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Dr. Tracey Corey: Any time you have a sudden, unexpected death, there's basically a big hole in the world, so to speak, for that family.
The grief-stricken mother of 18-year-old murder victim Ashley Yennes understands that too well. Angela Thompson now has a gaping hole in her world.
Angela Thompson: She was my best friend. My best friend. There's nothing that she kept from me. Nothing.
She says her beautiful happy-go-lucky daughter always was the center of attention.
Angela Thompson: Everything was Ashley, and that's just the way we did it.
Victoria Corderi: So people who met her wanted to spoil her?
Angela Thompson: Right. Her heart was so big. She was just Ashley. She was my baby.
The other victim is Ashley's boyfriend, 20-year-old Anthony Howzee.
Christopher 2X: He grew up loving sports. His interest was of course basketball and football. His family is so heartbroken by what happened here.
Christopher 2x is a local community leader who crusades against violence and has gotten involved in this case, which is big news in Louisville.
He's organized a news conference to publicize the murders and perhaps pull in leads that will help the police solve them.
Angela Thompson: Why? Just "why?" Why would you want to do that? (crying) Why would you take my baby from me?
Saturday, Feb. 3: Autopsy room
It's early Saturday morning. Medical examiner Tracey Corey is cool, focused and efficient as she starts the autopsies and the search for answers for families and investigators alike.
The two victims are close in age to Dr. Corey's eldest, college-bound son, but that's the kind of thought she must push aside to do her job properly.
Dr. Tracey Corey: The best way to help the decedent at this point is to remain objective … If I get caught up in the tragedy of the moment, then I'm basically doing a disservice.
Dr. Corey is on the hunt for answers. How did the victim die? What do the wounds and the condition of the body say about what happened in that car? And will Dr. Corey find any evidence to help the detectives?
Dr. Tracey Corey: The good forensic pathologist does not work for the prosecution or for the defense. The good forensic pathologist simply lets the victim tell their story.
She begins with the young woman. The x-rays show two bullet holes in her head.
Dr. Tracey Corey: This is Tracey dictating 0799, 0799 ...
0799 is the Louisville office's 99th autopsy of 2007.
Dr. Tracey Corey: The body is that of a normally developed, normally nourished female appearing around the given age of 18 years.
Dr. Corey closely examines Ashley's wounds. She's looking at damage to the skin that will tell her how close the gun was to the victim.
Dr. Tracey Corey: She shows what's called stippling, or tattooing, which is when the burned or burning gunpowder particles strike the skin surface and create little injuries.
Victoria Corderi: So you know it was at close range?
Dr. Tracey Corey: Well, what we're going to call this is intermediate range.Dr. Tracey Corey: It was within a couple of feet away from her when that trigger was pulled.
Even though everyone strongly suspects the gunshots to the head killed the girl, investigators still don't know who did it or why. It's up to Dr. Corey to find whatever she can to help crack the case.
To that end, she also examines the victim's main internal organs.
Dr. Tracey Corey: We want to see if there are any other injuries present.
Victoria Corderi: Everything that will tell her story.
Dr. Tracey Corey: Right. Our problem is we don't know what will become important later.
Dr. Corey makes sure everything is photographed and documented as potential evidence. The examination involves an array of knives, scalpels and even a vibrating saw for heavy-duty cutting.
As emotionally detached as she must be, Dr. Corey says she and her team never forget they're working on the bodies of victims who will be seen by their loved ones.
Dr. Tracey Corey: Our goal is to place our incisions such that the family will be able to have their normal funeral arrangements that they would if the person had not undergone an autopsy.
Before long, she begins reconstructing the scene of the shooting based on her findings.
Dr. Tracey: So she was pretty much looking toward the gun at the time the gun was fired. And she could be turned like this [she demonstrates] at him, or her, when they point the gun at her and fire.
But the wounds only tell her and the investigators so much. More important are the bullets still lodged in the victim's head.
They could help police track down the murder weapon and, perhaps, a suspect.
She begins to search for the bullets, carefully retrieving them.
Dr. Tracey Corey: I think we're going to recover the bullet from right under there, the bullet that's associated with the gunshot wound to the face.
And minutes later, there's an unmistakable sound of metal on metal.
Dr. Tracey Corey: One down.
And before long, Dr. Corey finds the second bullet and extracts it.
Dr. Tracey Corey: Inside the scalp … Numero dos.
She's pleased that the condition of bullet will help police track the murder weapon.
Dr. Tracey Corey: It's relatively well preserved and it's got good markings on the outside of it.
Minutes later, Anthony, the man found dead in the driver's seat, is on Dr. Corey's autopsy table.
Dr. Tracey Corey: The body is received with the hands in paper bags.
Remember, police bagged his hands to preserve any evidence. They're looking for DNA and possible gunshot residue under his fingernails.
DNA could lead them to a suspect. Gunshot residue might tell them if Anthony himself recently fired a gun.
Now, Dr. Corey will send this evidence to the Kentucky state police crime lab for analysis, and also send blood and urine samples to the medical examiner's toxicology lab to test for alcohol and other drugs.
Unlike the fictional "CSI" with its hi-tech trappings, Dr. Corey's workspace is a barebones operation and the lab results from these cases will not be back before the fourth commercial break. It will take weeks before there's a final report.
Dr. Corey would like for that to change. She's seeking funding for a brand new facility that will help her team handle the workload and perhaps speed up the process.
Dr. Corey: Ideally, we would build a new building from the ground up that was designed specifically for our needs.
Dr. Tracey Corey [during autopsy]: Externally, he's got a couple of little scratches on the side of his face. I don't know how long they might have been there. They're oriented going down. They would be consistent with somebody's fingernails. Can I say that's what they're due to? No. But they're certainly consistent with that.
The man has a single gunshot to the back of his head, confirming what the police suspected.
Dr. Corey: Scalp demonstrates a quarter-inch, roughly circular gun shot wound of entrance on the right side, which would again be consistent with the shooter being in the back seat, kind of in the middle.
Finding the bullet embedded in the victim's head is proving harder than anticipated. But it's such an important part of the ongoing police case that she must keep looking.
Finally, she feels it.
Dr. Corey: There it is. This bullet is relatively pristine.
So in both cases, the bullets are in good enough shape to help investigators.
Dr. Corey: If the investigator then recovers a gun, the investigator can take that gun and that bullet and see whether or not those two bullets match.
After each autopsy, Dr. Corey closes her eyes in deep concentration and dictates her findings.
Dr. Corey: Opinion: death in this 18-year-old woman is attributed to penetrating gunshot wounds of the head. The code for that is...
We know it as murder, but in the autopsy room, the manner of death gets a code name.
Dr. Corey: E965. End of dictation on 0799. Thank you.
Then for Anthony.
Dr. Corey: On the cause of death statement, put single gunshot wound of the head under the manner of death in this case, check the box for homicide.
Within a couple of hours, the autopsies are completed and documented. Dr. Corey can now release the bodies to the funeral home and to the anxious families.
Victoria Corderi: You haven't seen her?
Angela Thompson: I haven't seen her.
Victoria Corderi: Do you want to see her?
Angela Thompson: Yes. I just want to hold her. Hold her hand.
Victoria Corderi: You have faith that they're going to find the killer?
Angela Thompson: Everything in me. Everything within my soul, I-- yes. I do.
Dr. Corey's office is about to play an unprecedented role in another murder case. That autopsy won't help to find the killer -- it will determine if a confessed killer is telling the truth.
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