Victim Stabbed 81 Times, Then Burned After Death: Medical Examiner

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]My name is Dr. Ashaf. Uh, first name Zu Ha, last name Assh.

[00:00:06]>> How are you employed?

[00:00:08]>> I'm a uh medical examiner at the Com County Medical Examiner's Office.

[00:00:12]>> Wonderful. We're going to kind of skip ahead quite a bit. How long have you been a medical examiner?

[00:00:17]>> Uh, about seven years.

[00:00:19]>> Right. And how many autopsies do you estimate you performed over the course of your career?

[00:00:23]>> Over a thousand.

[00:00:24]>> Have you been tendered and received as an expert in forensic pathology prior?

[00:00:28]>> Yes. How many times?

[00:00:29]>> About 30 times.

[00:00:31]>> At this time, the state's going to move to tender Dr. Ashraf as an expert in forensic pathology with the permission of Mr. She's an expert.

[00:00:43]>> She'll be considered an expert in that area.

[00:00:46]Dr. Ash, I'm going to show you. Did you have an opportunity to look at the Munberg pictures prior to testifying?

[00:00:51]>> Yes.

[00:00:51]>> All right. Wonderful. So, you've previously seen states exhibit 703 through 735. Did you recognize those photographs?

[00:00:59]>> Yes.

[00:00:59]>> How is it that you recognize those photographs?

[00:01:02]>> Those were photographs taken during the post-mortem examination of Beauty Couch.

[00:01:08]>> Are those fair and accurate photos that were taken during that autopsy?

[00:01:11]>> Yes.

[00:01:11]>> State moves to tender state 703 through 7:35 in the evidence.

[00:01:15]>> No objection.

[00:01:16]>> They're admitted.

[00:01:18]>> Very good. Now, did you personally perform this autopsy on beauty couch?

[00:01:22]>> Yes.

[00:01:22]>> All right. How old was she?

[00:01:23]>> She was 22 years old.

[00:01:25]>> Okay. Was she deceased on scene?

[00:01:27]>> Yes.

[00:01:27]>> Now, when someone is deceased on scene, how is it that you're able to transport a deedent to the medical examiner's office?

[00:01:34]>> One of our investigators is called out to the scene and we have a transport company uh contracted with our office who picks up the deedent.

[00:01:43]>> Okay. And uh in order to do that, are there any like tools or items used that help with that transport? Um, we placed the body in a body bag and uh I'm not sure the exact specifics, but >> So, do are there sheets ever used?

[00:02:01]>> Yes.

[00:02:02]>> All right. What are the purpose of the sheets?

[00:02:04]>> Um, sometimes to collect fluids if there are excessive amounts of fluids.

[00:02:10]>> Okay. Does it also um aid in actually being able to physically move the body?

[00:02:14]>> Yes.

[00:02:15]>> All right. Very good. Now, when you received um Beauty's body, did you see if there were any signs of decomposition?

[00:02:21]>> Yes.

[00:02:22]>> And what are signs of decomposition?

[00:02:25]>> Signs of decomposition are basically the changes that occur to the body after uh death. And in Beauty's case, uh she had skin discoloration, skin slippage, uh marbling, bloating, and um maggot activities. So basically uh there are maggots on the body which help with the decomposition part.

[00:02:50]>> Now unlike TV, are you able to say that she's been deceased for 7 hours and 21 minutes or whatever the case may be?

[00:02:58]>> No.

[00:02:58]>> All right. Nonetheless, does do signs of decomposition give you some idea of a general time frame as to when someone may have passed?

[00:03:06]>> Yes. All >> right. And in this particular case, what was that time frame based on her physical presentation?

[00:03:12]uh based on the level of decomposition and the presence of maggots, I would estimate about 24 hours.

[00:03:19]>> Okay. And I imagine that's give or take with a lot of conditions that play a role.

[00:03:23]>> Yes.

[00:03:24]>> All right. Was there also evidence of burning on her body?

[00:03:26]>> Yes.

