The second autopsy conducted on the body of 11-year-old Adriana Younge has found that the initial post-mortem examination conducted in Guyana was thoroughly and competently done.
However, given the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death and the fact that drowning in autopsy is diagnosed after all other possible causes of death have been ruled out, the examiner in the second autopsy is reluctant to come to that conclusion.
The second autopsy was conducted in the United States on Thursday by Dr Carol Terry, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
In an interview with senior journalist Travis Chase of HGPTV Nightly News, Dr Terry said that apart from the autopsy results, a thorough criminal investigation would be required to determine the cause of death.
“There is a lot of information that needs to be gained, a lot of investigation that needs to be done. Drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion and by that it means you’d have to exclude other potential causes of death. Often times when a body is found in water, the assumption is that the person has drowned. There is nothing in autopsy that is diagnostic of drowning. So again, that is what I mean by saying that drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion. And in this case, what I have been told regarding the circumstances are so suspicious that I really think that there needs to be a very thorough investigation and I would want like the results of toxicological testing or drug testing from the first examination as well as any additional testing that was done in accordance with the first autopsy.”
Dr Terry continued that based on information received regarding the child’s disappearance and the subsequent finding of her body in a pool that was reportedly searched, consideration must be given as to whether she could have died prior and later placed in the pool. This, she said, could be determined by the investigation and additional testing for examples of possible drugs in the system or signs of sexual assault.
The doctor added, when asked, that even if the autopsy was conducted 24 hours after death, drowning could not be immediately determined as the cause of death. She said that there are certain things that could be supportive of drowning but are not “uniformed”; for example, fluid in the lungs and sphenoid sinus, which may or may not be present in drowning cases. Typically, she noted this may be found with bodies that would have been in water, and this could happen at the time when the person was alive and then drowned or if the body is in the water but already deceased.
As it relates to trauma, the doctor said no physical signs were seen. She noted, however, that the absence of the physical manifestation of trauma does not mean that someone was not murdered. “There are ways you can kill someone and not leave any demonstrable trauma on the body.” She said one just has to prevent that person from breathing and highlighted ways in which this could be done.
Dr Terry pointed out, however, that her examination of Adrianna’s body is compromised. She said that given she has performed a second autopsy on the child, there are issues of artefacts being introduced by the first autopsy, such as decomposition and embalming.
“So that introduces a lot of artifacts to the body and it compromises the examination somewhat.” She reiterated, however, that “this diagnosis and this investigation doesn’t hinge just on the autopsy, it primarily hinges on the investigation of the death or any potential crime that occurred in association with the child’s disappearance.”
The Guyana Police Force, in a statement earlier this week, confirmed that Younge died by drowning based on the first autopsy performed. They said that it showed no sign of foul play, that there were no signs of sexual assault, and the toxicology report did not provide anything amiss.
The findings, they added, were also in keeping with the findings of retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigator Leonard McCoshen, whose initial report concluded “no evidence of foul play by persons named or unnamed during the investigation.”
Adriana Younge was found dead in the Double Day Hotel in Tuschen on the East Bank Essequibo on 24 April, some 20 hours after she was reported missing. She had gone to the facility on a family outing.
