00:00:04
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:18
NARRATOR: A woman agrees to go on a vacation
00:00:20
with her ex-husband, though she hasn't seen him in 15 years.
00:00:25
How many chances are you gonna get to go on a cruise?
00:00:29
NARRATOR: But on the morning they are to set sail,
00:00:32
she finds him dead in the bath tub.
00:00:36
It's a very strange situation.
00:00:38
You know, a man, 43, shouldn't just drown in a bathtub.
00:00:41
Something has to happen to you.
00:00:43
NARRATOR: Then, a father lets his only son sleep
00:00:46
off a late night of partying.
00:00:50
Son?
00:00:52
NARRATOR: Only to make a horrifying discovery.
00:00:56
His son isn't sleeping.
00:00:58
I could see that he was, uh, dead
00:01:01
before I ever crossed the room.
00:01:04
NARRATOR: And no one knows how it happened.
00:01:06
ANITA SEAMANS: I remember standing looking down
00:01:09
on-- on this young man thinking that this man shouldn't
00:01:12
be dead.
00:01:14
NARRATOR: Altered lives.
00:01:16
Baffling medical mysteries.
00:01:18
Shocking revelations.
00:01:20
These are the everyday cases of Dr. G, Medical Examiner.
00:01:24
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:01:32
Hi.
00:01:33
CLERK: Hi, how are you all?
00:01:35
NARRATOR: At first glance, Vesta and Rusty
00:01:37
seem like any happy couple.
00:01:41
They've just flown into Orlando, Florida.
00:01:45
And in the morning, they plan to embark
00:01:46
on a 10-day Caribbean cruise.
00:01:50
But first impressions can be deceiving.
00:01:55
This is the first time they've seen
00:01:56
each other since their divorce 15 years ago.
00:02:01
VESTA: He was a drinker.
00:02:04
And it worked its way into the relationship,
00:02:08
and it was not good.
00:02:10
I just asked him to leave, and he did.
00:02:14
NARRATOR: But a few months earlier,
00:02:16
Rusty called out of the blue.
00:02:18
He'd come into an inheritance and wanted to treat
00:02:20
Vesta to a Caribbean cruise.
00:02:23
It was a strange offer, but one that the unemployed Vesta
00:02:27
couldn't refuse.
00:02:30
VESTA: How many chances are you're
00:02:31
gonna get to go on a cruise?
00:02:32
And I know him, so it was a nice safe bet.
00:02:37
NARRATOR: Vesta had just one very clear condition for Rusty.
00:02:41
VESTA: I told him that I would love to go with him,
00:02:44
but that I didn't want him to be drunk the whole time.
00:02:48
And he said he could, you know, live like that.
00:02:52
So I thought it was gonna be pretty fun.
00:02:55
NARRATOR: So 15 years after the end of her marriage,
00:02:58
Vesta finds herself catching up with her ex-husband
00:03:01
over dinner, eagerly awaiting the promised cruise.
00:03:06
So far, Rusty seems to be keeping his promise,
00:03:09
nursing a single beer.
00:03:12
But something about him is not quite right.
00:03:16
VESTA: He looked haggard.
00:03:19
That's a good word for that.
00:03:21
He looked sick.
00:03:24
NARRATOR: Rusty confirms that in fact he has been extremely ill.
00:03:28
He tells Vesta that he had been hospitalized with a stroke
00:03:31
the previous year, and that later he was
00:03:34
diagnosed with prostate cancer.
00:03:36
VESTA: He told me that he'd had a stroke and just
00:03:40
all sorts of horrible things.
00:03:42
And I had the distinct impression
00:03:44
that he was not gonna be around very much longer.
00:03:49
NARRATOR: When the couple returns to their room,
00:03:52
Vesta can't help noticing that Rusty is trembling badly.
00:03:58
VESTA: He shook all night long.
00:04:01
It was probably right up there on the list
00:04:04
of one of the oddest things I've ever been around.
00:04:07
I had my hand on his back, rubbing his back,
00:04:10
and it was just--
00:04:12
it was shaking too much.
00:04:15
NARRATOR: The next morning, Rusty
00:04:17
is up at the crack of dawn, complaining
00:04:19
about how cold he is.
00:04:21
I'm cold.
00:04:22
NARRATOR: His shivering is worse.
00:04:24
So he decides to take a bath to warm up.
00:04:28
In the meantime, Vesta gets ready for
00:04:31
her long anticipated cruise.
00:04:33
VESTA: I had, like, probably a month, you know,
00:04:35
to sit there and contemplate this trip.
00:04:38
So I packed everything I own, basically.
00:04:41
NARRATOR: Then she realizes that Rusty is taking
00:04:43
a long time in the bathroom.
00:04:48
VESTA: I was going to tell him, you know, hurry up.
00:04:50
I have to get ready too.
00:04:52
[KNOCKING]
00:04:54
NARRATOR: She knocks on the door and enters to a chilling scene.
00:04:58
Rusty has collapsed unconscious in the tub.
00:05:02
Frantically, she tries to revive him, but there's no response.
00:05:07
VESTA: Having to hit him in the face was very strange.
00:05:10
He didn't wake up and yell at me, don't hit me.
00:05:13
You know, so I knew that he wasn't gonna wake up.
00:05:18
NARRATOR: She holds his head above water, drains the tub,
00:05:23
and then calls 9-1-1.
