The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "suspicious death" ...
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2002 IRE National Conference Show and Tell Tape #2
2002 IRE National Conference (San Francisco) Show and Tell Tape #2 features the following stories 1) Tim Minton (WNBC-New York City) Security at local hospitals are lacking. 2) Brian Collister (KMOL-San Antonio) An inordinate number of court case have been thrown out of the local county court because judges ruled the defendants lacked a speedy trial. 3) Clips from a PBS project concerning scientists' genetic experiments. 4) Kevin Quinn (KFSN-Fresno) Area residents are suspicious of a local Muslim village called Baladullah, where the sounds gunfire has been heard emanating from the grounds. 5) Dan Noyes (KGO-San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose) Guardrails in California are often installed incorrectly, turning the protective barriers into potential dangers. 6) Craig Fiegener (ABC 30 Action News) Fifteen travelers are swindled by a travel agency, which sold them unconfirmed tickets for a cruise. 7) Joel Grover (CBS 2-Los Angeles) An undercover investigation reveals that valet parking attendants at LA's hottest night clubs steal from their customers. 8) Paul Gallagher (60 Minutes) An investigation of the U.S. Marine Corps' MV-22 "Osprey" aircraft reveals serious mechanical problems that contributed to two crashes in 2000, which killed 23 Marines. 60 Minutes also reports that "senior officers in the Osprey squadron had deliberately falsified maintenance records and lied about the aircraft's readiness -- in an apparent effort by the Marine Corps to win Pentagon approval for full production of the aircraft, at a projected cost to U.S. taxpayers of $41 billion." 9) Tom Martino (KDVR-Denver) An undercover investigation reveals that many beauty salons use a dangerous chemical to make fake nails. 10) (WGHP-Greensboro) An investigation reveals that construction works who built the homes in a subdivision failed to install the chimneys correctly, making them dangerous for those who live there. 11) Darcy Spears (KVBC-Las Vegas) A hearing aid center uses bait and switch tactics to take advantage of the elderly. 12) Jim Kenyon (WSTM-Syracuse, New York) Criminals in Canada involved in advance fee loan scams trick Americans out of thousands of dollars. 13) Bob Segall (WITI-Milwaukee) An undercover investigation reveals that security guards at a local county courthouse don't do a good job of stopping banned items from entering the building. 14) Karen Hensel (WISH-Indianapolis) Marian County inspectors don't always review homes under construction. 15) (WBTV-Charlotte, N.C.) Members of the Iredell-Statesville School Board use district funds to attend an education conference -- but then skip the convention and go on a vacation to Disney World, all on the taxpayer's dime. 16) Valeri Williams (WFAA-Dallas/Fort Worth) WFAA-TV follows up its 2000 IRE Awards entry with this return investigation into Fort Worth's John Peter Smith Hospital. Reporter Williams and producer Schucker continued their investigation, focusing on Dr. Lydia Grotti and her connection to suspicious and overlooked deaths in the emergency room. As a result of WFAA-TV's investigation the Texas Department of Health began conducting its own investigation and discovered additional deaths that took place in the ER. The county district attorney's office called in a special prosecutor to examine a total of eight suspicious deaths in connection with Dr. Grotti at the hospital. On Tape #2 is a short clip of Williams' work. Tape #3 features the entire series of stories she played at Show and Tell.
Tags: TAPE; San Francisco; conference; no transcripts; IRE
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Justice for Justin
In a four-part series, WKRC investigates the suspicious deaths of children at an in-home day care in suburban Cincinnati. Police responded to two separate incidents of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) at the day care, and revived another child at the same residence. While the police were suspicious of the deaths, they had nothing to continue their investigation with. The parents of one the children that died came forward and won a wrongful death suit against the day care center, WKRC's investigation found that Ohio has some of most lax licensing, inspection, and enforcement laws in the country when it comes to day cares.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; day care; children; SIDS
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Fatal Errors, Secret Deaths
The Hartford Courant investigates covered-up deaths resulting from neglect and staff errors in Connecticut's group homes for mentally retarded. Patients often fell victim to suffocation, drowning, choking, burns and potentially treatable infections. Other findings include that the state secretive system conceals suspicious deaths and their causes not only from the general public, but even from next of kin; that the death rate in group homes has tripled from 1990 to 2000; and that the State Department of Mental Retardation is ineffective in investigating and taking actions against faulty group home operators. The group home system costs Connecticut taxpayers $260 million a year, the Courant reports.
