Body parts forgotten 7 years at crime lab

• A body from 2006 recently was found in medical examiner%27s refrigerator
• Body was discovered during
• Lost%2C stolen evidence from drug lab has led to legal challenges in 200 drug cases
• Defense lawyers say this raises questions about work done under previous medical examiner

WILMINGTON – A bag of human remains – overlooked and forgotten since 2006 – was discovered in a refrigerator at the Delaware Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the latest misstep for the scandal-plagued agency.

Department of Safety and Homeland Security spokeswoman Kimberly Chandler said the remains were found during the process of moving the functions of the now-shuttered OCME to the Department of Homeland Security's new Division of Forensic Science.

Officials were not able to provide an exact date when the overlooked remains were discovered by the transition team, but it appears it was within the past few weeks.

Deputy Attorney General Joe Grubb said prosecutors were informed about the discovery last Monday, but declined further comment.

According to Homeland Security, the remains date to sometime in 2006, when they were found in a wooded area in Kent County. The medical examiner's office was sent out to collect the body and determine the identity of the individual. Chandler said the remains were old and skeletal and two bags were needed to collect all the parts along with dirt and vegetation surrounding the body.

The cause of death could not be determined but by the spring of 2007, Chandler said, OCME was able to confirm the identity of the man and arrangements were made to return the remains to his family. However, only one of the two bags was given to the family; the other bag apparently remained in what Chandler described as a "decomposition refrigerator."

"When it was discovered, we took immediate steps to make arrangements to return the remains to the family," Chandler said.

Homeland Security declined to release the name of the individual whose remains were discovered, citing privacy concerns. Chandler could not say if the remains have been returned.

This latest news comes on top of revelations about sloppy and lax procedures at the OCME's Controlled Substances Laboratory that led to more than 50 thefts of drug evidence between 2010 and Feb. 2014 that has imperiled hundreds of drug prosecutions.

Now, with news that body parts went overlooked in a morgue refrigerator for some seven years, defense attorneys are suggesting that problems at the office were not limited to the drug testing lab.

"My immediate reaction is that nothing coming out of the OCME crime lab would surprise me," said Delaware Public Defender Brendan O'Neill. "Given what we have learned to date, the operation was a mess and nothing coming out of that lab can be trusted."

He said this latest revelation calls into question all the OCME's work over the past several years, including autopsies, toxicology tests and DNA tests.

"We have been focused on the drug lab, obviously, but it appears the lack of management controls may have extended to other departments," said defense attorney Patrick Collins.

A judge is considering motions filed by Collins and the Delaware Public Defender's Office that could potentially result in some 200 pending drug cases being thrown out and thousands of closed drug prosecutions being overturned due to the security lapses and sloppy procedures at the state's only drug testing lab.

The News Journal first detailed problems at the lab in April, which were later confirmed by a preliminary report by the attorney general's office.

Two lab employees have been arrested and charged as a result of the investigation into the drug thefts and Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Callery was fired in July by Homeland Security Secretary Lewis Schiliro.

A News Journal investigation of Callery in March showed that since at least 2000, he had a thriving side business as an expert witness-for-hire that frequently took him out of state and away from his job. In addition, Callery was moonlighting as a contract pathologist for both the state of Rhode Island and Chester County, Pennsylvania, that also kept him away from Delaware. In the case of Rhode Island, Callery performed 173 autopsies or examinations in that state between 2008 and 2011.

On Monday, as part of the restructuring of the OCME, the newly formed Commission on Forensic Science is set to meet for the first time and receive an update from Schiliro about the department's progress in fixing problems at the lab and setting up the new Forensic Sciences Division.

Last week, Homeland Security announced that Dr. Gary Collins had been hired as Delaware's new chief medical examiner. In a letter to legislators, Schiliro announced that the drug lab that was closed in February, due to the scandal, would be re-opening with new accreditation in October.

While Homeland Security provided details about the recent discovery of remains at the morgue, many questions remain unanswered.

Why and how the bag of remains apparently went unnoticed has not been explained.

Chandler could not say if the bag was kept intentionally for some reason or if there was ever a criminal investigation associated with the remains, or if this was an isolated incident. She said that since many questions relate to events between 2006 and 2014, the Department of Health and Social Services, which oversaw OCME before July 2014, or Dr. Callery would have to provide answers.

Jill Fredel, a spokeswoman for DHSS, said she did not have any information about the incident and referred questions to Callery.

Callery, through his attorney Dan Lyons, declined to comment.

The investigation into thefts at the drug testing lab is ongoing.

Chandler said Homeland Security is "looking at everything" in the transition process and not just the troubled controlled substances lab. "We are certainly looking to put the best practices in place," she said, but added that reform will take time and change is "not going to happen overnight."

Contact Sean O'Sullivan at (302) 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SeanGOSullivan