00:05:27
Sir?
00:05:28
Sir?
00:05:29
NARRATOR: Paramedics and police arrived to a baffling scene.
00:05:35
There's a dead man in the bathtub,
00:05:39
and his ex-wife can't explain how he got that way.
00:05:43
VESTA: I guess I was afraid of them, 'cause I--
00:05:46
you know, who knows what police are gonna do in a situation?
00:05:50
They don't know that I haven't hurt him.
00:05:53
And that was scary, you know?
00:05:58
NARRATOR: Rusty is officially pronounced dead at 9:50 AM,
00:06:04
just 10 minutes before Vesta was to embark on her dream cruise.
00:06:10
At a loss to explain his death, police turn over the perplexing
00:06:14
case of Rusty Updike to Orlando's
00:06:17
chief medical examiner, Dr. Jan Garavaglia,
00:06:20
better known as Dr. G.
00:06:26
First of all, the only thing we had initially about this
00:06:31
patient is that he's 43 years old,
00:06:34
and he's very excited to go on a cruise with his ex-wife.
00:06:37
It's a very strange situation.
00:06:39
I think we needed a lot of information.
00:06:42
So you know, a man, 43, shouldn't just
00:06:44
drown in a bathtub.
00:06:45
Something has to happen to you.
00:06:49
NARRATOR: Given the circumstances,
00:06:51
Dr. G will examine Rusty's body for signs of foul play.
00:06:55
But she also suspects that one of his reported illnesses
00:06:59
could be the culprit.
00:07:01
DR. G: I thought it was maybe another stroke that caused
00:07:03
him to collapse in the bathtub.
00:07:05
VESTA: I got a call from Dr. G. And she was asking me questions
00:07:11
about what I had told the police about him having
00:07:15
a stroke and things like that.
00:07:18
DR. G: Here she is, you know, her dead ex in the bathtub.
00:07:22
So even though we have a history that he's
00:07:24
got some terrible diseases, we still--
00:07:27
I mean, this needs to be autopsied.
00:07:30
We have a thin man, looks a stated age of mid 40s.
00:07:36
NARRATOR: Dr. G begins by closely
00:07:38
examining Rusty's body for any signs
00:07:40
that might indicate an assault.
00:07:44
There's a tiny little abrasion on his side
00:07:46
that my investigator said that he got when he was trying
00:07:49
to get him out of the bathtub.
00:07:51
NARRATOR: There was no sign of struggle,
00:07:53
and she finds no trauma to the face or neck that
00:07:55
would point to suffocation.
00:07:58
DR. G: Nothing external whatsoever.
00:08:00
Not a bit of trauma.
00:08:03
NARRATOR: It's a good sign for Vesta.
00:08:06
But while there are no outward indications
00:08:08
of what killed Rusty, the internal exam
00:08:10
should provide some answers.
00:08:13
Dr. G makes the classic Y incision across the torso,
00:08:17
cutting from shoulder to sternum.
00:08:21
Considering that he was found in the tub,
00:08:23
she first looks for signs of drowning.
00:08:26
If he had drowned, his lungs would be filled with fluid.
00:08:34
His lungs show no evidence whatsoever of any drowning.
00:08:38
No fluid when I cut the lung.
00:08:40
So there is nothing to suggest a drowning.
00:08:43
It looks like he probably had something happen to him prior
00:08:46
to putting his head under.
00:08:49
NARRATOR: Halfway through the autopsy, Dr. G
00:08:51
has found no signs of violence and confirms
00:08:54
that Rusty didn't drown.
00:08:58
I don't have a reason to think she killed him.
00:09:00
It's hard to put somebody under water in a bathtub.
00:09:03
They knew that I hadn't done anything to hurt him.
00:09:06
So that was good.
00:09:09
I was pretty interested, really, and eager to find
00:09:13
out what he had died from.
00:09:16
NARRATOR: But while Vesta can now breathe a sigh of relief,
00:09:19
for Dr. G, the hard part is just beginning.
00:09:24
Coming up, Rusty Updike's autopsy
00:09:27
appears to have Dr. G stumped.
00:09:29
It's just kind of odd.
00:09:30
We don't really know what's going on with him.
00:09:33
NARRATOR: When Dr. G Medical Examiner continues.
00:09:36
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:09:49
As they do during all autopsies, morgue technicians extract
00:09:53
blood, urine, and eye fluid samples
00:09:56
from the corpse of Rusty Updike, a 43-year-old man
00:10:00
found dead in a hotel bathtub earlier that morning.
00:10:05
We're gonna definitely send off that blood for toxicology.
00:10:09
NARRATOR: After eliminating foul play as a suspect in Rusty's
00:10:12
strange death, Dr. G must now focus her investigation
00:10:16
on natural causes.
00:10:23
I started the autopsy thinking I
00:10:25
was gonna find just a whole host of natural diseases
00:10:28
in this fellow, who seemed to be quite sick.
00:10:30
We got the information that he was in the hospital for three
00:10:34
weeks with a cerebral vascular accident, a bleed in his brain
00:10:37
or a stroke in his brain.
00:10:39
NARRATOR: Before trying to determine which,
00:10:41
if any, of these potentially fatal ailments killed Rusty,
00:10:44
Dr. G learns more about his most serious
00:10:47
long-term illness, alcoholism.
00:10:51
VESTA: Rusty at first was very charming, you know?
