Medical examiners
performing an autopsy on Bobbi Kristina Brown said Monday their initial
findings turned up no obvious cause of death, while experts said the months
that have passed since Brown was found face-down in a bathtub are working
against authorities now tasked with solving how she died.
The Fulton County
Medical Examiner's Office said in a statement that it will
likely be several weeks before it can rule on a manner and cause of death for
the 22-year-old daughter of Whitney Houston. The agency said its initial autopsy
turned up "no significant injuries" or "previously unknown
medical conditions." It said the next step is ordering lab tests and
issuing subpoenas for documents — most likely Brown's hospital records.
Experts said time
is definitely an enemy in Brown's case. Any drugs she might have taken passed
from her bloodstream long ago. Physical injuries would have been healing even
as Brown remained largely unresponsive. If police overlooked any physical
evidence at Brown's home after she was hospitalized Jan. 31, recovering it
nearly six months later may be impossible.
Dr. Michael
Baden, former medical examiner for New York City, has performed more than
20,000 autopsies during a career spanning more than 45 years. He said the first
obstacle for forensic pathologists in Brown's case will be a living body's
ability to mend itself and erase medical evidence.
"Normally,
when we do autopsies, we do them in people who freshly died. Things like
toxicology and injuries are clear," said Baden, who helped investigate high-profile
cases including the deaths of comedian John Belushi and civil rights worker
Medgar Evers. "Because she was in the hospital for a long time, any drugs
that may have been in the body will be gone after a few days. Injuries, if
there were any injuries, would be changed by the length of time, the healing
process."
That means
Brown's hospital records will be as important, if not more so, to medical
examiners investigating her death as physical evidence from her autopsy.
FILE - In this
Sept. 1, 2009 file photo, singer Whitney Houston, right, sings with her
daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown during a performance on "Good Morning
America" in Central Park in New York. Brown died Sunday, July 26, 2015,
several months after she was found face-down and unresponsive in a bathtub. She
was 22 years old. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)© The Associated Press FILE -
In this Sept. 1, 2009 file photo, singer Whitney Houston, right, sings with her
daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown during a performance on "Good Morning America"
in Central Park in New… Baden said it's highly possible doctors screened
Brown's blood for drugs as soon as she was admitted to the hospital. Her
medical charts may also note any physical injuries observed by doctors who
first treated her. The initial report by emergency medical technicians who
first responded to Brown's home could also yield critical clues, he said.
Dr. Henry Lee,
the forensic scientist whose famous cases include the death of child beauty
queen JonBenet Ramsey, said the passage of time could make Brown's autopsy
"much harder."
But he said
valuable clues could possibly still be gained from examining her lungs and
digestive system. And lab tests of any clothing she may have worn the day she
was rushed to the hospital could turn up residue of drugs or other toxins.
"There's a
lot of stuff you can do," Lee said.
The Roswell
Police Department in suburban Atlanta is still investigating the events that
led to Brown's death, authorities say. A police report described what happened
in the townhome Brown shared with Nick Gordon as a drowning. However, no one
has been charged in the case.
Gordon has said
Bobbi Kristina, whose father was R&B singer Bobby Brown, wasn't breathing
when she was found face-down in the tub — and that she lacked a pulse before
first responders arrived. The scene was similar to how Houston was found dead
in 2012 in what authorities later ruled an accidental drowning.
In the case of
solving her daughter's death, much will depend on how thorough an investigation
police launched when Brown was first hospitalized in January, said Ken Hodges,
a former Georgia prosecutor who's now a defense attorney in Atlanta.
"The level
of intensity that law enforcement gives things oftentimes is based on the
severity of what they've got," said Hodges, who served 12 years as
district attorney in Dougherty County. "In a homicide, it's often given to
the more seasoned detectives. If this is perceived at the beginning as a drug
overdose and not necessarily criminal, it may not be investigated at all or
might be given to a less experience detective."
Any fingerprints,
blood, hair samples or other physical evidence that police failed to collect
six months ago would likely now have vanished, Hodges said. Or any evidence
still at the scene months later — such as a fingerprint on a doorknob — would
have far less value now because of potential comings and goings since.
Likewise, Hodges
said, any witnesses who weren't interviewed by police at the time might have
trouble remembering events correctly.
"They may
have done it all six months ago," Hodges said. "But time is never a
law enforcement officer's or a prosecutor's friend. It's always best to jump on
a case early. Evidence disappears; memories fade. Things happen."
