An investigation into a suspected Edinburg homicide faces uncertainty due to a medical examiner in Nueces County who performed an autopsy on the victim without a valid medical license in Texas.
The district attorney’s office in Hidalgo County is working on an alternative plan to move forward on the case involving a man charged with murder.
THE CASE
The body of Yvonne Salas, 47, was sent to Nueces County from Edinburg after she was found unresponsive and “cold to the touch” inside a trailer on Dec. 7.
The man who last saw her alive was her boyfriend, Adan Roberto Ruiz, 52. Markings on Salas’ body, hair leading to the bedroom, blood-stained clothing and statements made to police led to his arrest.
According to Salas’ niece, Ruiz had previously abused Salas and threatened to kill her family while she watched and then kill her if she tried to leave him.
Her body was taken to Nueces County for an autopsy as part of the criminal investigation.
THE AUTOPSY
Salas’ autopsy was conducted by Sandra Lyden who worked as the deputy chief medical examiner in Nueces County.
Weeks later the autopsy report of another woman on Jan. 3, however, led investigators to doubt and question Lyden’s judgment and skill, according to a search warrant obtained by KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi.
Lyden’s Jan. 3 preliminary report indicated the 27 year-old Nueces County woman suffered blunt force trauma, had a neck fracture and was a victim of homicide, the affidavit stated. A Corpus Christi police detective questioned Lyden about her findings but found “she was not able to give a proper explanation.”
A second opinion was sought in Georgetown and found the Nueces County woman had died of natural causes.
Investigators found she did not have a license, a fact confirmed through the Texas Medical Board’s public records.
Lyden had a physician in training permit issued on July 1, 2006 which was set to expire on June 30, 2007; but she was terminated early on Nov. 28, 2006, according to TMB’s records.
The affidavit stated the chief medical examiner, Dr. Adel Shaker, was present during the Jan. 3 autopsy and agreed with Lyden’s findings. It added that Shaker was aware of Lyden’s missing license and needed an emergency visiting practitioner temporary permit in order to practice in Texas, but the TMB stated they could not find such permit.
Lyden was licensed in Florida, the commissioners court told KRIS-TV in a statement later on Jan. 26. Though, a physician must have a license valid in the state where they are practicing.
THE AFTERMATH
Nueces County hired Lyden on Dec. 6, 2021, but by January she had already performed 30 autopsies.
Most were bodies from Nueces County, but two were from Jim Wells, and four others were sent from Bee, Duval, Refugio and Hidalgo counties, according to information obtained through an open records request by The Monitor.
The Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office was aware of the procedure that involved the Corpus Christi office.
“As is customary between governmental entities, Hidalgo County has contracted with Nueces County to have a Medical Examiner available to assist with conducting autopsies and reports as needed,” Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez Jr. wrote in a statement. “The Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office has recently been made aware that a member of the Nueces County Medical Examiner’s Office has been terminated due to not having the appropriate credentials to practice medicine in the State of Texas.”
Rodriguez continued, “At this time, I can confirm that only one case was handled by this individual, related to a homicide case investigated by the City of Edinburg Police Department.
We understand there were concerns raised as to the Chief Medical Examiner’s oath of office. However, there are no questions regarding the Chief Medical Examiner’s credentials to practice medicine in Texas, and at this time we are not aware of any issues related to any autopsies he may have conducted for the County of Hidalgo. The Hidalgo County District Attorney’ s Office is committed to the mission of seeking justice, and will work with law enforcement in our continued efforts to prosecute all pending cases that may have been referred to Nueces County for autopsy.”
An attorney for the defendant, Ruiz, was not listed in court records and could not be reached to comment.
However, a board-certified expert in criminal law, Carlos A. Garcia explained the qualifications of the person who conducts an autopsy may not make much of a difference depending on the kind of death investigation.
“In a circumstance where you have an adult that’s been beaten, you’re not alleging that they beat themselves. Someone beat them up to cause the death,” Garcia said. “So, it’s not a question of what the cause of death was, it’s a question of who did it.”
THE REPLACEMENT
Hidalgo County lost its contracted forensic pathologist, Dr. Norma Jean Farley, at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Shortly after, the county began looking for a replacement on Sept. 1, 2020 when the commissioners court placed the item on the agenda.
“When our medical examiner left, then we had no choice but to replace those services somewhere else. The best choice that we had at the time that we made the decision was Nueces County,” Cortez said.
No one has yet been hired, though Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez said the search was complicated by the labor shortage.
“We have to evaluate and go through the same process and try to find either someone to hire ourselves, which we have been looking for, or continue to contract out with someone else,” Cortez said. “As you know, the whole country is having workforce issues.”
Nueces County faces the same challenge, now.
“I did reach out to TDEM and put a STAR request in, given the vacancy we have in the medical examiner’s office. And we were told that they were unable to fulfill that request at this time,” Barbara Canales, the Nueces County judge, said about the Texas Division of Emergency Management during the Jan. 26 commissioner’s court meeting.
“That’s why the state can’t assist. There’s a national shortage,” the judge added. “In the past we’ve gone out for a year looking for people.”
TDEM referred Nueces County to a particular firm to help to recruit someone for that vacancy.
By Feb. 2, Canales announced at the commissioner court that they had posted and received applicants for the deputy chief medical examiner position. They budgeted $100,000 to $160,000 from the general fund for the job.
In Hidalgo County, Cortez said they would rather have their own medical examiner instead of contracting other offices again to perform the job but the pandemic created more competition in a smaller pool.
“We’re trying to do the best we can in difficult situations.”