00:10:56
He was fun to be around.
00:11:00
NARRATOR: Vesta met Rusty Updike when he was a young firefighter
00:11:03
in his early 20s.
00:11:08
The couple decided to tie the knot after the arrival
00:11:11
of a baby girl, Natis.
00:11:15
But according to family members, not everything
00:11:18
was picture perfect at home.
00:11:21
Growing up he was actually a pretty
00:11:23
good dad, when he wasn't drunk.
00:11:25
I wish that he wouldn't drink all the time,
00:11:28
but I knew that he wasn't gonna change.
00:11:32
NARRATOR: After six years, Rusty's alcoholism made
00:11:35
the union unbearable for Vesta.
00:11:38
He had lost his job.
00:11:39
We were gonna lose the house.
00:11:40
You know, it was--
00:11:42
it was just all too much.
00:11:43
And I just asked him to leave, and he did.
00:11:49
NARRATOR: She would not see him again until the fateful trip
00:11:52
to Orlando.
00:11:56
The organ which typically tells the dark story of an alcoholic
00:12:00
is the liver.
00:12:01
But when Dr. G takes a closer look,
00:12:04
what she finds surprises her.
00:12:08
Liver for a chronic alcoholic doesn't look too bad.
00:12:11
Looks like he might have some fatty changes,
00:12:13
but certainly not cirrhotic.
00:12:16
NARRATOR: She can rule out any liver disease
00:12:18
related to his alcohol abuse.
00:12:21
But more potential killers are lurking
00:12:23
in his reported medical history, beginning
00:12:26
with the prostate gland.
00:12:28
We got the information that he might have prostate cancer
00:12:30
and that it may be quite severe.
00:12:33
NARRATOR: Dr. G reaches below the bladder
00:12:36
and removes the prostate gland, where according to Vesta
00:12:39
there should be signs of pathology.
00:12:42
But when she dissects the walnut sized gland,
00:12:45
she is once again taken aback.
00:12:49
DR. G: I look at his prostate, and his prostate
00:12:50
looks just fine.
00:12:52
There is no evidence of prostate cancer at all.
00:12:55
It looked just great.
00:12:57
NARRATOR: It's puzzling.
00:12:58
For someone who was as sick as Rusty claimed to be,
00:13:01
she can find no evidence of it.
00:13:06
Only one organ remains that might
00:13:08
reveal what caused this man to die
00:13:10
in a hotel bathroom, the brain.
00:13:15
Surely the answer's in the head
00:13:17
because he's had this big stroke.
00:13:19
He had to spend three weeks in the hospital.
00:13:20
And that'll give me the answer.
00:13:22
I was just looking to see if I could see any evidence
00:13:24
of an old stroke externally.
00:13:27
Could be just a small--
00:13:28
like a hypertensive stroke on the inside.
00:13:33
NARRATOR: She thoroughly sections his brain
00:13:35
and closely examines the vessels for any signs of bleeding
00:13:38
or clots, but he encounters yet another inexplicable dead end.
00:13:44
And open the head, and there is nothing wrong with it.
00:13:48
Nothing wrong with his brain whatsoever.
00:13:51
Medulla.
00:13:53
They all look fine.
00:13:54
I don't really see anything.
00:13:58
NARRATOR: In fact, there is no telltale scarring in his brain
00:14:00
tissue that indicates Rusty ever had a stroke,
00:14:04
and no tumors or malignant tissue in his prostate
00:14:07
that would point to any cancer.
00:14:09
Keep getting this history that he's-- you know,
00:14:12
had a stroke and had this prostate problem that
00:14:15
he should get himself, uh--
00:14:17
his papers in order, but yeah, we're not really seeing much.
00:14:21
NARRATOR: It now appears that the medical information
00:14:23
provided to Dr. G is inaccurate.
00:14:26
It's just kinda odd.
00:14:27
We don't really know what's going on with him.
00:14:29
I'm definitely gonna talk to his doctor.
00:14:32
NARRATOR: It's rare, but it happens.
00:14:35
Dr. G is stumped.
00:14:39
The toxicological samples may shed further light.
00:14:42
This is OK.
00:14:45
NARRATOR: But first, she'll have to cut through this web
00:14:48
of misinformation to get to the bottom
00:14:50
of Rusty's mysterious death.
00:14:58
Coming up, one phone call takes the investigation
00:15:01
into a whole new direction.
00:15:04
I got a totally different picture of this man.
00:15:07
NARRATOR: And later, a young man's mysterious death.
00:15:11
I don't know why he's dead.
00:15:13
There's no real apparent reason for it.
00:15:15
NARRATOR: Leads Dr. G to a microscopic killer that
00:15:18
can strike without warning.
00:15:20
DR. G: You don't know what life has for you.
00:15:22
And it's one of those things.
00:15:23
You can't do anything about it.
00:15:24
NARRATOR: When "Dr. G Medical Examiner" continues.
00:15:27
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:15:40
Dr. G orders her investigators to track down
00:15:43
Rusty Updike's medical records from his hometown,
00:15:46
Memphis, Tennessee.
00:15:48
We need to go do little more investigation here.
00:15:51
NARRATOR: The autopsy is over, and she finds herself
00:15:54
in unfamiliar territory.
00:15:57
I don't have a clue what's going on with this man.
00:16:00
None of this history was confirmed at autopsy.
