August 19, 2025 • 18 mins
It’s chaos, blood, and body parts. Today Dr. Kendall Crowns joins Nancy Grace to discuss his 35-year-career and the launch of his new podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue."
Follow on All Audio Platforms: https://link.podtrac.com/MayhemMorgue
Each week Dr. Crowns will discuss stories and cases from his over 35-year journey with death, from the tornado alley of Kansas, to the bloody Memphis shoreline of the muddy Mississippi River, to the ultra-violence of Chicago, and finally, the methamphetamine fueled insanity of Texas.
Encompassing his days as an autopsy tech, medical student, resident/fellow, and finally as a medical examiner, his stories range from humorous to horrifying and cover a wide variety of topics from week to week. You will never know what you’ll hear, will it be courtroom drama, decapitations, gangland shootings, feet with no body, or chihuahuas feasting on the flesh of decomposing bodies? The cases will never end.
It will always be different, and there is never a dull moment. Tune in each week and climb aboard, your nightmares will never be the same.
Mayhem in the Morgue takes listeners deep into the bloody, bizarre, and often unbelievable
realities of forensic pathology. Each week, Dr. Crowns shares gritty stories from the morgue, the
crime scene, and the courtroom. Expect gallows humor, hard truths, and cases that range from
unsettling to unforgettable — think decomposing feet with no bodies, courtroom bombshells,
and the kinds of deaths that even seasoned pathologists can’t quite explain.
If you think you’ve heard it all… you haven’t.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace joining me right now is
a longtime colleague and dare I say friend, Doctor Kendall Crowns.
You know him well and he is launching an incredible podcast.
He is joined by his all star panel behind him.
(00:24):
He always has a full blown skeleton and a skull.
You know that doesn't come along every day a guy
that travels with a skeleton and a skull. Doctor Kendall
Crowns is always the star of the show. Always. I
could listen to him for hours and I have. Doctor
(00:45):
Kendall Crowns is a renowned medical examiner, typically joining us
out of Tyrant County. That's Fort Worth. As I like
to say, never a lack of business in the Morgue
in Fort Worth. He is an esteemed lecturer at the
Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, and he is launching
(01:06):
Mayhem in the Morgue. Now. You may think that medical
examiners are dry as dust. Not true. When I listened
to his first episode of Mayhem in the Morgue, it
made me laugh, it made me sad, but most of all,
(01:31):
it made me curious, very curious. Doctor Kendall Crown's thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Of course, thank you, Nancy.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Tell me how you got in the business.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So how I got interested in forensic pathology and ultimately
became a medical examiner is my dad was a criminologist,
and so when I grew up, it wasn't we heard
the stories like Doctor Seuss and things of that nature.
We actually heard about helter skelter and crime scenes and
things of that nature. One of the books I had
as a that I absolutely loved was called A Catalog
(02:02):
of Crime, and it just had stories after stories of
convicted murderers and what they did and all those things,
and I always just found it fascinating. As a kid,
I'd sit in his library at the house and just
flip through the different books, looking at all the different pictures,
and it just was part of my life. And when
I was getting older and I thought I wanted to
be a doctor, my dad said to me, Hey, you know,
(02:24):
there's this thing called a forensic pathologist or a medical examiner,
and I know the local one, and you want to
go see an autopsy? And I thought that sounded great.
I went to the medical examiner's office and saw my
first autopsy, and it just was incredible to me. It
was a suicide, a single gunshot wounded the head, and
I thought it was the most interesting thing I had
(02:47):
ever seen in my life. And at the end of
the autopsy, said to the medical examiner, how do I
become you? And he told me, well, you know, you
got to go to college, you got to finish medical school,
and then he'd do residency and then eventually you're a
forensic pathologist. And that's what I did. From that moment on,
I did everything I could to become a medical examiner.
(03:08):
I bought books about it. When I was in college,
I was a autopsy tech, and when I was in residency,
I did autopsy tech work on the side to make
a little extra money. And then I also worked at
the medical Examiner's office on the weekend as well because
my residency program would pay for it. So I've just
kind of always been around it. And it really started
(03:30):
in ninth grade in nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Wow, talking about you growing up looking at crime scene
photos and talking about cases with your dad. I will
never forget when John David we were watching something, it
was a murder mystery on BritBox, and he jumped up
and said, where's the PC Probable calls, and in my
(03:56):
mind I ticked a box brainwashing complete and I'll never forget.