[00:03:27]>> And how is it that you're able to distinguish between burns versus decomposition? Uh the burns were distinguishable from the decomposition due to the presence of soot charring um blistering and some areas which were kind of dried or leathery in appearance from thermal injuries.

[00:03:47]>> Okay.

[00:03:48]>> Now with respect to the fire, are you able to determine whether um her body was burned before or after death?

[00:03:55]>> After death.

[00:03:56]>> Okay. And how is it that you're able to make that determination? There was no soot present in her airways, meaning she was not breathing at the time of the fire.

[00:04:04]>> Now, were there visible injuries to Beauty's body?

[00:04:08]>> Yes.

[00:04:09]>> How many?

[00:04:10]>> There were approximately 81 uh sharp force injuries to her body.

[00:04:15]>> Now, were you able to group these in any manner?

[00:04:19]>> Yes.

[00:04:20]>> We're going to go extremely quickly through these. Um ultimately are some of these uh rather difficult to look at?

[00:04:28]>> Yes.

[00:04:32]>> Now the groupings that you did, where did you start with that grouping?

[00:04:37]>> I started from the top of the head and worked my way downwards.

[00:04:46]>> I'm only going to show these for an extremely brief period of time here. Um may I publish your honor? Okay.

[00:04:53]>> All right. So, looking at um starting with the head wounds, how many head wounds were there?

[00:04:58]>> On the back of the head, there were at least 35 sharp force injuries uh which extended down to the right side of the neck. Um these were primarily stab wounds, meaning the depth of the wounds was greater than the length or width. Uh the stab wounds did uh not penetrate into this uh skull or any uh vital organs in the neck um or vessels.

[00:05:34]All right, looking very briefly at states exhibit 728 here.

[00:05:41]Is this the cluster of head wounds.

[00:05:44]>> Yes.

[00:05:44]>> Okay. Um you mentioned that they uh the majority of them are stab wounds. So again, what does that mean?

[00:05:51]>> The depth of the wounds are greater than the length or width. Okay. Um now with respect to these are you uh are able to tell us the maximum depth of these wounds?

[00:06:03]>> The maximum measured depth uh was about one inch.

[00:06:08]>> Now with respect to these wounds here um I think you already specified they didn't penetrate into the skull itself.

[00:06:16]>> No.

[00:06:16]>> Okay. Nonetheless, will they cause excessive bleeding?

[00:06:19]>> Yes. The scalp in particular is a highly vascular uh area of the body, meaning there's a lot of uh blood vessels. So any injury can bleed profusely.

[00:06:33]>> Now looking at state 729, what is the next set or grouping of wounds? Uh the next cluster is um primarily on the left upper back and shoulder area.

[00:06:46]>> And is that what we're looking at in state 729?

[00:06:48]>> Yes.

[00:06:48]>> And how many wounds were there in the kind of upper back area?

[00:06:53]>> At least 34.

[00:06:55]>> And can you tell whether these are stab wounds or insized wounds?

[00:07:00]>> They were a mix of both, but primarily insized wounds, meaning the length um was greater than the depth. And what was the maximum depth of any of these injuries?

[00:07:11]>> 3/4 of an inch into the soft tissue.

[00:07:14]>> Um, so did they strike any sort of major organs or anything of the like?

[00:07:18]>> No.

[00:07:19]>> Nonetheless, will it cause excessive bleeding?

[00:07:21]>> Yes.

[00:07:24]And then finally, were there additional other injuries?

[00:07:27]>> Yes, there were scattered uh stab wounds and insiz wounds on the face, left arm, abdomen. uh the neck, face, chest and um right hand.

[00:07:45]>> Just by way of example showing states exhibit 27. What side of the body are we on?

[00:07:52]>> This is the front uh a part of the chin and the upper chest is visible.

[00:08:00]>> Okay. Was there a large and sized wound in that area of the body? Yes, there were two large insized wounds on the lower face as well as the upper chest >> this area that I'm circling.

[00:08:10]>> Yes.

[00:08:11]>> Okay. And then again, just by way of example, state 7 33 here. What sort of um wounds can we see where I'm pointing with my >> there are uh some stab wounds and insized wounds on her abdomen there.

