suspicious of another cause of death.

You know, a drug possibility is another thought.

Because, you know, a drifter--

you know, I don't know really what her lifestyle is.

NARRATOR According to her father,

Mildred's life was that of a typical runaway,

unstable, unpredictable, and traumatizing to her family

from when she first left home as a teenager.

When she disappeared, we chased her

all over this United States.

We'd get close, and all of a sudden, poof.

Like a puff of smoke, it's gone.

NARRATOR Then years after she vanished,

Mildred's father's nightmare seems to come to an end

when out of the blue she reaches out with a phone call.

Hey, dad.

NARRATOR Her parents take her back in, no questions asked.

She never told us everything about what she'd been doing.

All I saw then was my daughter, you know?

That was my daughter.

And I-- we'd looked for her for years,

and I finally had her again.

NARRATOR But just five years after returning home,

Mildred runs away again.

And when she's found next, only miles from her father's

house, she is found dead.

It was very important for me to find out how she d*ed,

because there was a lot of people who-- who

felt that she had used dr*gs.

And she had always swore to me and her stepmother

she was not a drug user.

And we'd always believed her on that one subject.

NARRATOR Will Dr. G's findings prove the father right,

or reveal that Mildred had turned to drug abuse?

Oh.

You're so good.

NARRATOR As the internal exam continues,

Dr. G searches Mildred's organs for any abnormalities

that could indicate a drug overdose

or other cause of death.

OK.

The heart-- the heart is .

She doesn't have any coronary artery disease, no narrowing.

Her vessels look good.

NARRATOR Mildred's heart appears to be healthy,

but her lungs are another matter.

Because this lung is not looking good.

And this is .

Her lungs are very heavy, and I thought, well, that goes

along with a drug overdose.

NARRATOR In drug overdoses, the patient

often falls into a coma while vomiting

and inhales the vomit rather than spitting it out.

She was probably unconscious and a lot

of her stomach contents was going into her lungs.

NARRATOR Then another organ reveals

a second disturbing clue about Mildred's death.

Huh.

She's got a lot of urine.

She's got a very distended bladder,

and I sometimes see that with drug overdoses.

NARRATOR Urine often accumulates

in the bladders of drug users who fall

unconscious in an overdose.

DR. G Whatever reason, she's in a comatose state.

NARRATOR Despite what she told her father,

could Mildred have started taking dr*gs

and ultimately d*ed from an accidental or suicidal

overdose?

To find out, Dr. G takes fluid samples from Mildred's body

to send to the toxicology lab.
[ … ]

DR. G This is an awfully big needle.

NARRATOR But it can take up to eight weeks

to get toxicological results back from the lab,

and those weeks can feel like years

to parents anxious for answers.

I can't do anything about it.

I'm just going to have to wait and wait and wait.

NARRATOR Aware of the family's grief,

Dr. G isn't content to wait for the results.

What we have to do is test somehow

what is going on with her.

NARRATOR And there's one test she can conduct right here

in the morgue, a test that could give

Mildred's father some answers.

Coming up next, a deadly secret from Mildred's past stuns

Dr. G.

You don't usually see people who just give up.

[music playing]

Okey dokey.

NARRATOR Dr. G prepares to conduct

a special toxicology test on Mildred

Robinson right in the morgue.

[inaudible]

NARRATOR A lifelong runaway, Mildred arrived the night

before with little more than a few clothes, loose

change, and a diabetic kit in her bag.

Like the hundreds of other drifters who'd come to Dr. G,

Mildred's internal exam has revealed

signs of a drug overdose.

She's got a lot of urine, very heavy lungs.

NARRATOR But despite Mildred's checkered past,

her father wants desperately to believe she's an exception.

I still had to go with a feeling that it was not dr*gs.

It was just a natural death.

NARRATOR Now as the agonizing wait for tox results begins,

Dr. G hopes to find some answers sooner while Mildred's

body is still in her care.

Here's how we'll do it.

Put--

NARRATOR Because Mildred Robinson was a diabetic,

Dr. G decides to try one of the only

fluid tests she can perform in the morgue, a glucose check.

People can have high glucoses and not die.

But what we have to do is test somehow

what's her level of glucose, what is going on with her?

NARRATOR Glucose, or blood sugar,

is the body's primary energy source.

In healthy people, these molecules

are produced during digestion and carried into cells

by a hormone called insulin.

Some diabetics lack the insulin to convert glucose into fuel.

And without supplemental insulin or other measures,

the amount of sugar in the blood can rise catastrophically,

causing damage to the nervous system

and even triggering a fatal coma.

Normally, doctors check a diabetic patient's glucose

levels with a drop of their blood,

but Mildred has been dead for more than hours

and her blood is starting to grow old.