We were actually talking about Jody Arius and Lucy said, oh, yeah,
she's a guilty girlfriend that changed her story three times.
I was so happy. I could not have been prouder
of my sweet little girl that said. Can I ask
(04:17):
you how did you get women? I mean, you certainly
can't say I hang around the morgone weekends. That's not
sexy unless you target another medical examiner. I mean, or
do you just say I'm going to medical school That
(04:37):
usually works and leave out the dead body part? How
did you manage to somehow catch missus Kendall Crown.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
My wife, Beth, is not in the medical field. She
had worked as a volunteer emergency medical technician, but we
met by happenstance at a comic book store where one
of my do nothing friends was hanging out or was working,
and I would go there after getting done with rotations
(05:08):
in medical school, and then he and I would go
play pool at a local pool hall, and she happened
to come in there because she knew the owner and
was dropping something off, and we met and we started talking,
and two months later I finally got up the nerve
to ask her out, which is one of the most
pathetic asking out moments of all time, which I.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Got to hear the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Tell me, I learned when I used to vandalize things
that when duct tape catches on fire, it smells like pine.
And I told her that so I and she was like, oh,
that's interesting. And I said, well, you know, I have
a roll of duct tape in my car. I could
show you.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And she was like, away, I got to meet this woman.
Because when you say, hey, baby, I got duct tape
in the car, everybody runs you say, nothing but tailhole
on elbows. But your wife, Oddleie was attracted to that.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
She could take me to fight. I'll just say that.
So we went out to the car and I got
out the roll of duct tape, rolled it up, a
little piece of it and lit it with my car lighter,
and sure enough it smelled like pine. And I said
the classic nag.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Talking charmer, silver tong ken little Crown's okay, so that's
how you managed to get your wife. Now you were mentioning,
it's a story. I didn't know you were mentioning the
first time you saw an autopsy. I believe you said
it was a suicide by shooting. You know, isn't it interesting?
(06:38):
You never forget your first.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
That's correct, you really don't. It was through them through
gun shoveling in the head. The guy was playing Russian ulette.
He was drunk and shot himself in the head contact
range wound. And one of the things I always remember
is they took out his liver and it was bright
yellow instead of the normal brown. And I asked the doctor,
I go, why is it discolor Then he said, oh,
(07:01):
that's from drinking. You know, it causes damage to your
liver and all that.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right? Yellow? Like what yellow are you talking about? Because
I've got to know the answer to this, Like what yellow?
Like yellow? Mustard yellow, like kind.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Of a bright yellow, like a French's mustard yellow.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I can't wait to tell my children if you drink
when you go to college, your liver will turn yellow,
ask doctor Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
That's because it's a toxic.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I have another question for then. I'm going to get
to your radio show, uh Dtor Kendall Crowns. When you go,
I don't know if you even do out to dinner
or you go to a party of some sort, do
you find yourself totally bored out of your skull unless
people are talking about murder or crime.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So usually when I go out to dinner, it's a bout.
We talk about other things in my workplace, but parties.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Actually around other people.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I don't have a lot of friends, Nancy, But anyway,
when i'm mad to behind you, there's the perfect friends.
They don't talk.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
But by the way, I've never asked you that, have
you named them? No? I have not, So I'm going
to come up with names. I'm not going to do
it on the spot because I may think better of
it later. So when you're around other people that are
not in the business, are you or do they totally
bore you? Or am I just projecting? Because when I
go somewhere and somebody tries to talk about politics, I'm like,
(08:41):
I'll be right back, or if they were anything, because
when it's in your blood, it's in your blood and
everything else seems low watted.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Well, I agree with you on that, although when I'm
around other people, I like to just talk to them
and hear their stories and get information about them because
I find people to be fascinating in that regards, because
you never know when you're talking to someone what else
they got going on at home, because who knows, they
might have a you know, a sex dungeon in the
basement that they're never going to tell you about. But
(09:11):
one day you'll think.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
You know, it's funny that your mind to go immediately
to sex dungeon in the basement. You could have said anything,
but you went with sex dungeon in the basement. I'm
not ashamed that people that means something only to you,
which brings to mind Rex hereer men, I've got so
many cases I could ask you about, but I really
want to talk about you, So just give me. I
(09:34):
think i've heard it. Give me a tiny taste. Don't
give away the end if it's the one I'm thinking about,
which was awesome. What is your first story on your
first radio show, translation podcast Mayhem in the Morgue. What's
the first one about? Don't give away the end?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
The first one is when I am on the first
day of my forensic pathology rotation in medical school. I
arrived at the office and right away they get a
phone call in that there's a possible homicide crime scene,
and we go out there and I'm super excited, you know,
it's first day. I get to see this really exciting thing.