[00:08:28]>> And just because this is probably a better example, what type of wound is that? That is a insized spoon.

[00:08:34]>> Okay. But then when you see these smaller ones, what are those?

[00:08:37]>> Those are stab wounds.

[00:08:39]>> Now, looking at these as a whole, um, were you able to determine whether a or would you expect these types of wounds from scissors?

[00:08:53]>> No.

[00:08:54]>> Okay. Um, are these types of wounds more consistent with a a sharp object?

[00:09:00]>> Yes. Could that include something like a knife or a pocket knife or something along those lines?

[00:09:04]>> Yes.

[00:09:10]>> So, just looking at these kind of as a whole, um, how many times was she stabbed in total?

[00:09:16]>> At least 81 times.

[00:09:19]>> Now, is there any way to know in a case like this the exact order of one, two, three, four, etc.?

[00:09:26]>> No.

[00:09:27]Nonetheless, were there some um indication as to what general order these may have been um received? In my medical opinion, I think the scattered stab wounds and insized wounds kind of on the front of her body, the abdomen, chest, face, uh, and in particular the sharp force injury on her right hand, uh, were inflicted before the, uh, stab wound clusters on the back of her head and on the back of her, uh, left upper back. And what sort of indicators did you see um that led you to believe the injuries to the back of the neck and the back of the head um were likely later in the time of events?

[00:10:18]>> I believe that those were inflicted last because they are so tightly clustered.

[00:10:24]Um indicating that she probably wasn't struggling very much at that point. Um and that's my main reason.

[00:10:33]>> Okay. Now, were any of these individual wounds, and I know we went through them quickly, um there's some we didn't look at photos of, but nonetheless, um were any of the individual injuries, whether it be insized wounds or stab wounds, fatal?

[00:10:49]>> Individually?

[00:10:50]>> Individually, no.

[00:10:52]>> How is it that she died then? from massive blood loss, from just the totality of the sharp force injuries, especially those inflicted on the scalp.

[00:11:06]Now, because none of these were individually uh fatal, how what is the approximate time frame it could have taken for her to essentially bleed to death?

[00:11:17]>> Minutes.

[00:11:18]>> Okay. And when you say minutes, what does that mean? It can be uh just a couple minutes up to uh less than an hour.

[00:11:31]And after performing this autopsy, were you able to reach an expert opinion regarding beauty's cause and manner of death?

[00:11:38]>> Yes.

[00:11:39]>> And what is her cause of death?

[00:11:41]>> Sharp force injuries.

[00:11:42]>> And what is the manner of death?

[00:11:43]>> Homicide.

[00:11:44]>> And did you include those findings in your death certificate for Miss Beauty Couch?

[00:11:48]>> Yes.

[00:11:49]>> All right. At this time, state moves to tender state 736 in evidence, which is the certified death certificate for beauty couch.

[00:12:00]>> Submitted.

[00:12:04]I can have just one >> your witness.

[00:12:15]Is there a general amount of amount of blood is within a typical female body >> about five liters.

[00:12:23]>> Five liters. And as you do the autopsy, do you do a determination of how much blood is remaining in the body?

[00:12:31]>> Yes.

[00:12:32]>> And do you remember in this case what that was?

[00:12:34]>> In this case, due to the level of decomposition, there was mainly uh just decomposition fluid rather than uh blood.

[00:12:44]So that affected how much I was able to measure. And in this case, I don't think I was able to measure really any blood um like in the chest cavities or abdominal cavities, which is usually where the measurement occurs.

[00:13:01]>> And so that indicates you that it sounds horrible, I know, but I she bled out almost completely her blood.

[00:13:12]I wouldn't say that um exactly because due to the level of decomposition and and death I mean blood settles in the tissues and um it's not necessarily all pulled into one area that can be measured >> but you are comfortable saying I think the word lots of blood would result from all these injuries correct >> yes >> and someone is as far as the distance someone would have had to be to inflict these sharp force injuries, do you have anything that would indicate that they' be anywhere otherwise? And right next to the body, >> I would say close distance. Yes.

