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Hurricane Katrina

Mystery still shrouds storm's violent deaths

NEW ORLEANS - While hundreds drowned in Hurricane Katrina's filthy floodwaters, at least 21 people died more mysteriously. From unexplained gunshot wounds to stabbings and fatal blows to the head, these unidentified victims are the main characters in a real-life version of CSI.

Coroners are using science, creative thinking - and even a Crock-Pot - to try to answer the question many are asking: What killed these 21 people?

With evidence washed away, witnesses who fled and an overworked police department, at least one official says the mysteries may never be solved.

"We don't know if they are suicide or murder or accident," says New Orleans coroner Dr. Frank Minyard. "We may never know."

Coroners examining the 1,090 bodies recovered in and around New Orleans occasionally find something suspicious - a bullet lodged in a bone, a wound possibly from a knife blade.

When that happens, they notify the police and district attorney, said Dr. Louis Cataldie, the state medical examiner.

New Orleans police spokesman Juan Quinton said his department investigates when the coroner declares a homicide, but said he's unaware of "any great volume" of deaths unrelated to the storm. He declined to discuss details of any ongoing homicide cases.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan and his staff are investigating four homicides that occurred in the aftermath of the hurricane: one at the Superdome, one at the city's convention center and two "on the street," said spokeswoman Leatrice Dupre.

Included in the morgue's mysterious 21 - but not among the four on the DA's homicide list - are the police-shooting deaths of two men in September. Police say the two opened fire on contractors traveling across the Danzinger Bridge on their way to make repairs. The family of one of the dead disputes the men shot at anyone, and Jordan's office is investigating.

The 21 mystery cases are in limbo until Minyard and his small staff can re-examine the bodies for clues. Their priority now is identifying the remains of hundreds of drowning victims in the state's temporary morgue so the victims can be returned to families.

New Orleans' government is still wrecked in many ways. The police department is in the midst of a leadership shake-up, the courts are barely functional and the coroner's staff has been cut by three-fourths because Katrina broke the city budget.

Still, Cataldie predicts no one will get away with murder because there's one piece of evidence the storm didn't wash away: the corpse. "Don't forget that the body is a crime scene. Always," he said.

[Last modified December 11, 2005, 02:15:36]