And we get out to the scene. It turns out
(10:15):
to not be a homicide.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
We just had to cut Doctor Crown's giving away the end.
I can't believe I just said, don't give away the end,
and you gave away the end. But I will say
that near the end, something shoots out of the victims behind.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's correct, that would be the true the end of
that situation.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Stop, don't say another word now. Can I ask you,
while I know your two friends behind you, I've always
wondered what is on that pillow? It looks like the
evil Eye, four of them multicolor. What is that?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
My daughter is an ad crowcheer and she made that
pillow for me.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Wait tell me about your daughter. Don't give me any names.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
She has a degree in computer science and is now
getting a degree in geology or a master's degree in
geology and then trying to pursue a paleontology career. But
she is. She really loves to crochet, and she really
loves her bones and dinosaurs. And we just went out
with her a couple of weeks ago to a dig
(11:29):
site so she could look for dinosaur bones for her
master's project.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Wow. You know, because when you and I talk, it's
always about dissecting a dead body and figuring out the
cod cause of death and tissue and DNA and body cavities.
I rarely ask you about Beth, your wife or your daughter.
Are there any other children I need to know about?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So? I have a total of five children, two girls,
three boy. So my oldest is the largest one wife.
That's correct?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
And uh okay, so I don't need to ask what
you do in your spare time.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Five children, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Just give me the breakdown? How many boys and how
many girls?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Three boys? Two girls?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Wow? Okay, I always wanted four, but when I got
the two that I have, I knew I was lucky
in anyone to quit. Obviously, some people don't know where
babies come from, and amazing you're a doctor, doctor Kendall Crowns.
Where Okay, you know where they come from, but do
(12:40):
you know how they got there?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Oh? I know that too. I also know how to
take them out and can't put it back in.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Though, so you really do? So how happy are you
that you're a medical examiner and not let's just say,
a plastic surgeon, or I don't know, let's just go
a plastic surgeon.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well, plastic surgery is a funny one because that is
one of the rotations in medical school that was actually
pretty good at and they told me that I should
think about going into that, but I did not want
to do the surgery lifestyle where you were constantly at
work and on call and all the stress associated with that.
I really loved being forensic pathology from the beginning of
(13:21):
medical school, and my mind never changed throughout all the rotations,
and I really actually enjoy what I do on a
daily basis. It's always different, it's always something exciting, and
you get to do testify, you get to do autopsies.
It's just it's a great job. I cannot complain. I'm
(13:42):
very happy with my life.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Do you normally have people in the room with you
when you perform an autopsy or you normally by yourself?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So usually an autopsy, when you're doing the autopsies, there's
usually two to three other doctors working in the room
with you, to autopsy technicians to a body. So the
room is very loud and a lot of people moving around,
a lot of talking noise, of the saws, the cutting
and all that. So it's actually not very quiet. It's
very very very noisy, very stimulating, and there's usually music
(14:17):
playing there.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
We'll say, you know, doctor Kendall Crowns, that's not the
way it is on TV and movies. There's always a
medical examiner and everything's pristining quiet, you know. It made
me think back to days as a trial lawyer, where
there was so much happening in the courtroom. People were
coming in and out, spectators getting up and down talking
(14:38):
behind me, the defense attorneys whining and gnashing their teeth
and twitching their tails on the other side of the room.
But you zone completely out of all that and focus
on what you're doing. It's like all of that just disappears.
