SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Six cases in Spokane County are getting another look, as part of the work of the county’s Medical Examiner.
Dr. Veena D. Singh has been on the job for a little over a year. This month, Dr. Singh asked the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to reclassify two deaths as homicide and four others are currently under review.
The county said the reviews have all come at the request of family or law enforcement.
“Medical and scientific knowledge is continually advancing, and the ME Office will always make use of new technology and scientific advances to make the most accurate diagnoses possible,” Spokane County Communications Manager Jared Webley said in a written response to KREM 2 News.
The county said the requests have come in over the course of several months. Webley said just recently the Medical Examiner had time to review the cases and let the families know of her conclusions.
“The Medical Examiner’s office first priority is always current cases; the reviews are conducted as time is available,” Webley said.
Among the cases reclassified is the death of Brenda Thurman. In 2016, the Spokane County Medical Examiner ruled that the Spokane Valley woman's death was "accidental."
Brenda Thurman's husband and former Lincoln County reserve deputy Dwayne Thurman claims he was cleaning his wife’s gun when it went off killing her in January 2016. A jury returned a special verdict finding him guilty of second-degree manslaughter.
Now, six years later, the Medical Examiner says Brenda's death was a "homicide" and the office is requesting the Washington Department of Health change this on her death certificate.
The second case reclassified is the death of 20-year-old Kala Williams. Her decomposed remains were found in a sleeping bag in a wooded area of southwest Spokane in May 2012. Williams disappeared a month before her body was found.
The medical examiner's office initially ruled Williams' manner of death as "undetermined," despite the gruesome details surrounding her death. Now, 10 years later, the office is requesting the Washington Department of Health change the manner of death listed on her death certificate to "homicide."
Cause vs Manner of Death
The medical examiner is responsible for determining both the cause and manner of death, according to Webley. The cause of death is the actual change in the body that leads to death, such as a heart attack or a gunshot wound, while the manner of death is a description of the circumstances of death.
Webley said the classification of manner of death is a "neutral" activity for a medical examiner, as the manner of death is a description required by the state for the purpose of categorizing death. It does not indicate or imply any criminal intent.
Here's how classifying the manner of death works:
- If someone dies of natural disease and there is no injury or drug or other external force involved, the manner is classified as natural
- If an injury has caused or contributed to death, there are 3 manners to choose from: suicide (if the person inflicts the injury on themselves), accident (if the injury is an unforeseen outcome of another activity), or homicide (if the injury is inflicted by someone else).
- If the body is too decomposed, too badly burned, or otherwise too degraded to determine a cause of death, or there is not enough information available at the time of certification about the circumstances, the manner can be classified as undetermined
“For purposes of death certification, the manner of death classification is made at one point in time during what may be an ongoing investigation. Because of this, cases are never truly 'closed,' since new relevant/material information may come to light at any time and the case may be re-evaluated in the context of that new information,” said information provided by Webley.