00:16:04
NARRATOR: While waiting for the hospital records,
00:16:07
Dr. G has another idea.
00:16:13
Vesta has given police Rusty's home phone number in Memphis.
00:16:18
I knew that he lived at a motel because of the way
00:16:23
I had to dial the phone.
00:16:27
And he was living with a friend of his at the time.
00:16:30
I wanted to talk to that roommate myself
00:16:33
and see what he knew and what was really going on.
00:16:36
NARRATOR: Dr. G makes the call and quickly learns
00:16:39
that Rusty's life after he left his family had been far
00:16:42
tougher than anyone realized.
00:16:46
I got a totally different picture of this man.
00:16:48
This is a man that lives in a kind of homeless shelter motel.
00:16:53
Um, which I didn't know.
00:16:57
All that time I was talking to him on the phone,
00:16:59
I didn't know that.
00:17:01
NARRATOR: And the roommate reveals more.
00:17:03
Apparently, in the weeks before his trip to Orlando,
00:17:07
Rusty's inheritance had paid for his serious drinking binge.
00:17:12
He's a big time alcoholic--
00:17:14
very big time alcoholic-- and is rarely
00:17:18
without alcohol in his system.
00:17:20
NARRATOR: Finally, the elusive hospital records arrive.
00:17:24
They confirm that Rusty had indeed been hospitalized
00:17:27
for three weeks, as he had told his ex-wife,
00:17:30
but not for the reasons he had claimed.
00:17:34
DR. G: He was not in the hospital for a stroke.
00:17:37
He did not have prostate cancer.
00:17:40
He was in the hospital for effects of chronic alcoholism.
00:17:44
NARRATOR: According to his records, while in the hospital,
00:17:47
Rusty suffered a serious case of delirium tremens, or the DTs.
00:17:53
DR. G: He started going into alcohol withdrawal seizures
00:17:56
and had to be medicated for that.
00:17:59
NARRATOR: Because alcohol is a depressant,
00:18:01
it decreases the activity of an alcoholic's brain cells,
00:18:04
or neurons, causing the symptoms associated
00:18:07
with heavy drinking-- slurred speech, coordination
00:18:10
loss, and numbness.
00:18:13
After prolonged exposure to alcohol,
00:18:15
the neurons of an alcoholic like Rusty's speed up to compensate
00:18:19
for the depressive effects.
00:18:21
But if alcohol is suddenly removed from the bloodstream,
00:18:25
these neurons are caught in overdrive, triggering
00:18:28
all sorts of problems.
00:18:30
You start having physical symptoms without the alcohol.
00:18:34
NARRATOR: One common symptom of alcohol withdrawal
00:18:36
is autonomic dysfunction.
00:18:39
The nervous system simply loses its ability to control
00:18:42
the body's temperature.
00:18:44
Severe trembling can also set in as the brain
00:18:47
cells overstimulate muscles.
00:18:50
Other symptoms are even more serious.
00:18:53
You can have even hallucinations
00:18:55
and psychosis and seizures.
00:18:58
NARRATOR: In such seizures, the brain cells
00:19:00
lapse into uncontrolled, continuous firing,
00:19:03
overloading entire areas of the brain.
00:19:07
When not medically supervised, sudden withdrawal
00:19:10
for a serious alcoholic like Rusty
00:19:12
can be fatal up to 35% of the time.
00:19:16
The fact that Rusty was hospitalized
00:19:18
with alcohol withdrawal syndrome might explain
00:19:21
why he had lied to Vesta.
00:19:23
It's hard to say, I spent three weeks in the hospital
00:19:25
because of alcohol.
00:19:26
It's a little easier to say, I spent three weeks
00:19:28
in the hospital because I had a cerebral vascular
00:19:30
accident and a stroke.
00:19:32
NARRATOR: But these revelations about Rusty's hospitalization
00:19:35
still don't provide an answer to his death.
00:19:39
She already knows he wasn't murdered
00:19:41
and that his various reported illnesses weren't responsible.
00:19:45
But now there's another possibility.
00:19:48
Perhaps Rusty had another bout of alcohol withdrawal syndrome.
00:19:52
The results from his toxicology samples
00:19:55
should provide a definitive answer.
00:20:00
When the report comes back, it shows
00:20:03
that virtually no ethanol was found in Rusty's blood, urine,
00:20:07
or eye fluid samples.
00:20:11
And that could mean real trouble for a serious alcoholic
00:20:14
like Rusty.
00:20:16
With this final piece of the puzzle,
00:20:18
Dr. G now has an answer to the mystery
00:20:20
of what killed Rusty Updike.
00:20:28
Rusty Updike is a homeless alcoholic when
00:20:31
he receives an inheritance.
00:20:33
He uses it to go on a massive drinking binge
00:20:36
with his roommate in Memphis.
00:20:39
The two of them, I imagine, went through $28,000
00:20:45
in a really short period of time.
00:20:50
NARRATOR: With the money left over,
00:20:51
he invites his ex-wife Vesta on a luxurious cruise.
00:20:56
Though she hasn't seen him in 15 years,
00:20:58
she agrees to go, under one condition--
00:21:02
that he not get drunk like he did when they were married.
00:21:05
Rusty agrees, and keeps his promise.
00:21:10
DR. G: They had dinner together.
00:21:13
And he just had one beer.
00:21:15
One beer's nothing for this man.
00:21:17
He's usually drinking 12 and more a day.
