Law&Crime Sidebar - ‘The Body’s Gone’: Death Investigator Reacts to Aaron Carter Death Scene Photos

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

Aaron Carter’s mom, Jane Schneck, posted photos on Facebook of the bathroom where her son died and expressed concerns about the investigation into her son’s death, alleging foul play was ruled out too soon. “The body’s gone,” forensic death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan said explaining the challenge of reopening an investigation into the singer’s death at this point in time especially since his body has been cremated. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber discusses the potential case with Joseph Scott Morgan.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller

that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. What's up, everybody? I know there's a lot of weirdos and Twitter people saying that I'm not going to be in Minneapolis tonight. Well, go ahead and take a bet on that. I will be there and it's a sold-out show and you can't touch it. Aaron Carter's mom calls out police for not thoroughly investigating her son's death as a potential homicide, but a forensic expert says, not so fast.

Our own expert, forensic death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan, makes sense of the latest in the singer's tragic case. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Over now to a bit of a back and forth regarding the death of 34-year-old singer Aaron Carter. Carter was found dead in the bathroom of his California home back on November 5th, 2022. His cause of death hasn't been released to the public. The ME says that the announcement is pending additional investigation.

It has been reported that there were prescription pill bottles and compressed air cans found at the scene. I should also tell you that drowning seems to have been. and ruled out because apparently there was no water in the singer's lungs. But Carter's mother, Jane Schneck, has come forward with alleged photos of the scene. And she has accused police of failing to investigate this, quote, potential homicide, as well as death threats that apparently the singer was receiving. She said, quote, still trying to get a real investigation for the death of my son, Aaron Carter. She said this on a Facebook post.

I want to share these death scene photos with you all because the coroner wrote it off. as an accidental drug overdose. The photos are odd. So there seems to be dirty clothes on the floor, the bathtub where Carter was found. You can see it filled with green water. Again, she says the police failed to investigate this. They immediately looked it as a sign of his addiction. They ruled it as a drug overdose.

Well, now the New York Post is reporting that forensic expert Thomas P. Murillo, a senior lecturer, lab instructor in the University of Maryland's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, has casted some doubt on Jane Schneck's claims. So how'd how it makes sense of this on our end? Let us bring in our expert, forensic death investigator from Jacksonville State University, Joseph Scott Morgan, who is also the host of the Body Baggs podcast. Joseph, it's good to see you.

I appreciate you taking the time to come here on sidebar. So we don't want to engage in rumors or speculation, but we also want to understand if there is something off with this. Does Carter's mom have a point? So Ms. Schneck says that the photos will start there. They weren't taken by police, but she says people were allowed to go in and out. seemingly suggesting sloppy police work, seemingly that the police never treated this as a crime scene. Mr. Murillo, the forensic expert that I mentioned, said that police probably

already photographed it. And we also don't know when these photos were taken either. What's your initial impression of the photos? Yeah, I draw into question the provenance of any, any photo that I cannot verify a date and time stamp on. You can take all the photos you want, but we need to understand the genesis of the photos and also what what's being displayed to us. This is interesting. You know, you hear about things like staging of crime scenes. I think that this has been mentioned a couple of times. Staging cuts both ways. Are you attempting to demonstrate something to prove your point? Or are you photographing something that's just there where you can actually, that's demonstrative of the reality? Has anything been adjusted? That's

That's one of the reasons, to her point, specifically, that you do want to try to keep control over a crime scene. And that's, that way you never lose context of it. So there's too much murkiness here, I think, relative to the photos that she has allowed to be displayed and what the police are not saying. Is there anything about the photos that creates alarm for you? Because Carter's mom, for instance, suggests that the towels were too perfectly placed. Murillo says, and I think this is what you're alluding to, maybe. Maybe it's not so much about the scene, whether or not it was staged, but what is the body show? I mean, the body seems to be the most important aspect of this.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, those results from autopsy, which the forensic pathologist that's done the autopsy, they're still waiting on something at this point in time because we don't have that data yet. I don't even think we have toxicology back yet. Here's the real rough, Jesse. If you want to move forward with this case, you're going to have to do it without Aaron Carter's body because the body was cremated. So, you know, you don't get a do-over with this case, so they're totally incompletely. If you wanted to get a second opinion where you had, say, for instance, another forensic biologist that could actually do an examination and kind of go back and check what the original autopsy revealed, that ain't happening in this case, because the body's gone at this point.