[00:13:55]>> And if committing all these injuries to his body, that person, it would be cast off and blood coming out of the body such that it would almost inevitably be on that person. Correct. Yeah.

[00:14:12]>> And also inevitably wherever that took place, you would anticipate finding a large pool of blood consistent with someone having been establish assuming it happened one place.

[00:14:24]>> Yes.

[00:14:25]>> And uh of course assuming that place was not destroyed thereafter. Correct.

[00:14:31]>> Yes.

[00:14:33]As far as the amount of pressure it would take to cause these injuries, um, is it fair to say it would take more than simple pressure? In other words, there have to be some force used in order to cause these 3/4 in wounds on his couch.

[00:14:54]>> Yes.

[00:14:56]>> Um, and as far as you said that you just don't believe the scissors would be the weapon. Uh because of what?

[00:15:07]>> Mainly due to the shape of the defects.

[00:15:10]Typically, uh scissors, especially if they're in a closed configuration, would be more like of a triangular shaped wound. Um whereas this these uh stab wounds in particular kind of had >> uh more of a typical appearance of um a knife.

[00:15:32]And um as far as the burn marks that you saw, are you a is your work able to tell us at all what caused those burns >> other than fire? No.

[00:15:44]>> Fire obviously. Sure. The source of the fire, I guess, is what I'm asking. Did you find any indication of gasoline, lighter fluid or oil, anything like that?

[00:15:52]>> Um I didn't uh detect any accelerance, but I'm not a um fire expert.

[00:15:59]>> Yes. You recall when you open up the body bag, you recall the smell of gasoline?

[00:16:05]>> I don't recall.

[00:16:06]>> In your work, do you smell anything at all anymore when you're doing an autopsy? I >> mean, the smell of decomposition mainly.

[00:16:15]>> You're used to that. You smell that all the time?

[00:16:17]>> Yes.

[00:16:19]>> Um, and you said that these the sheet that's used to capture the body, sometimes that's used to collect fluids. Is that correct?

[00:16:30]Did I hear that right?

[00:16:32]>> I mean it can uh kind of act as an absorbent.

[00:16:37]>> That's what the reason why that would be done because that actually absorbs fluid because of the nature material it's made of.

[00:16:42]>> Yes.

[00:16:45]>> And gasoline being the liquid if it came in contact with that would you expect it to be absorbed by that material?

[00:16:54]>> Sure. Yes.

[00:17:02]And as far as Um, were there any requests that any be tested as far as the fing couch?

[00:18:21]The only um I guess scrapings that were collected were skin scrapings from the right thigh, left foot and right chest but uh fingle fingernail scrapings were not uh collected.

[00:18:58]And I understood you to say you you are certain that the the body was not um consumed in a fire prior to death because there's no soot in the lungs that burns >> in the airways. Yes.

[00:19:14]>> And um if if the body were we know there was some burning done to the body, some attempted burning at least. Um there's you don't have any indication that even that burn that was done went into her lungs. That correct?

[00:19:29]>> There's no indication of that. No.

[00:19:34]And when did you do the apology? What day was that?

[00:19:38]>> August 23rd, 2023.

[00:19:41]>> At what time?

[00:19:43]>> 10:30 in the morning.

[00:19:49]>> 10:30 a.m. on August the 23rd.

[00:19:51]>> Yes.

[00:20:15]Thank you.

[00:20:17]>> Any redirect?

[00:20:18]>> Just briefly in terms of the date of the autopsy, >> when was it performed? Do you have your report? August 23rd, 2023. Oh, I'm sorry. I miswrote that. It's August 24th, 2023.

[00:20:35]>> That's all I had just to clarify. Thank you, >> Mr. Lumpin. Anything else?

[00:20:43]>> Sure.

[00:20:51]>> Yes.

[00:20:54]Anything else?

[00:21:10]>> May this witness be excused?

[00:21:11]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:21:12]>> All right. Uh, you are excused.

[00:21:13]>> Thank you.