What Murders Leave Behind with Investigator Joseph Scott Morgan

Murder and forensic science is examined with former death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan, who sheds light on the Jodi Arias, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, + the D.C. mansion murder investigations, and how key pieces of evidence were left behind after the blood had been shed. The idea of evidence destroying, and the things that the media and movies get wrong about crime scene investigation is detailed in this examination of the science of investigation and evidence, on Crime Time hosted by Allison Hope Weiner.

Guest Bio

Joseph Scott Morgan became a death investigator with the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office in suburban New Orleans in 1987, the youngest medicolegal death investigator in the country. During the day, Morgan worked in the morgue, and at night investigated for the coroner. In 1992 Morgan became senior investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office in Atlanta. He is a professor, and the author of BLOOD BENEATH MY FEET.

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Episode Breakdown

00:01 Welcoming Joseph Scott Morgan to Crime Time.
01:10 Ending a career as a death investigator.
04:53 Death notifications and the repercussions of writing them.
06:51 Media representations and inaccuracies.
09:39 Jodi Arias recap.
11:11 Examining Jodi Arias crime scene.
17:21 Disconnection and medical examiners on trial.
21:31 Trayvon Martin murder recap.
22:19 Trayvon Martin’s autopsy and contradictory testimony.
28:28 The D.C. mansion murder update.
29:23 How fire affects reconstructing the cause of death.
33:23 The death of Freddie Gray recap.
33:56 Examining Freddie Gray’s injury.
36:56 Thank you and goodbye.