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What the Dead Know With New York City Death Investigator Barbara Butcher.
Description
One pleasure of hosting this podcast is having some of your favorite people come back on the show. Today’s episode is one of those occurrences.
Today on the show, I welcome back retired New York City Death Investigator, author, and television star, Barbara Butcher. I had Barbara on the podcast back in 2023 on episodes 127 and 128.
Barbara Butcher spent 23 years at the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as a death investigator, director of the Forensic Sciences Training Program, and chief of staff. There, she investigated over 5500 deaths, 680 of them homicides. She worked mass disasters, including 9/11, the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, the London Underground bombing, and the crash of Flight 587.
During this interview, Barbara gives us a peek into the life of a big city death investigator, and we talk about her book, What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator and her new TV special The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher, and the television pilot that is being filmed based on her life at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office.
I hope you all enjoy this interview as much as I did.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
· Growing up in New York, being the oldest of nine kids, and her dad being on the New York Police Department, rising to the rank of Deputy Inspector.
· How her father’s position in the NYPD affected her career with the M.E.’s office?
· The snowball fight against the cops that got out of hand.
· The cops are for us.
· How she got the job with the New York Medical Examiner’s Office as a death investigator, and the training involved in the job.
· The job of the death investigator.
· Time of death. How that is determined, and how different it is on TV and in movies
· Besides the time of death, what are some of the biggest misconceptions or inaccuracies on TV or movies regarding death investigations?
· Her book, What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator.
· Her new show, The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher.
· The relationship she had with the cops and how they worked together to solve the crime. You can see the bond she had with the cops in her new series, The Death Investigator, with Barbara Butcher.
All of this and more on today’s episode of the Cops and Writers podcast.
Check out Barbara's website to learn more about her and her amazing career!
Check out my newest book! Police Stories: The Rookie Years - True Crime, Chaos & Life as a Big City Cop!
Head on over to my website!
Most people call 911 on the worst day of their lives. For a street cop, that’s every shift. For twenty-five years, that was mine.
Police Stories: Street Cop to Sergeant is the unfiltered story of my years as a Milwaukee street cop. The dark calls. The dark humor. The partners who became family. And the price