A second autopsy was completed on the body of 11-year-old Adriana Younge on Thursday in the US State of Georgia, and the Chief Medical Examiner who conducted the autopsy, Dr. Carol Terry, said based on her observations, the first autopsy was done correctly and thoroughly. However, she said there still needs to be a very thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding the child’s death, based on the information that was shared with her.

The first autopsy, which was completed just over three weeks ago in Guyana by three foreign pathologists, including the Chief Medical Examiner of the US State of Delaware, concluded that Adriana Younge died by drowning.

In an interview with journalist Travis Chase of the HGPTV Nightly News following the completion of the second autopsy in Gwinnett County, Georgia on Thursday evening, Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Carol Terry said she would not come to conclusion of drowning as the cause of death at this time because there is still a lot of investigations that she believes needs to be done.

She explained that drowning is a “diagnosis of exclusion”, which means that one would have to exclude other causes of death.

“Often times when a body is found in water, the assumption is that the person has drowned. There is nothing in autopsy that is diagnostic of drowning. So again that is what I mean by saying that drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion. And in this case, what I have been told about the circumstances being so suspicious that I really think that there needs to be a very thorough investigation and I would like to the results of testing from the first examination as well as any additional testing that was done in accordance with the first autopsy”, Dr. Carol Terry said.

Earlier this week, the Guyana Police Force released details of the findings of the first autopsy. That first autopsy, which included toxicology and DNA testing, found no signs of acute injury or trauma on the body of the child.

Additionally, the toxicology results, according to the Police, showed ethanol levels consistent with postmortem decomposition and there was no evidence of any type of sexual assault.

The second autopsy also found no evidence of trauma on the body or organs of Adriana Younge, according to Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Carol Terry.

Questioned about whether she would be reluctant to conclude that the child drowned, Dr. Terry said she would be reluctant “based on the circumstances that were reported to me”. She said she would recommend a thorough criminal investigation.

Dr. Terry repeatedly made references to what was told to her about the circumstances surrounding the child’s death. The Guyana Police Force in its statement earlier this week said both the post-mortem examination done in Guyana and the investigation by a Canadian Homicide Detective, found no evidence of foul play in the death of the child.

The Chief Medical Examiner, who conducted the second autopsy said she has taken samples from the body for further testing and to complete her report. She said she believes she overtook samples, since she will not get another opportunity to examine the body again.

She noted that based on the previous post-mortem examination being completed and with decomposition, as well as embalming of the body taking place, the body would have lost some forensic value at this stage.

“Again its a second autopsy, and so we have issues of artefacts that were introduced by the first autopsy, we’ve got decomposition that is taking place and we’ve got embalming that has occurred. Now, so that introduces a lot of artefact in the body and it compromises the examination somewhat, but this diagnosis and this investigation doesn’t hinge just on the autopsy. It hinges on the investigation of the death, the investigation of any potential crime that occur in association with this child’s disappearance”, she noted.

She said she would also need to see the results of the first examination and any testing that was done during the first autopsy. Dr. Terry said she saw her second autopsy as more of doing “quality control”.

“I think the first examination, at least technically from what I can see in association with doing the second autopsy was done very competently and thoroughly and I would want to see what those results are”, Dr. Terry said.

With the second autopsy now completed, the family of Adriana Younge will be making plans for the return of her body to Guyana and her funeral.

The family’s lead Attorney, Dr. Dexter Todd, has blasted the Guyana Police Force over its investigation of the young girl’s death. He has said the file on the investigation cannot be closed as yet.

Adriana Younge was found dead in the pool of the Double Day Hotel in Tuschen, one day after she was reported missing at the same location. Suspicions rose after it was reported that several previous checks of the same pool came up empty handed.

Initially, the Police had claimed that it was in receipt of video evidence that showed the girl leaving the hotel in a car. However, the Police later admitted that the information was false.

The discovery of the girl’s body led to widespread protests for a number of days. The family opted to have the second post-mortem examination done after rejecting the preliminary findings of the first examination.

Related posts:

Adriana Younge’s remains flown to New York for second autopsy AG Nandlall sees no need for second PME in probe of Adriana Younge’s death Canadian homicide expert to join probe into death of Adriana Younge -Government announces Delaware’s Chief Medical Examiner to arrive on Sunday for autopsy on body of Adrianna Younge