Mayhem in the Morgue: Gator Bait
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.2 • 8.1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 October 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Content Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of autopsy findings, decomposition, and animal predation. If you’re sensitive to these topics, this episode may not be for you.
A fisherman’s disappearance, his empty boat, and circling alligators lead to a grim discovery. In a separate case, a family Labrador retriever trots home with her latest find, a human head. In this episode of Mayhem in the Morgue, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kendall Crowns investigates two extraordinary cases of scientific identification, showing that forensic science can reveal the truth in the strangest circumstances.
Highlights
- (0:00) Welcome to Mayhem in the Morgue with Dr. Kendall Crowns
- (0:15) An introduction to scientific identification and how it helps solve difficult cases
- (2:15) Stomach contents, swamp water, and the first clues of what really happened
- (5:00) A second case: Carly the Labrador retriever brings home a human head
- (6:15) Mummified remains are tested, and DNA reveals the victim’s connection to the U.S. Marshals’ Most Wanted list
- (8:15) A press conference overshadowed by an unexpected star: the dog
About the Host: Dr. Kendall Crowns
Dr. Crowns is the Chief Medical Examiner for Travis County, Texas, and a nationally recognized forensic pathologist. He las led death investigations in Travis County, Fort Worth, Chicago, and Kansas. Over his career, he has performed thousands of autopsies and testified in court hundreds of times as an expert witness. A frequent contributor to Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, Dr. Crowns brings unparalleled insight into the strange, grisly, and sometimes absurd realities of forensic pathology.
About the Show
Mayhem in the Morgue takes listeners inside the bloody, bizarre, and often unbelievable world of forensic pathology. Hosted by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kendall Crowns, each episode delivers real-life cases from the morgue, the crime scene, and the courtroom. Expect gallows humor, hard truths, and unforgettable investigations, ranging from courtroom drama to deaths that even seasoned pathologists struggle to explain.
Connect and Learn More
Learn more about Dr. Kendall Crowns on Linkedin, catch him regularly on Crime Stories with Nancy Grace and follow Mayhem in the Morgue where you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:04.5 | Today's episode discusses the death of individuals. |
| 0:07.5 | If this sort of thing upsets you, this is not the episode for you. |
| 0:12.3 | Welcome to Mayhem in the Morning with your host, Dr. Kendall Crowns. |
| 0:24.5 | Today Dr. Kendall Cairns. Today's episode, Gator Bate. |
| 0:27.3 | When a body comes into the medical examiner's office, |
| 0:29.6 | one of the first things we do is identify that individual. |
| 0:32.9 | And there are two methods for doing this, |
| 0:35.0 | non-scientific methods and scientific methods. Today we'll be discussing |
| 0:39.6 | the scientific methods. Scientific methods can be one of five things. It can be fingerprints, |
| 0:46.7 | comparison of dental x-rays, comparison on radiographic studies done at hospitals, |
| 0:51.9 | looking at serial numbers found on medical devices that are implanted |
| 0:55.4 | in the body, and finally DNA. The dental x-rays, the radiographic studies, and the serial |
| 1:01.1 | numbers all require you to have medical records of some sorts. So you have to have a bit of a |
| 1:07.0 | presumptive ID to get those in the first place. Fingerprints, of course, everybody has them, everybody's are different, because they form |
| 1:14.3 | when you're a fetus, moving your hands around in the amniotic fluid, touching your face, |
| 1:18.9 | etc. Even if you're an identical twin, your fingerprints are different. |
| 1:23.0 | DNA is incredibly helpful, but it does take a long period of time. We try to exhaust all the other options |
| 1:28.5 | before we resort to DNA. First case we'll be discussing today was that of a 62-year-old male. He was |
| 1:35.1 | retired and enjoyed going fishing. He would often spend three to four days off on a fishing trip all |
| 1:41.0 | by himself. Usually on these fishing trips, he would check in with his |
| 1:44.2 | wife or talk to other family members every day. He had checked in late in the evening on the day |
... |
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