Summary
The medical examiner ruled the death an accident, but the detectives investigating the case thought the evidence at the scene indicated otherwise. It would take three years, an exhumation and a second autopsy to determine who was right.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The medical examiner ruled the death an accident, |
| 0:04.0 | but a forensic detective disagreed. |
| 0:08.0 | The final resolution took three long years |
| 0:11.0 | and raised questions about the accuracy of an autopsy. |
| 0:16.0 | The Patterson, New Jersey is an industrial suburb outside New York City, which has its share of violent crime. |
| 0:34.5 | One of the town's most unusual cases happened in 1980. |
| 0:39.8 | I would personally rank it as being one of the most interesting, challenging cases I ever had. |
| 0:45.7 | 29-year-old Frankie Pullian was found dead on a deserted road underneath an abandoned car. |
| 0:53.7 | Apparently, the person driving the vehicle hit Frankie, |
| 0:56.0 | then fled the scene, leaving the vehicle behind. |
| 1:00.0 | Frankie Pullian worked for a local funeral home as a handyman. |
| 1:06.0 | Before that, he served a brief stint in the U.S. military. |
| 1:10.0 | He would run errands for the funeral home, and the funeral home was also kind of a stopping-off point for the police as well. |
| 1:18.6 | And it was one of the more successful black funeral homes in Patterson. |
| 1:26.8 | Police discovered that the hit-and-run vehicle |
| 1:29.3 | had been stolen a month earlier. |
| 1:32.3 | The owner was a retired policeman who lived nearby, |
| 1:35.3 | who had an alibi for the night before. |
| 1:38.3 | He was an elderly gentleman. |
| 1:39.3 | There was no way that anyone would even, |
| 1:41.3 | in their wildest dreams or imagination suspect that he was involved |
| 1:45.6 | in this. |
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