03-09-2012, 09:51 AM
it doesn't get much worse than this for the prosecutor's office. this is INFURIATING!! 
This is a disaster. This is like police work 101.
this is either criminal obstruction or supreme stupidity.
FREEP
Jane Bashara's clothing -- a potential trove of forensic evidence in her murder investigation -- never made it to the Michigan State Police crime laboratory for testing and may have been destroyed, the Free Press has learned.
"We received no clothing from the victim's body from the medical examiner" or police, Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division Director John Collins said Thursday. "There were items in the car that were submitted, but nothing that she was wearing."
The Grosse Pointe Park woman's body was found the morning of Jan. 25 in her SUV, which had been abandoned in an east-side Detroit alley. Her body and clothing were sent to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy and then were picked up by a funeral home -- but it's unclear where the clothing ended up.
Grosse Pointe Park Police Capt. David Loch and the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment. The apparent loss of the victim's clothing in a major high-profile murder investigation stunned legal and medical experts -- although it's unclear what impact, if any, it may have on the case.
"This is important. Very, very important," said Dr. Werner Spitz, former Wayne County medical examiner and coauthor on the standard textbook for medical-legal investigations of death.
According to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office, an autopsy was conducted Jan. 26. Records show Bashara's body and clothing were released the next day to the A.H. Peters Funeral Home in Grosse Pointe Woods, which handled the visitation and cremation. According to the office, her clothing included black stretch pants, a greenish-blue blouse, house shoes and underwear.
The records show her husband, Bob Bashara -- who was named a person of interest after failing a polygraph examination -- authorized the Medical Examiner's Office to release his wife's body and her personal effects to the funeral home.
Phillip Potter, an A.H. Peters funeral director, signed for the body and clothing. He said Thursday that he didn't remember what was done with the clothing. The funeral home's usual practice is to discard soiled or bloodstained clothing in the trash rather than return it to the family, Potter said.
According to the Medical Examiner's Office, the standard procedure calls for releasing the clothing with the body unless police ask for it. The morgue, which handles more than 3,000 bodies a year, doesn't have space to store clothing.
Bob Bashara's attorney, David Griem, said his client never got the clothing.
"DNA and other evidence that could have pointed to the killer and that could have exonerated Bob Bashara has now been lost," Griem said.
The loss of clothing is "devastating news for the family," Griem said. "This is a significant roadblock in the search for truth and justice for Jane Bashara."
![[Image: bilde?Site=C4&Date=20120309&Category=NEW...l-evidence]](http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C4&Date=20120309&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=203090437&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Jane-Bashara-s-clothes-missing-along-potentially-crucial-evidence)
This is a disaster. This is like police work 101.
this is either criminal obstruction or supreme stupidity.
FREEP
Jane Bashara's clothing -- a potential trove of forensic evidence in her murder investigation -- never made it to the Michigan State Police crime laboratory for testing and may have been destroyed, the Free Press has learned.
"We received no clothing from the victim's body from the medical examiner" or police, Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division Director John Collins said Thursday. "There were items in the car that were submitted, but nothing that she was wearing."
The Grosse Pointe Park woman's body was found the morning of Jan. 25 in her SUV, which had been abandoned in an east-side Detroit alley. Her body and clothing were sent to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy and then were picked up by a funeral home -- but it's unclear where the clothing ended up.
Grosse Pointe Park Police Capt. David Loch and the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment. The apparent loss of the victim's clothing in a major high-profile murder investigation stunned legal and medical experts -- although it's unclear what impact, if any, it may have on the case.
"This is important. Very, very important," said Dr. Werner Spitz, former Wayne County medical examiner and coauthor on the standard textbook for medical-legal investigations of death.
According to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office, an autopsy was conducted Jan. 26. Records show Bashara's body and clothing were released the next day to the A.H. Peters Funeral Home in Grosse Pointe Woods, which handled the visitation and cremation. According to the office, her clothing included black stretch pants, a greenish-blue blouse, house shoes and underwear.
The records show her husband, Bob Bashara -- who was named a person of interest after failing a polygraph examination -- authorized the Medical Examiner's Office to release his wife's body and her personal effects to the funeral home.
Phillip Potter, an A.H. Peters funeral director, signed for the body and clothing. He said Thursday that he didn't remember what was done with the clothing. The funeral home's usual practice is to discard soiled or bloodstained clothing in the trash rather than return it to the family, Potter said.
According to the Medical Examiner's Office, the standard procedure calls for releasing the clothing with the body unless police ask for it. The morgue, which handles more than 3,000 bodies a year, doesn't have space to store clothing.
Bob Bashara's attorney, David Griem, said his client never got the clothing.
"DNA and other evidence that could have pointed to the killer and that could have exonerated Bob Bashara has now been lost," Griem said.
The loss of clothing is "devastating news for the family," Griem said. "This is a significant roadblock in the search for truth and justice for Jane Bashara."