Poisoning
suspected in sudden death of coroner's official
April 27,
2012 | 6:35 PM
He spent his
life trying to determine how people died. But now his
colleagues are searching for answers after he died
under mysterious circumstances.
Los Angeles
police detectives, with the help of the Los Angeles
County coroner's office, are investigating the death
of Michael Cormier. Officials said he might have died
of poisoning, but they have not provided further
information.
Cormier, 61,
died last week after being taken to Providence St.
Joseph Medical Center in Burbank from his North
Hollywood home. Earlier he had complained of pain and
vomiting.
Hospital
staff notified police about concerns surrounding the
cause of Cormier's death.
"At this
point we haven't ruled out foul play," said Lt. Alan
Hamilton of the Los Angeles Police Department. "It is
one of the things being considered. We are waiting for
the coroner's results."
Ed Winter,
deputy chief coroner, said that Cormier's autopsy has
been performed but that a cause of death has been
deferred pending further tests.
Investigators
have also interviewed his family and friends. Messages
left at the home Friday went unanswered.
Authorities
have examined Cormier's Auckland Avenue home for clues
to the cause of his death. Sources said several
hazardous materials experts and officers searched the
small home looking for clues.
The sources,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that
finding the presence of poison does not necessarily
mean the death was a homicide, because the substance
could have accidentally entered his system.
Hamilton
cautions that such investigations are standard
practice when there is even a suggestion of anything
other than natural causes.
It unclear if
the death could also be related to his work or
hobbies.
Cormier,
who also worked as a coroner's photographer,
registered MAC Autopsy Services as a smal Michael
Cormier, Forensic Technician for L.A. County
Coroner, Dies Under 'Suspicious Circumstances'
**************************************************************
Michael
Cormier, Forensic Technician for L.A. County
Coroner, Dies Under 'Suspicious Circumstances'
By
Simone Wilson
Fri.,
Apr. 27 2012 at 9:15 AM
The
L.A. County Department of Coroner is a crazy place.
Employees at the old, haunted-house-looking office
-- including sentence-servers like Lindsay Lohan -- see a flurry
of celebrity overdoses and true-Hollywood murders come
through, alongside countless casualties of this brutal
gangland.
And
the story just got stranger: Michael A.
Cormier, a forensic technician and
an integral character at the Coroner's Office, recently turned up dead at his
home in North Hollywood.
CBS
LA reports that Cormier, 61, was rushed to St.
Joseph's Medical Center about a week ago, where he was
soon declared dead.
And
the death may not have been a natural one: LAPD
Lieutenant Alan Hamilton tells the news station that
hospital staff think Cormier may have died under
"suspicious circumstances."
The
lieutenant goes on to say that police "have
information that could potentially include foul play."
Cormier,
who CBS reports also served occasionally as "a
photographer with the special operations response
team," became a minor celebrity himself when he
starred in a DVD extra for 2005 horror movie Chaos.
The
short, called "Inside the Coroner's Office: A Tour of
the L.A. Coroner's Crypt," featured the forensic
technician showing writer/director Dave "The Demon"
DeFalco around the morgue.
"This
dude is even weirder than DeFalco...he's kind of a mix
between Dr. Lawrence Jacoby and Dr. Matthew
"Frankenstein" Logan. He walks us through the various
crypts pointing out all sorts of stuff, like dead
babies (wrapped in plastic) and dead fat people
(wrapped in plastic)! ... He even shows off his "tools
of the trade"...including a long handle, curved head
branch trimmer and a dry erase marker!"
At
the end of the video, Cormier and DeFalco reportedly
discuss an upcoming collaboration called The
Devil's Doorway, which deals with...
"...
their theory on how true evil manifests in human
beings...through methamphetamines! You see, the meth
opens up a doorway to another dimension allowing
demons to possess these meth-heads and then these
possessed speed freaks commit brutal crimes!"
We've
contacted the L.A. County Coroner and the LAPD for any
additional details on Cormier's possible cause of
death.
Update:
Cormier also appears in this video of a car crash on
Sunset Boulevard. He's the bearded guy wheeling the
corpse around:
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