So right now, all hands on deck to wait. You know, you have to wait for toxicology. You're going to have to wait for histology. here. That's going to play a real important role. Histology is actually, we talk a lot about toxicology. Histology is actually the microscopic examination of tissue

that we take at autopsy. So looking at changes in the brain, looking at changes in the lungs, you know, you brought up the air canisters. He apparently has some kind of history of what's referred to as huffing, taking on compressed air, you know, which gives you this euphoric feeling.

And there was these canisters all around, but you don't know how many canisters. Was it just one canister, two? And again, it all goes back to time. So does it seem like the M.E has ruled out everything else? Because the way that I'm understanding is it the M.E might be calling the shots here. If the M.E determines that this was an overdose or this was an accident, the police don't do anything more. It's the M.E. who's spearheading this because, again, it becomes a question of when would the scene have been released to whoever took the photos?

If the M. I'm assuming it starts from the M.E. Then goes to the police and then it goes from there, right? Yeah, and just keep in mind. And this case is one of those cases that is perfect for to bring up the idea of staging because you've got, you've got a fellow that has got a history, substance abuse, mental health issues, all these sorts things. So there is, the ground is very fertile, you know, to think that something nefarious could have been going on. And just when you begin to think about illicit drug abuse, for instance, now I know they say they have prescription drugs. who's coming in and out of his life. Now, who's passing through that house in Lancaster? Is there anybody that had bad intentions? Mom's saying that he had death threats, okay? How do we validate that?

That's something that the police. I believe his fiancé said that as well, that he might have been mixed up with certain people in the drug industry. Yeah. And if it is so neat and so well arranged, most of the time, if you have individuals that are involved in drug trade and they're trying to send a message, they're not going to have things neatly laid aside.

It's going to be a bloody mess. And I don't think that that's what you're seeing here. She's talked about the color of the water. We don't really know. I don't have a real good sense as to the timeline. I think it's one of the big things here. And I'm talking about not the timeline from the family. I'm talking about the timeline from the medical examiner

because they're going to be exploring this. She talked about color changes in the water. For me, as a medical legal death investigator, or she starts talking that green and brown hues in the water, I begin to think, well, is there some kind of biological change going on with the body? That might indicate that you've got maybe a longer period of time for post-mortem interval. It is essential, though, that we listen to everything that the forensic pathologist has to say in this case and take from that what you will. And you make a very good point, Jesse, relative to the police taking their cues. You've got

you've got this gentleman that was involved in drug abuse. He's got a history of it. He's been treated for it. He's got mental health issues. If this is something that the medical examiner deems as a drug overdose or as an accidental death where the huffing has taken place because that would be ruled probably as an accidental death, then the police are not going to pursue this case any further unless they have something to hang their hat on. Was there any signs of forced entry at the house?

You know, this guy is supposed to be, you know, a music star. Did they go in and try to rob jewelry or take cash or were there drugs in the house? Anything like that? Was there any signs? How many times have we talked about fourth century and struggle at the scene over the years? Did that exist? I'm not hearing that right now. All right.

Well, we'll wait and see. As I said, the results will be released. I mean, pending this additional investigation, but obviously we can understand the frustration on the hand, the part of Aaron Carter's mother nonetheless. Joseph Scott Morgan, thanks for taking the time. Appreciate it. You bet, Jesse.

And that's all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus.

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