ME's office defends Wienckowski autopsy

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The findings in the two autopsies performed on Amanda Wienckowski were startlingly different, so the Erie County Medical Examiner reviewed the case again, and didn't change her mind. She discussed the discrepancies with News 4 Friday afternoon.

What happened to Amanda Wienckowski? Can an autopsy tell for sure? The Erie County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that her death was due to a drug overdose, but her family thought she had been murdered. They contacted a pathologist in California, who re-examined the body and concluded she had been strangled, and had struggled.  But Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Dianne Vertes doesn't accept that. She had looked for it.

"Because my suspicion is high, and she comes in as she does, of course I'm suspecting that it's a homicide. So I'm looking for that," said Dr. Vertes.

Was she strangled? Dr. Vertes says, "No."

She explained, "What we look for in manual strangulation are all these muscles inside your neck. We reflect each one individually, and we're looking for bruises in those muscles."

And they weren't there. When the outside pathologist's findings were revealed at a press conference, the attorney showed News 4's Dr. Peter Ostrow pictures that were claimed to show the effects of strangulation and struggle, but they weren't persuasive.

"She points to no picture to show that - I don't know how she could - there's no evidence in any photomicrograph, or anything that she provided that could show me what she was talking about," argued Dr. Vertes.

But there was a high level of drugs in the body.

Dr. Vertes said, "Does this meet the standard? Is this enough for a person to have died from it? Yes, it is."

So Dr. Vertes and her colleagues maintain their original diagnosis was correct.

Dr. Vertes contended, "Every person who comes in here has a story, and they're often very tragic stories. But sad events don't always translate to what a family thinks happened to their child or their loved one."

Dr. Ostrow and Dr. Vertes discussed several other points of contention, the claims by the outside pathologist aren't documented by photos, and Dr. Vertes has a well-reasoned rebuttal for each one. You can watch the entire interview with Dr. Vertes here.