Her dream job was often a nightmare.
Barbara Butcher spent decades in New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, visiting more than 5,500 death scenes, nearly 700 of them murder cases, including the Carnegie Deli massacre and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Met.
She told FOX News Digital that in dealing with victims’ families, they need to remain calm while they endure the worst days of their lives. At one point, while she was talking to the victim’s mother, the woman noticed that she was in an abnormal state of mind.
“She said, ‘You’re just a bad dream. I’m about to wake up. You’re a bad dream, that’s all.'” Butcher said the team of true crime investigators He recalled this in an interview at the Hamptons Whodunnit Conference. With mystery writers in East Hampton Village, Long Island.
“And it chilled me to the core.”
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Former New York City Chief of Staff, Forensic Training Program Director and Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Butcher speaks to FOX News Digital at the Hamptons Whodunnit Crime Conference in Southampton, New York, Saturday, April 13, 2024. . , “What the Dead Know” chronicles her experience investigating more than 5,500 death scenes across New York City. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
“Those incidents are seared into my memory,” Butcher, who investigated murder scenes in the Big Apple during the city’s struggle to overcome violence in the 1990s, told Fox News Digital.
She said her main goal is to shine a light on the trauma that she and other death scene investigators, including police officers and paramedics, face on a daily basis.
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“I want investigators and police officers to do their own thing,” she told Fox News Digital. “Don’t be like me and say, ‘Oh, I don’t need therapy.’ Ha, bulls—we needed a lot of therapy.”
Many of the cases involved horrific crimes against helpless victims.
Defense attorney Brian Koberger “firmly believes” the suspect is innocent.
I loved my job. I like it very much. But it destroyed a big part of my heart.
One of the videos that still makes her feel uneasy is the execution-style murder of a family of four.
“I walked into the room and saw a little boy with soft brown curls and little golden skin lying on his stomach. His backpack looked like something out of Star Wars or something kids love. “He was obviously on his way to school,” she said. “When he was shot, there was a gunshot wound to the head, and my heart tightened.” “I froze.”
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In order to wear a mask and survive the investigation, she said she had to call in uniformed officers on the pretext that she needed a witness for questioning.
Barbara Butcher, former New York City Chief of Staff, Forensic Training Program Director and Chief Medical Examiner, answers questions during a panel discussion at the Hamptons Whodunnit Crime Conference on Saturday, April 13, 2024 in Southampton, New York City. . Ms. Butcher’s new book, What the Dead Know, chronicles her experience investigating more than 5,500 death scenes across New York City. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
“Then I became ‘Agent Barbara Butcher,’ and I was able to put the mask back on and be done with it,” she recalled. “But it was still terrible. Afterwards I just kept crying about it. But that’s your job…it’s a very hard job. I loved my job. I really love it. But it destroyed a big part of my heart. “
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Butcher retired as chief of staff and director of forensic training at the medical examiner’s office and spent two years during the pandemic writing her memoir, “What the Dead Know.”
She said she lost her medical job due to alcoholism, but got sober and, through a combination of sheer luck and courage, ended up working for Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch. She was the second woman hired, and the first time she had been employed for more than three months.
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She is currently involved in the Netflix documentary series “Homicide: New York” and is working on an upcoming project with “Law & Order” producer Dick Wolf.
She said her work with the streaming giant allowed her to reunite with the surviving victims of the Carnegie Deli murders.
Barbara Butcher, former New York City Chief of Staff, Forensic Training Program Director and Chief Medical Examiner, answers questions during a panel discussion at the Hamptons Whodunnit Crime Conference on Saturday, April 13, 2024 in Southampton, New York City. . Ms. Butcher’s new book, What the Dead Know, chronicles her experience investigating more than 5,500 death scenes across New York City. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
In May 2001, two men planning to steal marijuana and cash broke into an apartment above a famous Manhattan deli, tied up the people inside, killed three of them, and murdered two more. injured someone. new york post It was reported at the time.
The robbery killed Jennifer Stahl, a 39-year-old starlet turned high-end pot dealer, and her friends Charles Helliwell and Stephen King.
Butcher said one of the two survivors, Anthony Beeder, survived a gunshot wound to the head after the bullet’s trajectory miraculously curved at the right angle.
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“Meeting him meant a lot to me because I had a job where I could contribute to the world,” she said. “I’m so glad he’s alive.”
Both suspects in the case were later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
For Butcher, it was a rare moment of closure. Mr. Butcher investigates so many murder cases that it is impossible for him to be present in court for every case, he said.
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“They came at breakneck speed back then,” she said. “We were filing several cases a week, one case after another. And you know how the judicial system works. Sometimes it can take two years to get to trial.”
FOX News’ Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