I wouldn't even be conscious of it. I remember, this
is funny. The first time I'm court TV, where I
(15:01):
later went to work, covered a case of mine that
was when women still had to wear pantyhose, and I
was so not focusing on anything but the case. They
got me from behind hitching up my pantyhose as they
inevitably would start going down now in the middle of
its trial. So you totally zone out and focus on
(15:24):
nothing but what you're doing. On the other hand, I
also loved being in the law library on weekends when
it would be totally quiet and I would be completely
alone with my legal thoughts and analysis. After you perform
the autopsy, when do you do all of the written reports.
(15:47):
You probably dictate during the autopsy.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Sometimes I dictate during the case, and sometimes I wait
till after. It just depends on the complexity of the case.
If it's a multiple gunshot wound with multiple wounds, the
dictations self can take quite a while and it can
be very in depth, so I usually do those when
I can sit in my office and just read through
my notes and make sure I get everything accurate. If
it's as simple like just heart attack or drug overdose,
(16:11):
those can be dictated quite quickly at the autopsy, right
as soon as the autopsy is done. So it kind
of just depends on the case of when I do
the dictations. But I do have some alone time in
my office usually at the after the autopsies are done,
to go through things and then process the paperwork.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Are you in your office right now?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I am in I have actually two offices connected by
a hallway, and this is a kind of a conference
room office, and my other office is through the hallway
on the other side.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Because it looks to me that you're never alone with
your two friends behind you. All I know is this
or the voice never gets old talking to you. Yeah,
them too, it never gets old talking to you. The
more you talk, the more questions I have, and the
more I want to listen. You're one of the few
guests that don't get interrupted. Just look on Twitter. People
(17:00):
hate it. I know that because you have so much
to say, and I don't ever want to miss a word,
and I don't want anyone else to miss a word.
You hear about the autopsies, you hear about the investigations,
but you hear a whole another side of what really
happens in the morgue and on crime scenes death scenes.
(17:24):
If I am judging by the first one I've heard,
I can't wait to hear the second one. Doctor Kendall
Crown's launching mayhem in the Morgue, and I am looking
forward to the next one. I love the first one,
and I will leave it a mystery as to how
something shoots out of the dead person's rear end. I
(17:45):
will let you tell that story at the right time,
Doctor Kendall Crowns, thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Hello, I'm doctor Kendall Crown's, host of your favorite new
weekly crime online podcasts, Mayhem and The Morgue. I have
been around forensics for over thirty five years and performed
thousands of autopsies. I have been everything from an autopsy
tech to finally, a medical examiner, and each week we'll
be discussing stories from my lengthy career. The stories will
(18:15):
range from courtroom dramas, explosions, maulings, shootings, drug overdoses. The
cases will never end, and the stories will range from
the humorous to horrifying, covering a wide variety of topics,
and it will never be a dull moment. Hopefully you
will find the stories entertaining and maybe you'll learn something.
So tune in and I can guarantee your nightmares will
(18:36):
never be the same.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace joining me right now is
a longtime colleague and dare I say friend, Doctor Kendall Crowns.
You know him well and he is launching an incredible podcast.
He is joined by his all star panel behind him.
(00:24):
He always has a full blown skeleton and a skull.
You know that doesn't come along every day a guy
that travels with a skeleton and a skull. Doctor Kendall
Crowns is always the star of the show. Always. I
could listen to him for hours and I have. Doctor
(00:45):
Kendall Crowns is a renowned medical examiner, typically joining us
out of Tyrant County. That's Fort Worth. As I like
to say, never a lack of business in the Morgue
in Fort Worth. He is an esteemed lecturer at the
Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, and he is launching
(01:06):
Mayhem in the Morgue. Now. You may think that medical
examiners are dry as dust. Not true. When I listened
to his first episode of Mayhem in the Morgue, it
made me laugh, it made me sad, but most of all,
(01:31):
it made me curious, very curious. Doctor Kendall Crown's thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Of course, thank you, Nancy.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Tell me how you got in the business.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So how I got interested in forensic pathology and ultimately
became a medical examiner is my dad was a criminologist,
and so when I grew up, it wasn't we heard
the stories like Doctor Seuss and things of that nature.
