MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – In 2022 Marquette County contracted all pathology services to a Saginaw forensics lab, the Michigan Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, a private pathology lab run by Dr David Stockman. After months of little to no communication with MIFSM and considerable delays in getting promised pathology reports, such as death certificates and autopsy reports. County officials were getting frustrated.
“What it does is not having those reports, it’s a chain reaction of things that go bad, from law enforcement to the county clerks to the families to the statistics, it just creates a huge problem for us,” said Larson.
And so with a mounting backlog of past due reports and a ceaseless parade of excuses, under Sheriff Larson, along with Marquette County Board Chair Joe Derocha, took matters into their own hands and drove the 16-hour round trip to Saginaw to demand the reports
“By us going down there, we wanted to eliminate every excuse. If they’re done, they’re done; we will come pick them up. There’s no excuses,” exclaimed Larson.
After a couple of canceled appointments to speak with Dr Stockman, who never actually met with Larson and Derocha, the pair were finally able to meet with his staff, who turned over some of the requested medical reports.
“We returned with 18 autopsy reports that had toxicology included. We also returned with three cases of three separate cases that had evidence in them,” said Larson.
With 11 cases still outstanding, Undersheriff Larson is hopeful. MIFSM will deliver them promptly. 19 News has reached out to Dr Stockman multiple times for comment, and has received no response.
