Why I think Autopsy was always so unsettling and chilling was because of the detailed, explicit presentation which would show crime scenes or scenes of death/decomposition. In the second Autopsy special, I think besides that presentation just mentioned are the cases themselves which certainly left me more than a bit disturbed. The first case concerns the lower torso of a woman washed ashore on the MS River, and how a specialist on bones is not only able to describe specifics that would identify who she is, but that the one who dismembered her had some anatomical knowledge. The tape recording of an argument between the victim and her husband/killer is truly haunting, with definite foreshadowing (he would eventually admit to the crime; he cut her into pieces with a chainsaw!). The second case concerns how maggots found in the tub of a woman's skeletal remains explain her death via overdose of barbiturates! It was described as a sweltering day in NYC when the body was found in the tub in a severe state of decay. Really troubling is the case where a physician murdered his sons (the second son execution style in the back of the head while his back was turned!) in all probability of insurance money after bad investments left him on the verge of bankruptcy. Setting both of them up to look like accidental deaths/suicides (the first appeared to be a gun going off when it was caught on a coat hanger; the second was staged as a suicide but the blood splatter and position of head wound explained otherwise), the doctor almost got away with murder. He was later found, while on death row for two years, hanging from the neck by an extension cord. A father, a man of reputation and a family doctor, killing his sons that way, and a final image of him before prison truly left me unnerved. There's a quick but startling case regarding how a beauty was involved with a gang of burglers, strangled, and later her remains, totally skeletal (many of the bones found were noticeably cut by a hacksaw when dismembered) had washed ashore to deteriorate to bone. How was she identified? Through a serial number on her silicone breast implant!
Truly horrifying is the case of a motorcycle victim who seemed to be improving only to be pronounced dead not long after. Cyanide poisoning was determined to be the cause (when the stomach was opened, the potent smell of burnt almonds was the indicator), and not long after a nurse's aide named Donald Harvey is found responsible. Eventually admitting to it, Harvey has his attorney tell the authorities that he committed more homicides, the use of poison his weapon of death. Named the Angel of Death, Harvey admits to over 39 homicides (in elaborate detail, as if reliving the experiences again), and could be responsible for 57! Drake Hospital was his killing ground. Who knows really how many victims were put to death by his poison.
I think what leaves a lasting impact in regards to a football player (21 years old only and an NFL prospect) found dead in a jail cell while under arrest for misdemeanor offenses (stopped at a spot in Signal Hill in LA by the police) is that it was later ruled by medical examiner Baden to be the result of a choke-hold held too long cutting off oxygen from the brain. It is a maneuver typically applied by police to dangerous inmates. His murderer was never brought to trial or discovered. It is scary to think that a police officer may have been the culprit and continued to work unabated. I think the case of the child abuse--where a little adopted boy was beaten so badly he died from internal injuries to the organs suffering from the blunt force of severe blows in '65--will simply be too much for many viewers (particularly when morgue photos showing the child shortly after his death and his carefully (miraculously?) preserved corpse dug up for further examination are presented). At age 67, the baby's adoptive mother (a purplish mark around the boy's penis was believed to be a bite mark!) was brought to justice thanks to the natural birth mother's initiative behind seeing her pay for the murder. The testimony of the other adoptive son seals the mother's fate as he mentions how the abuse was commonplace in their home. The funhouse dummy case (a petrified corpse of an outlaw under way and red paint) is just wild. It is amazing just to see how this whole case came about a film crew notices it and going to move it causes an arm to fall off, complete with bone sticking out!). Hell, in Autopsy 2, we even get to see forensic scientists put a face on King Tut, tell us that through his wisdom teeth it was determined he was only 18, and that he most likely died from a blow to the back of the head. I'm always blown away by forensics. There are a lot of cases stuffed in 53 minutes here, but we learn a great deal about how the dead can speak from beyond the grave.
Truly horrifying is the case of a motorcycle victim who seemed to be improving only to be pronounced dead not long after. Cyanide poisoning was determined to be the cause (when the stomach was opened, the potent smell of burnt almonds was the indicator), and not long after a nurse's aide named Donald Harvey is found responsible. Eventually admitting to it, Harvey has his attorney tell the authorities that he committed more homicides, the use of poison his weapon of death. Named the Angel of Death, Harvey admits to over 39 homicides (in elaborate detail, as if reliving the experiences again), and could be responsible for 57! Drake Hospital was his killing ground. Who knows really how many victims were put to death by his poison.
I think what leaves a lasting impact in regards to a football player (21 years old only and an NFL prospect) found dead in a jail cell while under arrest for misdemeanor offenses (stopped at a spot in Signal Hill in LA by the police) is that it was later ruled by medical examiner Baden to be the result of a choke-hold held too long cutting off oxygen from the brain. It is a maneuver typically applied by police to dangerous inmates. His murderer was never brought to trial or discovered. It is scary to think that a police officer may have been the culprit and continued to work unabated. I think the case of the child abuse--where a little adopted boy was beaten so badly he died from internal injuries to the organs suffering from the blunt force of severe blows in '65--will simply be too much for many viewers (particularly when morgue photos showing the child shortly after his death and his carefully (miraculously?) preserved corpse dug up for further examination are presented). At age 67, the baby's adoptive mother (a purplish mark around the boy's penis was believed to be a bite mark!) was brought to justice thanks to the natural birth mother's initiative behind seeing her pay for the murder. The testimony of the other adoptive son seals the mother's fate as he mentions how the abuse was commonplace in their home. The funhouse dummy case (a petrified corpse of an outlaw under way and red paint) is just wild. It is amazing just to see how this whole case came about a film crew notices it and going to move it causes an arm to fall off, complete with bone sticking out!). Hell, in Autopsy 2, we even get to see forensic scientists put a face on King Tut, tell us that through his wisdom teeth it was determined he was only 18, and that he most likely died from a blow to the back of the head. I'm always blown away by forensics. There are a lot of cases stuffed in 53 minutes here, but we learn a great deal about how the dead can speak from beyond the grave.