We actually heard about helter skelter and crime scenes and
things of that nature. One of the books I had
as a that I absolutely loved was called A Catalog
(02:02):
of Crime, and it just had stories after stories of
convicted murderers and what they did and all those things,
and I always just found it fascinating. As a kid,
I'd sit in his library at the house and just
flip through the different books, looking at all the different pictures,
and it just was part of my life. And when
I was getting older and I thought I wanted to
be a doctor, my dad said to me, Hey, you know,
(02:24):
there's this thing called a forensic pathologist or a medical examiner,
and I know the local one, and you want to
go see an autopsy? And I thought that sounded great.
I went to the medical examiner's office and saw my
first autopsy, and it just was incredible to me. It
was a suicide, a single gunshot wounded the head, and
I thought it was the most interesting thing I had
(02:47):
ever seen in my life. And at the end of
the autopsy, said to the medical examiner, how do I
become you? And he told me, well, you know, you
got to go to college, you got to finish medical school,
and then he'd do residency and then eventually you're a
forensic pathologist. And that's what I did. From that moment on,
I did everything I could to become a medical examiner.
(03:08):
I bought books about it. When I was in college,
I was a autopsy tech, and when I was in residency,
I did autopsy tech work on the side to make
a little extra money. And then I also worked at
the medical Examiner's office on the weekend as well because
my residency program would pay for it. So I've just
kind of always been around it. And it really started
(03:30):
in ninth grade in nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Wow, talking about you growing up looking at crime scene
photos and talking about cases with your dad. I will
never forget when John David we were watching something, it
was a murder mystery on BritBox, and he jumped up
and said, where's the PC Probable calls, and in my
(03:56):
mind I ticked a box brainwashing complete and I'll never forget.
We were actually talking about Jody Arius and Lucy said, oh, yeah,
she's a guilty girlfriend that changed her story three times.
I was so happy. I could not have been prouder
of my sweet little girl that said. Can I ask
(04:17):
you how did you get women? I mean, you certainly
can't say I hang around the morgone weekends. That's not
sexy unless you target another medical examiner. I mean, or
do you just say I'm going to medical school That
(04:37):
usually works and leave out the dead body part? How
did you manage to somehow catch missus Kendall Crown.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
My wife, Beth, is not in the medical field. She
had worked as a volunteer emergency medical technician, but we
met by happenstance at a comic book store where one
of my do nothing friends was hanging out or was working,
and I would go there after getting done with rotations
(05:08):
in medical school, and then he and I would go
play pool at a local pool hall, and she happened
to come in there because she knew the owner and
was dropping something off, and we met and we started talking,
and two months later I finally got up the nerve
to ask her out, which is one of the most
pathetic asking out moments of all time, which I.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Got to hear the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Tell me, I learned when I used to vandalize things
that when duct tape catches on fire, it smells like pine.
And I told her that so I and she was like, oh,
that's interesting. And I said, well, you know, I have
a roll of duct tape in my car. I could
show you.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And she was like, away, I got to meet this woman.
Because when you say, hey, baby, I got duct tape
in the car, everybody runs you say, nothing but tailhole
on elbows. But your wife, Oddleie was attracted to that.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
She could take me to fight. I'll just say that.
So we went out to the car and I got
out the roll of duct tape, rolled it up, a
little piece of it and lit it with my car lighter,
and sure enough it smelled like pine. And I said
the classic nag.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Talking charmer, silver tong ken little Crown's okay, so that's
how you managed to get your wife. Now you were mentioning,
it's a story. I didn't know you were mentioning the
first time you saw an autopsy. I believe you said
it was a suicide by shooting. You know, isn't it interesting?
(06:38):
You never forget your first.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
That's correct, you really don't. It was through them through
gun shoveling in the head. The guy was playing Russian ulette.
He was drunk and shot himself in the head contact
range wound. And one of the things I always remember
is they took out his liver and it was bright
yellow instead of the normal brown. And I asked the doctor,
I go, why is it discolor Then he said, oh,
(07:01):
that's from drinking. You know, it causes damage to your
liver and all that.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right? Yellow? Like what yellow are you talking about? Because
I've got to know the answer to this, Like what yellow?
