BANGOR, Maine — World-renowned forensic pathologist Michael Baden didn’t hold back any gory details while relaying his experiences in forensic investigations to a Hollywood Casino conference room filled mostly with dentists and dentist’s assistants attending Saturday’s Concord Dental Seminar.
Baden has been consulted as an expert in high-profile cases involving O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant and actor Marlon Brando’s late son Christian. Baden also served as chairman on the Forensic Pathology Panel of the U.S. Congress Select Committee on Assassinations, which re-examined the shootings of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
The 45-year medical examiner has performed more than 20,000 autopsies and he shared details of some of the more memorable ones with the audience of dentists.
In 2008, Baden was called in to exhume the body of Joyce McLain, who was killed 32 years ago in East Millinocket. The 16-year-old Schenck High School sophomore was killed sometime around the night of Aug. 8, 1980. Her body was found two days later in a power line clearing about 200 feet from the school’s soccer fields. Her head and neck had been struck repeatedly with a blunt object.
The mysterious killing has drawn attention on television programs and in magazine articles ever since.
“It’s a sad case,” Baden said in his hotel room Saturday.
Dr. Henry Lee, who found fame during his work on the O.J. Simpson case, led the examination of McLain’s remains and found a few pieces of previously undiscovered trace evidence, according to Baden.
Baden said he couldn’t remember details about what he and Lee found but that they passed the evidence on to police.
“It isn’t that there aren’t suspects — they’ve got a number of suspects,” Baden said. “It’s up to the police to decide if there’s truly enough evidence to come to the conclusion of who caused her death.”
Nearly four years after the exhumation, police have yet to make an arrest in the case.
“I think they had certain suspicions at the time, and we discussed those suspicions,” Baden said, “It is up to the police and district attorney to determine if it’s sufficient to lead to an arrest.”
Baden said the focus of Saturday’s nearly seven-hour forensic course was to show how odontology relates to other aspects of forensics — from decomposition and rigor mortis to fatal injuries caused by guns, knives and baseball bats.
The course featured graphic crime scene photos, including several from the home where Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death.
“We love vomitus,” Baden said while showing a picture of stomach contents taken from Nicole Brown Simpson’s stomach. “[It contains] precious little pieces of food that are important to us.”
The stomach contents were key to determining time of death of the victims in that case, he said.
Baden said forensic pathology has come under fire in recent years, especially after a 2009 National Academy of Science report criticized the “badly fragmented” field of forensic science.
After nearly half a century of forensic pathology work, Baden said he expects to see major shifts in the way pathologists and crime scene investigators do their work over the next few years.
“What’s next is we’re going to get more science into forensic science,” Baden said. “Much of what is done now in forensic science doesn’t really have a forensic basis.”
For example, he said, attempts to match hair samples from crime scenes will be replaced by drawing DNA from those samples for a far more accurate result.
Baden argued that more needs to be done to prevent pathologists from pushing for convictions in criminal cases, which sometimes can lead to putting the wrong suspect behind bars, he said. A large majority of pathologists are trained within law enforcement circles, meaning they can develop a way of thinking that leads to a bias in favor of prosecuting rather than defending.
“We’re going to try to get the bias out of forensic science,” Baden said.
It seems a bit opportunistic, that this guy is running around the country flashing privileged pictures from the OJ trial for the entertainment of dentists. Doesn’t seem particularly professional.
“Murder” is “creepy”! The good doctor’s unflinching search for the truth is admirable.
It all helps, Don’t worry about something you know nothing about !!!!! CREEPY ?? teaching others, Not CREEPY ” Privileged ?? or very public pictures I’d say. What he is doing is his profession ??
Very true, Pam. Bangorian seems to be quite a novice at attempting to sound believable – and very ignorant of the subject and what it encompasses. In Joyce’s case, every little bit helps indeed and it is a wonderful thing for Dr. Baden to take his knowledge and use it as an opportunity to further educate others in the field of forensics. Without forensics, there would never be a chance to catch Joyce’s killer, and justice surely wouldn’t be served. There will be Justice for Joyce soon and forensics will have played a very important part in putting this very complicted puzzle together. I pray the day is almost here, for Joyce, for you and your family and for these communities. God Bless you and your unmoving strength through all of these years. Shame on you Bangorian for being so pompous as to assume this was simply an opportunity for Baden to make money off the Simpson name, as you can clearly see this goes way deeper than the OJ circus and entertaining dentists….it is about lives taken too soon by the hands of “invisible” criminals. Forensics is the antidote for invisibility – forensics see things the naked eye cannot and people need to learn this, it is a WEALTH of knowledge.
he didnt solve joyces case did he
You are a very cruel and heartless person!
i wasnt being cruel. i just stated a fact. pam knows i wasnt being cruel. no one has solved that case as of yet and the baby ayla case will be the same unless someone developes a guilty concience aylas dad
Has the man not worked on a case in the last 15 years, that he could reference? Is the picture of stomach contents that he displayed somehow more useful when the audience is told that it came from Nicole Brown? This guy appears to be just cashing in on his involvement with the OJ trial.
Creepy?? He is helping to solve murders, do we want these unsolved murders to be unsolved? NO, people want some answers!!! Could you tell me what else he could use as a learning tool to help others learn about forensics? He must have permission to use the photos of Nicole Simpson, her family probably wants him to help others to learn how to catch the EVIL people in this world that think they can go around killing people and get away with. Sometimes it dont always happen that way, that they find the killer but sometime they dont. I guess I dont know what he is teaching dentist, but obviously something or they would not have been there. The Creepy part to me is that she got killed by a CREEP.
Lost every single ounce of respect for this man when he and his loudmouth wife supported Casey Anthony.
Dr. Baden, and Dr. Henry Lee was here to collect DNA. I had been told there would be none at all, Thats why State Police would not exhume Joyce. Well the people raised enough money to get Joyce exhumed , And she was in great shape for being burried for 28 years , And they did find dna’s ( several) But they turned them over to our State Police !!!!!!!!! They are the ones that has been trying to solve Joyce’s unsolved murder for 32 years ??? They should be more then willing now !!!!! To turn her case over to the FBI ?? Why not?? They have nothing to lose !!!!! Joyce’s case may have a chance w/ them doing that, Why not let FBI have a try at it ???? Are they worried that they just might solve it and make them look bad, Who would care ?? We only want her case to get every chance to get solved and State Police shouldn’t let their PRIDE stand in the way !!!!! I have not talked to a state police on Joyce’s case since they collected things from her grave ( that someone destroyed ?? I was to get one of the items back, it was special to me, But that got lost in the shuffle too I guess !!!!!!!! 32 YEARS UNSOLVED, Please STATE POLICE TURN IT OVER TO FBI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE GIVE IT THAT CHANCE , It just may get solved