Authorities have made three arrests as a result of a months-long criminal probe into the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office
Maria Krauskopf was on her way to work on Dec. 6, 2021, when she got a panicked phone call. It was her son's girlfriend.
"She told me they're taking my son to the hospital," the 58-year-old mother from Port Aransas told the Caller-Times in an interview. "I didn't know what to think."
Her youngest son, Elliott Hight, died by the time she got there.
A known outdoorsman and animal lover, the 22-year-old had been going to Del Mar College to study HVAC. Krauskopf said news of his death hurt more because he was young and still looking for "his place in the world."
"He was a very sweet young man," she said. "I miss him dearly."
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The grieving mother took some time off work as a registered nurse to visit family in California, where she'd stay for nearly two months before returning home. The time out of state helped her prepare for a new reality: life without her son.
But when she returned, she saw the news about the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office.
Since January, news reports have detailed a criminal probe into the office and its two medical examiners — Dr. Adel Shaker, the chief medical examiner, and his newly hired deputy chief, Dr. Sandra Lyden.
Affidavit:ME office administrator lied about whether former chief deputy was licensed
Krauskopf said she thought very little of the investigation until she learned Lyden, who had been accused of practicing medicine without a license, performed the autopsy on her son. Then, she wrote a letter to county commissioners and spoke during their regular meeting on Feb. 23.
She called on the commissioners to take action and notify all the affected families, wondering aloud how many other mothers have had their children autopsied by Lyden and were unaware of it.
"I've been an RN for over 20 years and I have to maintain my license to practice nursing here in Texas," she told commissioners. "So how was (Lyden) allowed to perform one of the most delicate and important jobs related to medicine and the law?"
To date, the investigation has resulted in the arrest of three employees of the medical examiner's office: Shaker, Lyden and an office administrator. A majority of the charges they faced relate to whether Lyden was licensed by the Texas Medical Board to practice and the employees' alleged attempt to hide that information from investigators.
However, legal experts who spoke with the Caller-Times say the fallout of the investigation could extend long past the arrests and criminal proceedings of Shaker and Lyden.
The effects could bleed into other criminal cases in which the medical examiner's office has been involved, according to Sandra Thompson, a University of Houston Law Center professor who has published analyses on criminal law and the regulation of forensic evidence.
An autopsy, Thompson said, is critical in criminal investigations and proceedings because the report often determines whether a case is a homicide or not. In addition, important findings by the medical examiner — such as the cause and time of death — are usually key facts prosecutors need to establish whether a defendant has committed a crime without a reasonable doubt.
The lack of those findings, discrepancies or doubt in the examiners themselves can arise in criminal proceedings and could "make or break" a case depending on the facts, Thompson said.
"Getting it right is absolutely critical," she said. "What this situation does is it peels back this layer and lets us take a look inside at what is really going on. It raises a lot of questions about the operations across the board."
Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez did not respond to the Caller-Times' requests last week for an interview on the potential effects of the medical examiner's office investigation on other cases.
In February, he told KRIS 6 News that "I can only say that any autopsy could potentially be compromised."
How did the investigation start?
The investigation began in January after Lyden performed an autopsy on the deceased wife of a Corpus Christi police officer, Carla Isabel Olachia. Lyden ruled Olachia's death a homicide, citing a "C6/C7 neck fracture," according to the autopsy report obtained by the Caller-Times.
Jason Smith, a CCPD investigator assigned to the case, later accused Lyden of practicing medicine without the proper state license. In an arrest warrant affidavit, Smith claimed Lyden was "not able to give a proper explanation for her medical opinions."
Officials from the district attorney's office arrested her in March, accusing her of lying on her application to the state board to get the license. A second, independent autopsy of Olachia was ordered by the district attorney's office and her body was transported to Georgetown, Texas, where the second autopsy was performed by Dr. Satish Chundru.
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Chundru told investigators Olachia's cause of death was not a homicide. Instead, he said, Olachia's death was the result of natural causes.
The Texas Rangers, the investigative arm of the Texas Department of Public Safety, have also been investigating Shaker and his procedures on the job.
The conflicting findings and the months-long criminal probe could open a Pandora's box when it comes to the autopsies performed in the medical examiner's office, Thompson said.
"Discoveries like this, that someone's not actually licensed, can cast doubts on the person's work," she said.
In order to ensure the accurate administration of justice in those cases, she recommended the county — as others have done when issues arose in their crime labs — commission a third party to evaluate the validity of the questioned autopsies.
"There are a lot of murder convictions that are going to rest on this evidence," Thompson said. "These scandals happen. When they do, they present an opportunity for the community to try to step in and do a thorough investigation."
Defense attorney Eric Perkins said the situation at the medical examiner's office adds "layers of complication" for defense attorneys and prosecutors in all of the affected cases.