Tags: mental health; FOI requests; development disabilities; state government; health care
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The Williams Case
Scolforo examines "the suspicious death of black York resident Carl E. Williams Sr. in 1965." The investigative series, which is part of the newspaper's ongoing coverage into events surrounding York City's riots of 1969, reveals that Williams was probably a victim of police brutality. Though official records state that the black man died of a heart attack, interviews with the two now-retired police officers shown a number of discrepancies in their version of what happened. The series sheds light on the exhumation of the body, following the findings, and provides ongoing coverage on the re-examination of the case.
Tags: FOI request; police misconduct; crime; forensic medicine; race riots; blacks; African Americans
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Lives at risk: An emergency room investigation -Year two
WFAA-TV follows up its 2000 IRE Awards entry with this return investigation into Fort Worth's John Peter Smith Hospital. Reporter Williams and producer Schucker continued their investigation, focusing on Dr. Lydia Grotti and her connection to suspicious and overlooked deaths in the emergency room. As a result of WFAA-TV's investigation the Texas Department of Health began conducting its own investigation and discovered additional deaths that took place in the ER. The county district attorney's office called in a special prosecutor to examine a total of eight suspicious deaths in connection with Dr. Grotti at the hospital.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; doctors; suspicious death
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Grave Secrets: Breakdown in N.C. Death Investigations
A six-month Charlotte Observer investigation found that North Carolina's system for investigating death is fraught with problems. "Medical examiners have failed to detect at least five homicides from 1993 to 1998, including three in which they had to dig up the bodies to perform autopsies. And errors and oversights have jeopardized hundreds more death investigations in those years." Among the reasons for these oversights and errors: busy doctors rarely visit the scenes of suspicious deaths; N.C. does not require specific training in death investigation for the people authorized to do them; some medical examiners seldom order autopsies when they should; when autopsies are performed, the wrong doctors (e.g. gynecologists) are often doing them. This four-day series utilized databases of more than 395,000 death records in North Carolina and 225,000 death records in South Carolina from 1993 to 1998, and 50,000 computer records from the officer of N.C. medical examiner. Reporters also reviewed 600 N.C. death certificates and dozens of autopsy reports by hand.
Tags: death certificate; forensic pathologist; medical examiner; coroner; death investigation; foul play; accidental death; unusual death; autopsy; autopsies; cause of death; insurance; CAR
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Shawn Lowrance Investigation
A News Tribune reporter investigated the death of an adopted ten year old boy "who died under suspicious circumstances while fishing on a creek in Northwest Washington state on Oct. 9, 1999." The story focuses on how this child could be placed with a foster family who had a history of domestic violence and financial problems. In addition, the investigation investigated "the boy's death after detectives learned the parents had taken out $650,000 in life insurance on Shawn about a year before he died." Reporters also "questioned the thoroughness of the police investigation into Shawn's death and the difficulty small police departments sometimes face in handling complex cases."
Tags: Department of Health and Social Services; adoption; physical abuse; Insurance Commissioner
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Who killed John McCloskey?
The Roanoke Times takes a look at the suspicious death of John McCloskey. The medical examiner concluded McCloskey's injuries were inflicted while he was in the custody of either the sheriff's department or the state mental hospital.
Tags: Police brutality mental health unsolved assault criminal justice system internal investigation
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Cover-up in Cell 709A
This article continues the reporter's Sep. 1996 investigative story on the suspicious death of inmate Kenneth Trentadue while he was in custody at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City. Though a federal grand jury found no evidence of foul play, evidence leaked to GQ suggests Trentadue was beaten to death by prison guards.
Tags: Federal Government; Civil Rights
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Hospital Homicide
The series is about 43 suspicious deaths that happened at Columbia's Veterans' Memorial Hospital in 1992. A hospital study found that although many of these patients were seriously ill, the deaths were unexpected. The study found patients were ten times more likely to die when Nurse Richard Williams was on duty.