00:21:21
NARRATOR: Over dinner, Rusty tells Vesta
00:21:23
that he recently had a stroke and was also
00:21:26
diagnosed with prostate cancer.
00:21:29
DR. G: All of his stories about all of his illnesses
00:21:31
were just made up.
00:21:32
And all of his illnesses boil down to chronic alcohol abuse
00:21:37
and having withdraw seizures from chronic alcohol abuse.
00:21:43
NARRATOR: Having had only one beer the whole day,
00:21:46
Rusty begins to experience alcohol withdrawal,
00:21:50
causing severe tremors.
00:21:53
His nervous system, accustomed to compensating
00:21:56
for the depressive effect of huge quantities of alcohol,
00:21:59
goes into overdrive.
00:22:01
The tremulous can occur within starting six hours after--
00:22:05
after your alcohol level goes down.
00:22:08
NARRATOR: Rusty's body begins to experience
00:22:10
autonomic dysfunction, losing the ability to regulate
00:22:13
its own temperature.
00:22:16
The result-- he's freezing.
00:22:19
DR. G: He's cold.
00:22:20
He just feels horrible.
00:22:22
And so that's why he ends up wanting to take a bath.
00:22:25
NARRATOR: While in the bathtub trying to warm up,
00:22:28
his alcohol withdrawal takes a fatal turn.
00:22:35
ACTOR PLAYING VESTA: Rusty.
00:22:37
Rusty.
00:22:40
He dies in the bathtub, most likely
00:22:42
from either a seizure or cardiac arrhythmia associated
00:22:46
with his alcohol withdrawal.
00:22:51
NARRATOR: Rusty Updike kept his promise to Vesta.
00:22:55
He stayed sober for their vacation.
00:22:57
He's trying to act as best for her.
00:23:00
And unfortunately, that's what does him in.
00:23:05
NARRATOR: But Vesta believes there's more to it.
00:23:08
She thinks he knew exactly what would happen if he stopped
00:23:11
drinking for their trip.
00:23:13
I'm positive that he knew he was gonna die.
00:23:15
That's just an odd thing to say, but I know that it's true.
00:23:18
I think he was feeling very alone in the world.
00:23:25
And I think he just wanted somebody to maybe see him,
00:23:31
you know?
00:23:32
It's hard to go through life and not be seen.
00:23:34
That hurts.
00:23:36
NARRATOR: Dr. G can't help seeing
00:23:38
the irony in Rusty's case.
00:23:40
DR. G: If he'd been drinking and had his usual amount of beers
00:23:44
that he normally would take and the amount of alcohol
00:23:47
he usually had in his system, he probably wouldn't had died.
00:23:49
He was charming.
00:23:53
You know, he was mostly a good person
00:23:57
that had a drinking problem.
00:24:04
NARRATOR: Coming up, a father attempts to wake his only son
00:24:07
and makes a horrifying discovery.
00:24:10
I could see that he was, uh, dead
00:24:12
before I ever crossed the room.
00:24:15
DR. G: A young kid.
00:24:16
29.
00:24:17
And he's dead in bed.
00:24:18
No evidence of external trauma.
00:24:20
NARRATOR: When "Dr. G Medical Examiner" continues.
00:24:37
The sudden death of a healthy young man
00:24:40
is always troubling, all the more so when the circumstances
00:24:44
of the death baffle everyone involved Dr. G found herself
00:24:48
participating in just such a case during her tenure
00:24:51
as medical examiner in San Antonio, Texas.
00:24:58
It is the eve of Super Bowl Sunday,
00:25:00
and 29-year-old Max Maxson is enjoying a well-deserved night
00:25:04
out on the town.
00:25:06
He's popular, a reliable employee
00:25:08
at the excavation company where he works with his father Harry.
00:25:11
HARRY: Yeah, we had--
00:25:12
we had a very good relationship.
00:25:14
He was a good guy.
00:25:15
He had a good relationship with just--
00:25:19
just about everybody that I knew.
00:25:21
It was just incredible how many friends he had,
00:25:25
male and female.
00:25:27
NARRATOR: A few years earlier, Max moved back
00:25:30
in with his father, and the two began
00:25:32
to enjoy the bachelor life.
00:25:35
HARRY: Yeah, we had a lot of fun.
00:25:37
A lot of times, we'd just get-- get in his Jeep,
00:25:39
and we'd ride up River Road go up
00:25:41
to Canyon Dam on the weekends, just be riding along.
00:25:46
We had a lot of fun.
00:25:50
NARRATOR: But tonight, Harry is not with his son.
00:25:53
Max is out at a nightclub on San Antonio's famed River
00:25:57
Walk with some friends.
00:25:58
[CHATTER]
00:26:02
HARRY: He had a whole slew of friends.
00:26:04
He'd go somewhere with one one time,
00:26:06
and another one another time.
00:26:08
They'd go to the nightclub and go dancing.
00:26:12
He enjoyed doing that a lot.
00:26:14
NARRATOR: At around 1:00 AM, Max calls it a night.
00:26:21
He drives home, gets into bed, and turns on the TV.
00:26:33
Four hours later, just after dawn, his father Harry
00:26:37
begins his day.
00:26:38
Like any concerned parent, the first thing he does
00:26:41
is check on his son.
00:26:43
I woke up about 6:30 and--
00:26:46
and went and looked out the window.
