Dr. Michael Baden

Michael Baden, M. D. interprets the dead.  He pays attention to the nuances of bruises and abrasions in ways that few people can.  As a leading forensic pathologist of international renown—and one of only about three hundred fulltime forensic pathologists in the country---during his forty-year career he has conducted more than 20,000 autopsies.  From 1960 until 1985 he was New York City's medical examiner (ME) and he is currently co-director for the Medicolegal Investigative Unit of the New York State Police.  That means he's available 24/7 for consultations, autopsies, and evidence interpretation.

"If someone dies in jail or custody or on the highway," Baden says, "I'm available to explain what happened.  We have 62 counties in New York State and each has its own system of death investigation."  All but twelve, he points out, use an elected official called a coroner, who may have no medical experience.  "I get involved if a problem comes up after the death has been investigated by the local authority.  I also get involved with exhuming bodies when new information has become available."

In addition to that, he may investigate false allegations of abuse or evaluate injuries to a living victim.  "The same expertise we learned at the autopsy table can be applied to living people who've been shot, battered, or raped.  The search for trace evidence is the same.  We also evaluate people who have been shot by police officers to see whose story is most consistent with the facts."

Most people who pay attention to high-profile criminal cases know that Dr. Baden has been both an investigator and expert witness in homicide cases that include Nicole Brown Simpson, the alleged last victim of Albert DeSalvo, "Sunny" von Bulow, Ted Binion, and JonBenet Ramsey.  He also served on the Forensic Pathology Panel of the U.S. Congress Select Committee on Assassinations, which investigated the cases of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The co-author of two books, Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner and Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers, Dr. Baden also hosts HBO's Autopsy series.  A resident of New York, he's a visiting professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, Albany Medical Center, and New York Law School, and also lectures extensively to law enforcement agencies.

Let's look at what he does and then examine some of his more intriguing cases.