Meeting with the Pathologist.
Two weeks ago, I went to meet Dr.Lauzon, who is the Chief Pathologist at Parthenais in Montreal. Dr Lauzon was not the one who did Theresa's autopsy, but he revised the report a few years ago.
Here I would like to share some moments of my 3-hour meeting with him.
First, I have to say that I was very impatient to go there, it was the first time I went there, it is a high security building. A big building, with all those people working for some justice,, walking, going.
It is in that building that Theresa's autopsy was done 27 years ago. The dentist who identified her is still working there, he was there that day, but the Pathologist who did Theresa's autopsy died a few years ago.
A lot of people ask me why Theresa's autopsy was done in Montreal, so the answer is very simple, at the time there was only 3 Medico legal laboratory, one in Rimouski, one in Quebec and the other one in Montreal, so that's why.
So, I will not write about every detail of my 3-hour meeting, but I will share my experience about that day.
First of all, I did not expect to know a lot of new things but I had many questions that I needed answered.
But to resume it, it is still the same sad answer..the body was found too late to know the exact cause of death.
We even talked about exhumation, and apparently it is too late too. Well, we went through every word from the report, Dr Lauzon was really nice, he took the time to explain to me every single detail.
And about the stomach contents which was found in Theresa's stomach, it doesn't mean anything. I asked him how much content was found, well it is the size of a sandwich, but still, there is no meaning in that.
So, at some point I was desperate because I still hoped to have some new leads.
About the strangulation, and the hyode bones, still..there is different kind of strangulation, which some of them just don't leave any marks, for example when someone is strangulated by the arms and not the hand. In Theresa's case the hyode bone was not broken...
And apparently April period is the worst time to discover a body..so again.
Dr Lauzon said that if he was the pathologist in charge of that case, he would have add: possible noyade!
He told me to not investigate that case as a murder because maybe it was not a murder,...well, then I remembered that I was in Parthenais's building..well, he didn't go to Comtpon to see the place. I try to stop to be upset when I heard that because for me it is just ignorance..when I hear stupid thing that maybe it is a noyade,,(drowning) I even don't want to comment on that. Well, yes maybe it is a noyade, but still a murder, and not accidental noyade.
Well, now, yes I saw the picture, and it was not something I am comfortable to talk about but John asked me just to explain how it was for me.
Of course I will not describe anything here. I was nervous a bit, I saw before some picture on the net, but it was the first one live. There are 11 pictures in colour. We didn't look at them just like that, Lauzon explained to me everything about the picture.
So, I was okay, of course I took a deep breath before, and then he asked me if it was the first time that I will see these kind of pictures, and then he said that we will see them very fast first, and then after more in details. That's what we did.
So, for me it was weird a bit, to see the girl that I investigate her death, to see her there, but to be honest, I still have the picture of her with that big smile. But yes, I didn't sleep well for 2 days, not because the pictures themselves, but just with the fact you see that..a little hard to explain. But it is important for criminologist and all the people in those field to see everything, to go through everything in links with the work they do.
As I said he explained to me everything about the pictures, and I wanted to know about those strangulation marks, but according to Lauzon, it was not strangulation marks.
So, that day someone nice came with me, just to accompagny me, because that person didn't want me go there alone, about the pictures, the person thought that I will be disturbed, so it was very nice from that person, because they stayed outside, reading a book for 3 hour waiting for me, because as I said it's high security and you can't pass the entrance if you don't have the permission.
But I was okay, really.
So, I just can say something, ..it is really a lot less that I was imagining, and that people can imagine.
Seriously, it was still her, completely her. and no, it was not like in the movie..as Lauzon said, she would have had to spend alot more months in the water to be like what we see in the movie. So, really, the pictures were okay.
So, now I did what John asked me, but for sure I went fast, so if you have any question about the autopsy, please ask me..I swear that I will have the answer, because I asked all the imaginable questions that I could ask.
Sue
posted by Anonymous @ 9/15/2006 11:54:00 PM
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