KRISTI PIEHL

Kristi Piehl
I’m not a forensic pathologist or a medical examiner. I’m a journalist trained to ask questions and track down answers. As I’ve worked on these cases, I’ve read autopsy reports from departments around the country. I’ve seen pictures of autopsies and recoveries of bodies. What I’ve found is there is NOT a standard test to prove drowning. Unlike other causes of death, the investigators play a significant role in determining the way the victim died. In the cases that I’ve seen, the determination “accidental drowning” is frequently based on the victim being found in a body of water without significant trauma.
Even if a medical determination can be made that the victim died from drowning, there is NOT a test to prove the victim died from an accident, a suicide or a homicide. The police detectives actually work with the coroner or medical examiner to make this conclusion. If dogs don’t track the victims scent to the water and if no one watched the victim walk to the water or fall in the water, how can a medical examiner or detective determine the young man is the victim of an accidental drowning? I’ve been searching to answer this question for several years and I can not find a reasonable answer. The answers that I can find are about man power or money and the victims and their families deserve a better answer.

Kristi Piehl, an Emmy award-winning journalist, launched this site in 2009 to keep the victims’ stories alive. She believes the power of the public and the press can save lives and expose evidence. She and Trish DeAngelis, a former NY District Attorney, hope to convince law enforcement and medical examiners that these victims deserve a full and comprehensive investigation. Hector Berrellez agrees. He’s a former Federal Agent who has seen the case files. He’s convinced the victims are being killed and law enforcement should investigate.
Kristi Piehl has won many local, regional and national awards as a television reporter including two Emmys. She most recently was an Investigative Reporter at KSTP in Minneapolis. Since 1997, she’s reported for KEYC in Mankato, MN, KELO in Sioux Falls, SD, and WKEF and WDTN in Dayton, OH. She broke the story of the Smiley Face Killers on Good Morning America in 2008. In the last two years, she’s discussed the story on many local and national radio and television programs.