All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Copyright © 1985 by Thomas T. Noguchi, M.D. and Joseph DiMona
ISBN 978-1-4976-3846-4
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
To my brothers, Kazuo and Tatsuo, and their families, to the delegates of the World Association on Medical Law, and to my fellow Medical Examiners and the hard-working employees in the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office
Preface
THE UNANSWERED QUESTION:
The Claus von Bülow Case
FOR LOVE OF HY:
The Jean Harris Case
THE OTHER SIDE OF FATAL VISION:
The Jeffrey MacDonald Case
THE LOVE-TRIANGLE MURDER:
The Buddy Jacobsen Case
BREAKTHROUGHS IN FORENSIC SCIENCE
A Curious Cause of Death: Dorothy Dandridge
The Visible and Invisible Murderer: The Case of Sal Mineo
One Last Laugh: Freddie Prinze
Murder in Hollywood: Dorothy Stratten
An “Impossible” Drowning: Dennis Wilson
Prescription for Death: Elvis Presley
THE “DETECTIVE OF DEATH”
The Missing Baby
All in the Same Boat
The “Accidental” Lover
The Funhouse Corpse
FORENSIC PUZZLES OF THE PAST
Custer’s Last Stand
The Death of Napoleon
Did Hitler Escape?
Who Was Jack the Ripper?
The Return of the Ripper
THE DANGLING MAN:
The Case of Roberto Calvi, “the Vatican Banker”
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Preface
Did the urbane Claus von Bülow twice attempt to murder his rich socialite wife, Sunny, by the surreptitious injection of insulin? Did Jean Harris, the attractive middle-aged headmistress of an exclusive private school, murder her lover, Dr. Herman Tarnower, the “Scarsdale Diet Doctor,” or was she really trying to commit suicide? Did Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, the “All-American Boy,” slaughter his pregnant wife and two young daughters, or were they massacred by hippie intruders? Did playboy Buddy Jacobsen kill a rival, Jack Tupper, for the love of the beautiful model Melanie Cain, or was he framed?
These were questions asked of me over and over again after the publication of my book Coroner. Americans everywhere were fascinated by these controversial cases, and wanted to know my opinions of them. To each questioner I responded that all of these cases had occurred outside my jurisdiction as Chief Medical Examiner of Los Angeles County, and I was not in possession of the detailed facts. But my interest was piqued, and when I began to look into these puzzling cases I quickly realized an amazing fact: all four actually pivoted on forensic evidence—and, chillingly, it was possible that such forensic evidence might not have been correctly understood by the juries. If so, innocent men and women had been convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Circumstantial evidence, and even the courtroom demeanor of the defendant (as in the Jean Harris trial), had also played a role in every case, but forensic science had provided the evidence that really convicted all of the defendants: an insulin encrusted hypodermic needle discovered in Claus von Bülow’s “little black bag”; Jeff MacDonald’s pajama top; the bullet wounds in Dr. Tarnower’s body; the bullet shell found in a wastebasket in Buddy Jacobsen’s apartment.
As I probed deeper into these cases, I became aware of the vital necessity for Americans to know more about forensic science, if justice is to be served in trials where lives are at stake. The science of forensic medicine, begun in a small corner of a police prefecture in France, then nurtured in London, Berlin and Tokyo, has lately begun to gain recognition in this country. But my own experience has shown me that our science is still baffling to many laymen. It should not be so, for our mission is simple. In forensic science we search for answers to unexplained deaths, not only in murders, but in suicides, accidents, drug overdoses, drownings, hangings, falls and a multiple variety of violent or abrupt endings to life. Our goal is to discover information that can be utilized in two ways: by the law in trials and other legal proceedings, and by medical men for the betterment of public health.
In this book, I have attempted to tell the full story of forensic science for the first time by showing it in action. To do so, I have undertaken the role of forensic detective, investigating in depth the four most famous and controversial cases in recent American history, and a fifth—the death of Roberto Calvi, “the Vatican Banker”—that occurred in England. I have also included other mysteries and unexplained deaths in Hollywood and in Nashville, Tennessee. And I have delved into famous forensic puzzles of the past, both in America and abroad. I have traveled thousands of miles—from my home in California to Scarsdale, New York, to London, England—to investigate these enduring mysteries, and I have been aided in my endeavor by the worldwide network of forensic scientists who are both my colleagues and my friends.
And so I invite you to join me in my travels to explore the fascinating field of forensic science, and to share with me the discovery and examination of telltale forensic clues. Because of them, justice was or—perhaps—was not done. And you will see why.