RIP: truth

What are the typical symptoms of a heart attack? If you said torn clothes, being dragged hundreds of yards, and covered over with brush then you were right. Such was the claim of a Massachusetts medical examiner in 1975. A 14 year old girl's scuffed up corpse was found hidden in a park and for twenty years the official story was that she died of heart disease. She was buried without an autopsy to verify her heart condition. Though the police were "dumbfounded" by the ruling fighting it would be difficult, so they closed the case. For twenty years the truth rotted in a grave until a new investigation dug up the body and a new medical examiner checked the "homicide" box. I wish I could speak with the policemen who worked on the case in 1975. How, I would ask, can you go back to your regular beat, ticketing speeders, breaking up quarrels, arresting vagrants when a lie has buried a mother's justice along with her daughter's corpse? How can you give up? Was the medical examiner really that lazy? Was he so stubborn that he would rather let her killer escape than admit to a mistake? Did the truth not matter to him?

What would you do if you found out your husband had murdered a girl two decades ago in another state? The truth matters.

Earlier this year of a 25 year old case re-opened in Ohio. The original autopsy concluded that James Silver committed suicide. He was found with a shotgun wound to his head, wrapped in sheets, partially burned, and buried under the floor. Can you imagine saying with a straight face that a man wrapped, burned, and buried himself after blowing his head apart with a shotgun? The truth doesn't matter to some people.

Last year Colonel Shue of the USAF died in a car crash. Emergency workers found duct tape on his hands and feet, a deep six inch gash under his clothes, and his nipples cut off. Blood that was found on the duct tape was clearly not from the crash injuries but no samples were taken for DNA testing. The police called it a suicide and a grand jury agreed. This time, however, the FBI has stepped in and is reviewing the case.

Officially, an Australian woman named Jennifer Tanner killed herself in 1984. With half a cup of coffee beside her and her baby in the next room she used her husband's bolt action rifle to shoot herself. Just in case she wasn't dead enough after the first bullet entered her brain she shot herself in the head a second time. And with the same two shots she managed to put bullet holes in both her hands. Without getting blood on the rifle. The first cops on the scene suspected foul play but were instructed not to gather evidence and told to take no photographs. Jennifer's brother-in-law cleaned up the scene immediately and the family organized a hasty funeral. Her body was buried only 60 hours after her death, before any serious investigation could be done. No one was questioned. No fingerprints. No forensics. The first constable to reach the scene is the only one who has tried to pursue the truth. He has been opposed every step of the way by Jennifer's brothers-in-law, one of whom was a tough big city cop.

Some people don't like the truth. Some are too timid or indifferent to seek out the truth. The truth is often difficult to find and frequently provides no reward beyond it's own merit. Should it really matter so much? I can't tell you why, but I'm sure it does. I respect anyone who doggedly pursues the truth. I denounce all who treat the truth with indifference. And I loathe those who hide the truth and promote lies. The truth does matter.