00:26:49
His Jeep was in the driveway, so I knew he'd made it home OK.
00:26:53
NARRATOR: But rather than wake him,
00:26:55
Harry figures it's better to let Max sleep off his late night.
00:26:59
HARRY: He always slept till 1 or 2 o'clock
00:27:00
from when he'd come in late.
00:27:02
So you know, I've been real quiet not to--
00:27:05
not to wake him up.
00:27:12
NARRATOR: But by 4:30 that afternoon,
00:27:15
Max has still not stirred.
00:27:17
His father finally decides to check on him.
00:27:20
HARRY: It was dark and his room.
00:27:21
He was laying there on the bed.
00:27:23
Looked like he was OK.
00:27:26
I closed the door and went to the bathroom.
00:27:27
While I was in the bathroom, I thought that, you know,
00:27:31
something didn't look quite right.
00:27:39
So I went-- I went and hollered at him a couple of times,
00:27:42
and I didn't get any sound.
00:27:44
And I banged on the door pretty loud two or three times.
00:27:47
And finally, I opened the door and turn the light on, and--
00:27:53
I could see that he was, uh, dead
00:27:56
before I ever crossed the room.
00:28:00
I called the police, and then I called his mother.
00:28:05
He said, I've got bad news.
00:28:09
And, uh, he said, Max is dead.
00:28:17
So I called EMS, and I told them, I said, there's no--
00:28:23
no need to hurry.
00:28:25
He's-- he's been dead a long time.
00:28:28
I walked back to the front door.
00:28:29
I looked out the front door and I said,
00:28:33
this cannot be happening.
00:28:46
EMS and police arrive on scene and confirm
00:28:49
Harry Maxson's assessment.
00:28:51
One of the paramedics had come up to me
00:28:53
and advised me that this was a DOA, a Death on Arrival.
00:28:58
ANITA SEAMANS: I remember standing looking down on--
00:29:01
on this young man, thinking, this man shouldn't be dead.
00:29:04
I don't know why he's dead.
00:29:06
There's no real apparent reason for it.
00:29:09
So it was a bit puzzling.
00:29:14
NARRATOR: Puzzling but for one possible lead
00:29:16
discovered next to Max's bed, a Ziploc bag containing 2 and 1/2
00:29:21
tablets and a bottle of liquor.
00:29:24
Mixing narcotics with alcohol can be a fatal combination
00:29:28
because they can shut down a person's
00:29:30
central nervous system.
00:29:32
ANITA SEAMANS: When we see pills and alcohol in close proximity
00:29:35
to one another in a scene such as this and the person
00:29:38
is deceased, we have to stop and consider,
00:29:41
OK, did this person purposely or accidentally
00:29:44
overdose on something?
00:29:46
An autopsy was definitely needed in this case.
00:29:49
Definitely.
00:29:51
NARRATOR: On Super Bowl Sunday, the medical examiner
00:29:54
who gets that call is Dr. G.
00:30:03
DR. G: Well, my investigator goes out to the scene.
00:30:05
He's my eyes and ears.
00:30:06
And he tells me what he--
00:30:07
what he finds.
00:30:08
He's a 29-year-old kid, good kid, but he's dead in bed.
00:30:13
And he'd been partying the night before.
00:30:15
The other little red flag is he's got
00:30:17
some pills next to his body.
00:30:20
Hmm.
00:30:21
A little a container of alcohol there too.
00:30:24
So maybe he really is partying and it's a drug overdose, which
00:30:28
are so frequently in my morgue.
00:30:33
So you know, it looks it might be one
00:30:34
of those routine drug deaths.
00:30:37
NARRATOR: But the presumption that Max
00:30:38
abused drugs of any kind is one his father strongly
00:30:42
disagrees with.
00:30:44
He didn't want nothing to do with drugs.
00:30:45
NARRATOR: Coming up next, Dr. G performs the autopsy
00:30:49
on Max Maxson and discovers that the cause of his death
00:30:52
is anything but routine.
00:30:54
Such a shock, like a lightning bolt.
00:30:58
NARRATOR: When "Dr. G Medical Examiner" continues.
00:31:14
Max Maxson's body is prepped for autopsy while Dr. G reviews
00:31:19
the few facts of the case.
00:31:20
DR. G: A young kid.
00:31:21
29.
00:31:22
And he's just dead in bed.
00:31:23
No evidence of external trauma.
00:31:26
NARRATOR: Max had been out with friends at a nightclub
00:31:28
and was discovered by his father dead in bed the next day.
00:31:33
HARRY: He was wearing his shorts.
00:31:34
His knees were propped up, and he just looked like he'd, you
00:31:38
know, fallen asleep.
00:31:40
NARRATOR: To Dr. G, the case looks
00:31:42
like a fatal drug overdose, a contention that sits
00:31:46
uneasily with Max's father.
00:31:48
For now, what killed Max Maxson is still an open question.
00:31:53
Hopefully, it won't be for long.
00:31:59
As Dr. G conducts the external exam,
00:32:02
she comes to the same conclusion as the investigators
00:32:05
on the scene.
00:32:06
Outwardly at least, there appears to be nothing
00:32:09
wrong with the young man.
00:32:11
There was nothing to note.
00:32:12
He looked healthy.
00:32:13
5 foot 8, and he weighed about 150 pounds.
00:32:16
NARRATOR: In fact, the only notable abnormality
00:32:19
on Max's body is the nightclub ink stamp
00:32:22
on the back of his right wrist.