Like yellow? Mustard yellow, like kind.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Of a bright yellow, like a French's mustard yellow.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I can't wait to tell my children if you drink
when you go to college, your liver will turn yellow,
ask doctor Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
That's because it's a toxic.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I have another question for then. I'm going to get
to your radio show, uh Dtor Kendall Crowns. When you go,
I don't know if you even do out to dinner
or you go to a party of some sort, do
you find yourself totally bored out of your skull unless
people are talking about murder or crime.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So usually when I go out to dinner, it's a bout.
We talk about other things in my workplace, but parties.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Actually around other people.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I don't have a lot of friends, Nancy, But anyway,
when i'm mad to behind you, there's the perfect friends.
They don't talk.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
But by the way, I've never asked you that, have
you named them? No? I have not, So I'm going
to come up with names. I'm not going to do
it on the spot because I may think better of
it later. So when you're around other people that are
not in the business, are you or do they totally
bore you? Or am I just projecting? Because when I
go somewhere and somebody tries to talk about politics, I'm like,
(08:41):
I'll be right back, or if they were anything, because
when it's in your blood, it's in your blood and
everything else seems low watted.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Well, I agree with you on that, although when I'm
around other people, I like to just talk to them
and hear their stories and get information about them because
I find people to be fascinating in that regards, because
you never know when you're talking to someone what else
they got going on at home, because who knows, they
might have a you know, a sex dungeon in the
basement that they're never going to tell you about. But
(09:11):
one day you'll think.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
You know, it's funny that your mind to go immediately
to sex dungeon in the basement. You could have said anything,
but you went with sex dungeon in the basement. I'm
not ashamed that people that means something only to you,
which brings to mind Rex hereer men, I've got so
many cases I could ask you about, but I really
want to talk about you, So just give me. I
(09:34):
think i've heard it. Give me a tiny taste. Don't
give away the end if it's the one I'm thinking about,
which was awesome. What is your first story on your
first radio show, translation podcast Mayhem in the Morgue. What's
the first one about? Don't give away the end?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
The first one is when I am on the first
day of my forensic pathology rotation in medical school. I
arrived at the office and right away they get a
phone call in that there's a possible homicide crime scene,
and we go out there and I'm super excited, you know,
it's first day. I get to see this really exciting thing.
And we get out to the scene. It turns out
(10:15):
to not be a homicide.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
We just had to cut Doctor Crown's giving away the end.
I can't believe I just said, don't give away the end,
and you gave away the end. But I will say
that near the end, something shoots out of the victims behind.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's correct, that would be the true the end of
that situation.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Stop, don't say another word now. Can I ask you,
while I know your two friends behind you, I've always
wondered what is on that pillow? It looks like the
evil Eye, four of them multicolor. What is that?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
My daughter is an ad crowcheer and she made that
pillow for me.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Wait tell me about your daughter. Don't give me any names.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
She has a degree in computer science and is now
getting a degree in geology or a master's degree in
geology and then trying to pursue a paleontology career. But
she is. She really loves to crochet, and she really
loves her bones and dinosaurs. And we just went out
with her a couple of weeks ago to a dig
(11:29):
site so she could look for dinosaur bones for her
master's project.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Wow. You know, because when you and I talk, it's
always about dissecting a dead body and figuring out the
cod cause of death and tissue and DNA and body cavities.
I rarely ask you about Beth, your wife or your daughter.
Are there any other children I need to know about?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So? I have a total of five children, two girls,
three boy. So my oldest is the largest one wife.
That's correct?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
And uh okay, so I don't need to ask what
you do in your spare time.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Five children, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Just give me the breakdown? How many boys and how
many girls?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Three boys? Two girls?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Wow? Okay, I always wanted four, but when I got
the two that I have, I knew I was lucky
in anyone to quit. Obviously, some people don't know where
babies come from, and amazing you're a doctor, doctor Kendall Crowns.
Where Okay, you know where they come from, but do
(12:40):
you know how they got there?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Oh? I know that too. I also know how to
take them out and can't put it back in.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Though, so you really do? So how happy are you
that you're a medical examiner and not let's just say,
a plastic surgeon, or I don't know, let's just go
a plastic surgeon.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well, plastic surgery is a funny one because that is
one of the rotations in medical school that was actually
pretty good at and they told me that I should
think about going into that, but I did not want
to do the surgery lifestyle where you were constantly at
work and on call and all the stress associated with that.