Because of the appearance of impropriety in the medical examiner's office, defense attorneys in Corpus Christi and in the region should be "on notice" of the investigation, he said. Defense attorneys are duty-bound to provide defendants with an exhaustive defense. As a result, he said, they would need to challenge the results of the autopsy reports more so than before.
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For prosecutors, the integrity of the medical examiner's office can be an important part of building a case against someone.
"Medical examiner testimony has traditionally been one of the stalwarts of a prosecution," Perkins said. "You got a doctor in front of a jury. That doctor is going to testify like a doctor, and he's going to sound very forceful and very forthright in his testimony — juries absolutely love that. But this situation in the ME's office could undo that."
San Patricio County District Attorney Samuel B. Smith, whose county contracts with the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office to do its autopsies, said the autopsy is not always critical in criminal proceedings. While it is common to have a medical examiner determine the cause of death, it is sometimes obvious what caused it, he said, examples being hit-and-runs or gun deaths. The weight given to an autopsy depends on the case, he said.
"For a great majority of cases, the cause of death is readily apparent. If there was a gun recovered and the dead person has gunshot wounds, it is pretty likely that was a gunshot," he said. "But in certain cases — say, a poisoning or something like that — it could be a much closer call."
Still, Smith said the situation at the medical examiner's office is "less than ideal."
"It causes another complication that you have to think about and plan for. Worst case, you hopefully have enough evidence you can show that it was a homicide without (the autopsy)," he said.
The Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office contracts with 17 surrounding counties to perform their autopsies.
Homicide rulings by Sandra Lyden
The Caller-Times submitted an open records request for all of the autopsy reports completed by Lyden. Excluding Olachia's report, two people's deaths were ruled as homicides: a 47-year-old Edinburg woman and a 32-year-old Mathis man.
YVONNE SALAS
Yvonne Salas was found dead on Dec. 7 in an Edinburg home she shared with her boyfriend. Cold to the touch, the 47-year-old was found on her back, arms spread, dressed in all black and without a pulse in the kitchen, according to My RVG News.
Salas' boyfriend, Adan Roberto Ruiz, was arrested and charged with murder. A Hidalgo County grand jury indicted him on that charge in March, court records show.
Ruiz's court-appointed attorney, Mauricio Martinez, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Caller-Times. Emails and phone calls to Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez Jr. were also not returned.
The autopsy by Lyden found her cause of death was strangulation, according to the report.
RUBEN BALDAMAR GARIBAY
Ruben Garibay, 32, was riding his bike down a residential street in Mathis when police say a black sedan intentionally struck him and drove from the scene.
Mathis Police Chief Scott Roush told the Caller-Times no arrests have been made in the case. The Texas Rangers were assisting with the case.
"We are still waiting on lab results pertaining to DNA and other evidence," he wrote in an email to the Caller-Times.
Smith and Roush declined to answer further questions about the investigation into Garibay's death, citing the ongoing investigation.
Lyden found Garibay's cause of death was blunt force trauma, according to the autopsy report.
Other findings by Sandra Lyden
DESTINY CORTINAS
On Dec. 30, Destiny Cortinas, 25, was in a vehicle driven by an older woman when the vehicle crashed near Bay Area Medical Center. Cortinas, who was pregnant at the time, died as a result of the crash.
A spokesperson for the Corpus Christi Police Department told the Caller-Times the baby she was carrying survived after being delivered via emergency cesarean section.
Records showed Lyden performed the autopsy on Cortinas and ruled her death an accident.
At the time of the crash, the CCPD spokesman said the driver would be charged.
PEDRO NAVARRO
Pedro Navarro, 74, was killed on Dec. 30 in an auto-pedestrian crash in Robstown.
Lyden performed the autopsy on Navarro. She ruled the cause of death was accidental, an autopsy report showed.
Possible effects on families
Perkins said the investigation and the subsequent doubt surrounding the findings of the autopsies performed in the medical examiner's office could interfere with loved ones' grieving process.
That's been Krauskopf's experience.
"I was so worried. I kept thinking about how my son was lying in that room where they do autopsies, and I thought about whether everything was even done right. Was his body handed with dignity and care?" she told the Caller-Times. "It just makes me so sick and sad."
She shared her experience with the county commissioners during their Feb. 23 meeting.
"Losing a child is the worst thing anybody can experience. This has been the most difficult time in my life, and what makes it even more painful is having to go through this," she told commissioners. "I have no time to grieve normally because this has caused me so much mental anguish and pain and anxiety."
Chase Rogers covers local government and industry in South Texas. Contact him at chase.rogers@caller.com or on Twitter @chasedrogers. You can support local journalism with a subscription to the Caller-Times.