00:32:24
The innocuous mark is for Dr. G one more
00:32:27
check on the list of indications for a possible drug overdose.
00:32:33
Statistics show that every year in the United States,
00:32:36
over 8,000 people are rushed to the emergency room
00:32:39
from overdosing on drugs at nightclubs.
00:32:43
Of those, many will result in fatalities.
00:32:46
And even though Max's father does not believe his son used
00:32:50
illicit substances, Dr. G encounters this type
00:32:53
of scenario all too often.
00:32:56
Yes, I hear that a lot from parents
00:32:58
that the kid doesn't use drugs or, you know,
00:33:00
not a big partyer.
00:33:02
And you know, I take that into consideration,
00:33:04
but I've also had many a case where they're not big partyers,
00:33:08
but it only takes one time with some of these drugs.
00:33:12
NARRATOR: Nevertheless, beyond the circumstantial evidence
00:33:15
recovered at the scene, the external exam
00:33:17
reveals no additional indications of drug abuse,
00:33:20
such as needle marks.
00:33:22
There was really no signs of drug
00:33:24
use on the outside of his body.
00:33:26
But you oftentimes don't see that.
00:33:31
NARRATOR: After completing the body chart,
00:33:33
Dr. G begins the internal exam.
00:33:35
OK.
00:33:36
Scalpel.
00:33:38
NARRATOR: Opening Max's torso with a Y incision.
00:33:41
But her findings here are also all negative.
00:33:45
There is no indication he suffered any trauma.
00:33:48
There are no pills or drugs in his stomach.
00:33:51
His heart shows no signs of trouble.
00:33:53
Yeah, that's healthy.
00:33:55
NARRATOR: In fact, everything appears perfectly healthy.
00:34:00
No trauma, and nothing that was remarkable
00:34:02
internally on his body.
00:34:06
NARRATOR: Nothing remarkable except for his lungs.
00:34:12
They are filled with fluid.
00:34:15
Look at that.
00:34:18
You can see the fluid just pouring out of the lungs.
00:34:26
Heavy lungs when I open them up.
00:34:29
You know, kind of wet, heavy lungs.
00:34:33
NARRATOR: Although the mechanism that causes a person's lungs
00:34:36
to fill with fluid is not fully understood,
00:34:39
the finding itself is a significant clue.
00:34:42
It means that whatever killed Max did not kill him instantly.
00:34:46
He died slowly, perhaps over the course of several hours.
00:34:50
Fluid starts building up in the lungs with--
00:34:52
with the overdoses.
00:34:54
They tend to be in a coma for a while and then die.
00:34:57
And we usually see very, very heavy lungs.
00:35:01
NARRATOR: To check for the presence of drugs,
00:35:03
Dr. G draws fluids for toxicology tests.
00:35:06
However, the results can take up to six weeks.
00:35:10
So you know, really thinking this is probably gonna
00:35:13
be a drug death at that point.
00:35:16
But it's not over till it's over,
00:35:18
and it's never over till you open that cranial cavity.
00:35:21
We're cutting the dura, the base of the brain.
00:35:25
NARRATOR: But as she does, Dr. G discovers
00:35:28
another anomaly, something completely unanticipated.
00:35:32
I look at the base of the brain,
00:35:34
and there's a very large concentration
00:35:37
of subarachnoid blood overlying the base of the brain.
00:35:41
NARRATOR: Subarachnoid bleeding means that displaced blood has
00:35:44
collected under the thin, translucent arachnoid membrane
00:35:48
that covers the brain.
00:35:50
In other words, Max was hemorrhaging.
00:35:55
Later, when Dr. G completes the autopsy,
00:35:58
she discovers the surprising cause of Max's brain bleed.
00:36:01
Well, I'll be darned.
00:36:03
NARRATOR: When "Dr. G Medical Examiner" continues.
00:36:21
To Dr. G, the death of Max Maxson
00:36:24
appeared to be a straightforward drug-induced death--
00:36:27
a late night at a nightclub, pills and alcohol
00:36:30
by the bedside, and at autopsy, heavy, fluid-filled lungs.
00:36:36
But then she examines his brain.
00:36:42
Very large.
00:36:44
There's a very large concentration
00:36:46
of blood overlying the base of the brain.
00:36:50
NARRATOR: Now Dr. G must figure it out.
00:36:52
Why was Max's brain hemorrhaging?
00:37:01
Dr. G takes Max's brain to the dissecting table
00:37:04
for a closer look.
00:37:06
She carefully cleans his brain and then
00:37:08
begins to dissect it, searching through
00:37:10
the delicate and tiny blood vessels
00:37:12
for the source of the hemorrhage.
00:37:15
And then she sees it.
00:37:17
An eight-millimeter long bulge in one of his cerebral blood
00:37:20
vessels has torn open.
00:37:23
Well, I'll be darned.
00:37:25
NARRATOR: Max died from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm.
00:37:29
We can see a distension.
00:37:31
We can see an aneurysm here.
00:37:32
NARRATOR: The type of aneurysm that Dr. G discovers is known
00:37:36
as a saccular or berry aneurysm, because of its shape,
00:37:40
like a berry.
00:37:41
They often develop at the branch points of cerebral arteries.
00:37:45
I've seen many a berry aneurysm,
00:37:47
and that's what they look like.
