Rep. Terrill Calls for Investigation of Former Chief Medical Examiner

By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CTIY -- State Representative Randy Terrill called on the governor and state attorney general to launch an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation inquiry into former Chief Medical Examiner Collie Trant.

The investigation would center on allegations that Trant may have been criminally negligent while on the job. The belief is Trant illegally conducted private contract work while on state time and allegations go even further to suggest the former Chief Medical Examiner stole state evidence.

Rep. Terill is heading the recent investigation into the M.E.'s and says the former Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Collie Trant, was hired to fix many problems and has only made it worse.

"Rather than being a do-gooder or whistleblower as he claims he may have been, in fact, he may have seriously jeopardized this criminal investigation," Terrill said.

But, the documents in question, according to Adams, are where they have always been, inside the M.E.'s office. He wanted his client to be allowed access into the building to prove it.

"Did we get permission for us to go in? Is that a 'no?'" Trant asked Office of the Medical Examiner Spokesperson Cherokee Ballard. "See what I'm dealing with right now? We know where they are, at least when Dr. Trant was here."

Some of the missing evidence includes tissue samples from autopsies done in Tulsa that were to be brought to Oklahoma City. The person who signed them out the M.E.'s office was Dr. Collie Trant.

"The folks in Tulsa who worked these cases with the former chief clearly stated to us and it's on a log that he was to bring them to Oklahoma City," Ballard said.

Adams pleads for a chance to prove Trant could locate the missing items.

"Trant conducted 81 autopsies, but completed only nine. Of the remaining 72 autopsies, records for 67 include only photos and incomplete body diagrams there are no dictation tapes or other detailed notes," Terrill said regarding Trant's brief time as Oklahoma's Chief Medical Examiner. "An OSBI investigation is necessary if Dr. Trant was criminally negligent and has jeopardized several criminal investigation."

3/23/2010 Related story: Governor Henry Releases Review Of Medical Examiner's Office

As a result Terrill said Trant's actions "could even endanger several murder investigations."

Those murder investigations Terrill said include, the murder of Dwite Allen Morgan, otherwise known as "Bicycle Bob," a homeless man in Edmond; the death of Carol Faye Daniels, an Anadarko pastor murdered in her church; and the murder of four people and two unborn children in south Oklahoma City last November.

As for items that may have been stolen, Terrill said they include tissue samples and cassettes involving two cases from Tulsa. 

"A document from the medical examiner's Tulsa office show that Trant was the individual who signed out the missing evidence on October 24 and October 25," Terrill said. "This appears to be an alarming pattern of conduct that must be thoroughly investigated."

The Governor and the Attorney General are the only ones who can approve an investigation into Dr. Trant.