(Copyright 2008
Bangor Daily News)
EAST MILLINOCKET -
Forensic pathologist Dr.
Michael Baden wants to
look at the remains of
Joyce McLain, but he
needs the autopsy report
and other materials
connected to the nearly
28-year-old homicide
investigation, he said
Wednesday.
Baden hopes to see from
that data whether
exhumation would be
helpful, but said he
would be willing to look
even if his initial
opinion is negative.
"It is amazing how one
can still find DNA
evidence," Baden said
Wednesday.
"Sometimes we do
exhumations so the
families can at least
put it to rest," he
added. "If the family
really wants it, despite
everything, sometimes
they can do it to stop
their obsessing over
what could be found."
State police would need
to ensure that the chain
of evidence, as well as
any DNA samples and
other forensic
materials, are
maintained while the
body is in Baden's care,
State Deputy Attorney
General William R.
Stokes said.
But he foresees no major
difficulties in
cooperating with Baden.
"There are practical
considerations that have
to be taken care of ...
but this is not an
adversarial process,"
Stokes said Wednesday.
"I think all of us fully
understand Pamela
McLain's dedication to
all of this. We
certainly understand why
she wants to pursue
this. We are not going
to be in any way
obstructive to that."
The chief forensic
pathologist for the New
York State Police and
host of HBO's "Autopsy"
series, Baden has been a
medical examiner for 45
years. An
internationally
recognized expert
witness who has
testified in the cases
of Medgar Evers, John
Belushi and O.J.
Simpson, Baden told
Joyce's cousin Greylen
Hale last week that he
would need $10,000 for
expenses, part of the
$15,000 the activist
group Justice For Joyce
hopes to raise. The
group is meeting at 10
a.m. April 18 and April
25 in the town office
building. The public is
invited.
A
16-year-old Schenck High
School sophomore, Joyce
McLain was killed
sometime on or about the
night of Aug. 8, 1980.
Her body was found two
days later in a power
line clearing about 200
feet from the school's
soccer fields. Her head
and neck had been struck
repeatedly with a blunt
object.
The victim's mother,
Pamela McLain, asked the
state medical examiner's
office late last year to
exhume the body, but her
request was denied. She
hoped that the killer
might have left DNA
traces in the wounds
that could help with the
state police
investigation, which
continues. She also
believes there is at
least a chance the body
has not degraded to the
extent experts believe.
McLain said Wednesday
that she would do what
she could to ensure no
evidence is tampered
with.
"State police should be
willing to help us do
that and to be in on the
autopsy when it is
done," McLain said.
"I
don't see the state
holding the autopsy back
from Dr. Baden," Hale
said. "A man of his
expertise is hard to say
no to, and he might be
able to find something.
"We're not saying the
state didn't do a good
job [investigating the
homicide], but a second
set of eyes could be
good," Hale added.
Stokes has said the
state's forensic experts
believe it is extremely
unlikely that any viable
evidence will be found.
The state retains the
best evidence - three
tissue samples of
inconclusive origin -
taken from the body at
autopsy, he said.
Further review might
lead Baden to the same
conclusion. Maine's
forensic investigators
are quite good, Baden
said, describing his
relationship with them
as collegial. He has
worked occasionally in
Maine on cases and
attends a professional
forensics seminar held
annually at Colby
College in Waterville.
DNA evidence is very
fragile, and has been
the logjam breaker in
many a homicide,
particularly on TV shows
like his own HBO
"Autopsy" series, but 90
percent of all murder
cases are solved without
it, Baden said.
The greatest
case-closer, Baden said,
is shoe leather -
investigation that
creates a factual
narrative confirmed by
the forensics.
The case's lead
investigator, state
police Detective Brian
Strout, was in town
Monday doing interviews.
Stokes said he has been
keeping tabs on the
investigation, but
declined to comment on
what the latest work
revealed. The
investigation is
ongoing.
Cases where bodies are
well-preserved enough
for DNA evidence
recovery after decades
underground are quite
rare, Baden said, but
not unheard of. In 2001,
he and other forensic
pathologists found semen
in the pubic hairs of
Mary Sullivan, the last
reported victim of the
Boston Strangler. She
was murdered in January
1964.
That evidence helped
shed light on a possible
new murder suspect. Some
said it exonerated the
man who confessed to the
killings, Albert DeSalvo,
but Boston police
refused to cooperate,
Baden said.
The body of Evers was
extraordinarily
well-preserved when it
was exhumed in 1994,
almost 31 years after he
was murdered. This
exhumation helped lead
to a conviction of Byron
De La Beckwith, a member
of the Ku Klux Klan, but
investigators there were
seeking bullet tracks,
not DNA, Baden said.
McLain family members
have their own examples
of dormant cases
revitalized by DNA. They
hope to add Joyce's case
to the list - if they
can raise enough money
for the autopsy.