Because I can't determine the blood levels anymore.

NARRATOR Instead, Dr. G chooses a body

fluid that's better protected from decomposition,

inside the eye.

It will be difficult, but what we'll do

is we will check the eye fluid.

We're testing the fluid that's in the back of your eye.

It's the fluid that's between your lens and your retina.

That gives us a little window, a little snapshot into what was

going on at the time you d*ed.

NARRATOR To take that snapshot, Dr. G's idea

is to use a chemical test strip.

It's a beautiful little test.

There's little test squares on them,

and, you know, basically it's a chemical reaction

that changes that color.

NARRATOR Dr. G dropped some of Mildred's eye fluid

on the strip.

The square will remain white if the glucose level is normal.

If it is high, it will turn purple.

She waits for the chemical reaction to take place then

compares the result to a standard color chart

on the casing of the strips.

Yeah but look.

It's turning purple.

NARRATOR The eye fluid has turned the square deep purple.

She's got a large amount of glucose, very heavy glucose.

That's dangerous diabetes.

NARRATOR But then the strip reveals another shocking fact.

Mildred's body chemistry contains

a high level of a toxic substance called ketones.

It's pretty high.

NARRATOR Ketones are not illicit dr*gs.

Instead, they are an acidic substance made inside the body,

and the key component in a life threatening condition

called diabetic ketoacidosis.

Diabetic ketoacidosis is seen in diabetics

who are dependent on insulin to get

that glucose into their cells.

NARRATOR Without insulin the body

begins to break down fat and protein
[ … ]

for fuel instead of glucose.

The process releases ketones, which turn the blood

dangerously acidic, totally disrupting

the body's control of fluid levels and nerve functions.

In some diabetics, this critical chain reaction

is triggered when the patient does

not take his or her insulin.

DR. G Now if you just go into the hospital

with diabetic ketoacidosis that-- you're

going to be saved.

But there's still a mortality rate, you know, %.

And if you don't do anything about it,

it's got a very high mortality rate

if you're going to ignore it.

And it looks like she ignored it.

NARRATOR Now based on the findings from this simple test,

Dr. G can finally explain how Mildred

Robinson d*ed so suddenly.

Late Friday evening after a few hours at a bar,

Mildred goes to spend the night in the trailer

of a man she just met.

Unbeknownst to her, he is a convicted sex offender.

But the weekend passes and he does not as*ault Mildred.

Instead, he goes to work, leaving her in bed.

Alone in the trailer, something catastrophic

is happening in Mildred's body.

It needs insulin, but she has none.

After her last dose she never bothered

to refill her prescription.

She's run out of insulin and her blood glucose

is getting higher and higher and higher to the point

where she's getting very thirsty.

And she's urinating a lot, because that glucose

is being-- trying to be flushed out of her system.

NARRATOR With no insulin available,

Mildred's body is breaking down proteins and fats

instead of glucose for fuel.

Her blood becomes loaded with acidic byproducts,

the ketones, which start affecting nerve

signals all over her body.

DR. G She's probably going to start vomiting.

At some point during this vomiting,

she aspirates her-- some of her vomit,

because I see evidence of aspiration in her lung.

NARRATOR She also gets flushed and feverish until eventually

she slips into a coma.

And with no one nearby to take her to the hospital,

she dies alone.

Not as a victim of r*pe or m*rder or a drug overdose,

but as a direct result of her serious condition.

She d*ed from diabetic ketoacidosis.

NARRATOR To Mildred's father Dr. G's findings

bring some measure of peace.

There was nothing--

no substance abuse at all.

And I was so relieved on that basis.

NARRATOR Ultimately, the complete toxicology results

verified Dr. G's theory.

There are no dr*gs in Mildred system,

and glucose levels are sky high at , almost times

the norm.

Still, there's one lingering question for Dr. G.

I'm a big believer in everybody has a choice to live

the life that they-- they want.

But why-- why would she give up?

Why did she stop taking her insulin?

NARRATOR It's a question that even Mildred's father

may never be able to answer.

I don't know whether she stopped

taking insulin because she gave up on herself or life.

In my mind I like to think that since she passed away

in Orlando, which is only approximately miles

from where we live here, and I think

sometimes that maybe she was working

herself way back to this area.

So I won't ever think that she gave up on herself.

[music playing]

SINGER She don't want money--

DR. G I feel for the parents.

SINGER --she don't want no thing.

DR. G That's a tragic ending to know

that your child d*ed that way.

It's not something you'd wish for your children.

SINGER --leave me the same.

Races alone.

Tonight she's walking in that street to feel the moonlight.

She has something greater up her sleeve.

MAN (WHISPERS) Atlas.