00:37:51
NARRATOR: Cerebral aneurysms form when a blood vessel
00:37:53
is weakened and begins to balloon
00:37:55
or dilate under the pressure of blood pulsing
00:37:58
through the vessel.
00:37:59
Over time, the enlarging vessel can leak or even burst,
00:38:03
resulting in a catastrophic brain hemorrhage, which
00:38:06
in the United States causes death or severe disability
00:38:10
in nearly 60% of its victims.
00:38:17
Weighing heavily on Dr. G, however,
00:38:20
is that ruptured cerebral aneurysms are sometimes
00:38:23
associated with drug use.
00:38:26
Oftentimes, these are associated
00:38:28
with elevated blood pressures.
00:38:31
And oftentimes, on a young person,
00:38:33
they're using some type of stimulant,
00:38:36
like a methamphetamine or cocaine,
00:38:38
something that would really cause their blood
00:38:40
pressure to elevate.
00:38:42
NARRATOR: Only the toxicology test performed on fluids drawn
00:38:45
from Max's body will tell Dr. G for certain
00:38:49
if drugs played a role in his death.
00:38:51
But the results are not in yet.
00:38:54
While she waits, Max's case remains open
00:38:57
and his cause of death undecided.
00:39:06
Finally, two weeks later, the toxicology report is completed,
00:39:11
and it's determined that Max Maxson
00:39:13
had no drugs in his system.
00:39:20
DR. G: His blood was clean.
00:39:21
He had no drugs on board.
00:39:24
NARRATOR: And further investigation
00:39:25
determines that the pills found at his bedside
00:39:27
were nothing more than a common antibiotic.
00:39:30
He had an infection, and he was taking some pills,
00:39:33
but that had nothing to do with the aneurysm.
00:39:36
NARRATOR: But if drugs played no part in Max's death,
00:39:39
what then could have caused an otherwise
00:39:41
healthy young man to die of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm?
00:39:46
Dr. G concludes that Max's berry aneurysm was likely the result
00:39:50
of a congenital weakening within his delicate cerebral blood
00:39:54
vessels.
00:39:55
It's considered to be congenital,
00:39:57
meaning had it since birth.
00:39:58
You may not see it at birth because it
00:40:00
takes time for that weakening of the wall to balloon out.
00:40:05
NARRATOR: In other words, Max's aneurysm was a time bomb
00:40:08
that took 29 years to detonate.
00:40:12
It just was, unfortunately, a very unusual, uh,
00:40:20
natural death.
00:40:23
NARRATOR: With all the facts in place,
00:40:25
Dr. G can now piece together the events of Max
00:40:28
Maxson's last night alive.
00:40:37
That night, Max is out at a club in San Antonio.
00:40:40
According to toxicological findings,
00:40:43
he does not take any drugs.
00:40:45
And yet lurking at the base of his brain is his killer.
00:40:50
As he enjoys time with his friends,
00:40:52
the congenital berry aneurysm deep within his brain likely
00:40:56
begins to leak nearly imperceptibly.
00:41:03
He probably was having some minor bleeding.
00:41:06
And this was a fairly big aneurysm.
00:41:08
It was-- it was about eight millimeters.
00:41:10
Oftentimes, I only see them two, three millimeters.
00:41:15
NARRATOR: Sometime around 1:00 o'clock AM, Max drives home,
00:41:18
gets into bed, and turns on the TV.
00:41:22
DR. G: Well, he probably has a headache,
00:41:25
and that headache was probably due to some minor leakage.
00:41:29
And then, at some point, it ruptures.
00:41:32
NARRATOR: Blood no longer trickles.
00:41:34
It bursts through the weakened vessel.
00:41:39
The pumping blood seeps into the open spaces
00:41:41
of Max's cranial cavity and under the protective arachnoid
00:41:46
membrane that covers the brain.
00:41:48
If he wasn't asleep already, within minutes, he
00:41:51
is most certainly unconscious.
00:41:55
DR. G: He probably goes unconscious very quickly.
00:41:58
NARRATOR: Soon, Max slips into a coma.
00:42:02
Because he is comatose, fluid begins to fill his lungs,
00:42:06
making it difficult for his heart to beat.
00:42:09
In Max's brain, the pressure of the accumulating blood
00:42:12
eventually short circuits his brain
00:42:14
stem, the part of the brain responsible for signaling
00:42:17
the heart's rhythm.
00:42:20
The heart ceases to beat, and Max dies.
00:42:25
From what I hear, he had a very easy passing.
00:42:34
HARRY: They told me later that--
00:42:36
that they thought that he had probably died eight or nine
00:42:40
hours before I found him.
00:42:43
So he had-- he had been dead for quite a while.
00:42:45
Sometimes I--
00:42:46
I feel like I can hear him, and he'll say, don't cry for me.
00:42:51
I'm better off than anybody.
00:42:55
I'm in a better place.
00:42:58
And I believe that.
00:43:01
I think an aneurysm, when you don't know you have it and you
00:43:06
die from it, it's just such a shock, like a lightning bolt.
00:43:10
I mean, you just don't expect it.
00:43:12
It's one of those things that, uh--
00:43:15
you know, life has chances.
00:43:19
Life has-- you don't know what life has for you.
00:43:23
And it's one of those things, you can't do anything about it.
00:43:33
[THEME MUSIC]
00:44:02
MAN: Atlas.