I really loved being forensic pathology from the beginning of
(13:21):
medical school, and my mind never changed throughout all the rotations,
and I really actually enjoy what I do on a
daily basis. It's always different, it's always something exciting, and
you get to do testify, you get to do autopsies.
It's just it's a great job. I cannot complain. I'm
(13:42):
very happy with my life.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Do you normally have people in the room with you
when you perform an autopsy or you normally by yourself?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So usually an autopsy, when you're doing the autopsies, there's
usually two to three other doctors working in the room
with you, to autopsy technicians to a body. So the
room is very loud and a lot of people moving around,
a lot of talking noise, of the saws, the cutting
and all that. So it's actually not very quiet. It's
very very very noisy, very stimulating, and there's usually music
(14:17):
playing there.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
We'll say, you know, doctor Kendall Crowns, that's not the
way it is on TV and movies. There's always a
medical examiner and everything's pristining quiet, you know. It made
me think back to days as a trial lawyer, where
there was so much happening in the courtroom. People were
coming in and out, spectators getting up and down talking
(14:38):
behind me, the defense attorneys whining and gnashing their teeth
and twitching their tails on the other side of the room.
But you zone completely out of all that and focus
on what you're doing. It's like all of that just disappears.
I wouldn't even be conscious of it. I remember, this
is funny. The first time I'm court TV, where I
(15:01):
later went to work, covered a case of mine that
was when women still had to wear pantyhose, and I
was so not focusing on anything but the case. They
got me from behind hitching up my pantyhose as they
inevitably would start going down now in the middle of
its trial. So you totally zone out and focus on
(15:24):
nothing but what you're doing. On the other hand, I
also loved being in the law library on weekends when
it would be totally quiet and I would be completely
alone with my legal thoughts and analysis. After you perform
the autopsy, when do you do all of the written reports.
(15:47):
You probably dictate during the autopsy.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Sometimes I dictate during the case, and sometimes I wait
till after. It just depends on the complexity of the case.
If it's a multiple gunshot wound with multiple wounds, the
dictations self can take quite a while and it can
be very in depth, so I usually do those when
I can sit in my office and just read through
my notes and make sure I get everything accurate. If
it's as simple like just heart attack or drug overdose,
(16:11):
those can be dictated quite quickly at the autopsy, right
as soon as the autopsy is done. So it kind
of just depends on the case of when I do
the dictations. But I do have some alone time in
my office usually at the after the autopsies are done,
to go through things and then process the paperwork.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Are you in your office right now?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I am in I have actually two offices connected by
a hallway, and this is a kind of a conference
room office, and my other office is through the hallway
on the other side.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Because it looks to me that you're never alone with
your two friends behind you. All I know is this
or the voice never gets old talking to you. Yeah,
them too, it never gets old talking to you. The
more you talk, the more questions I have, and the
more I want to listen. You're one of the few
guests that don't get interrupted. Just look on Twitter. People
(17:00):
hate it. I know that because you have so much
to say, and I don't ever want to miss a word,
and I don't want anyone else to miss a word.
You hear about the autopsies, you hear about the investigations,
but you hear a whole another side of what really
happens in the morgue and on crime scenes death scenes.
(17:24):
If I am judging by the first one I've heard,
I can't wait to hear the second one. Doctor Kendall
Crown's launching mayhem in the Morgue, and I am looking
forward to the next one. I love the first one,
and I will leave it a mystery as to how
something shoots out of the dead person's rear end. I
(17:45):
will let you tell that story at the right time,
Doctor Kendall Crowns, thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Hello, I'm doctor Kendall Crown's, host of your favorite new
weekly crime online podcasts, Mayhem and The Morgue. I have
been around forensics for over thirty five years and performed
thousands of autopsies. I have been everything from an autopsy
tech to finally, a medical examiner, and each week we'll
be discussing stories from my lengthy career. The stories will
(18:15):
range from courtroom dramas, explosions, maulings, shootings, drug overdoses. The
cases will never end, and the stories will range from
the humorous to horrifying, covering a wide variety of topics,
and it will never be a dull moment. Hopefully you
will find the stories entertaining and maybe you'll learn something.
So tune in and I can guarantee your nightmares will
(18:36):
never be the same.
Host
Nancy Grace
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