CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal civil rights lawsuit accuses a
southern Ohio coroner of using deaths as political pawns in an ongoing
feud with the local sheriff.
The lawsuit filed Monday in federal
court in Cincinnati accuses Brown County Coroner Judith Varnau and her
husband, Dennis Varnau, of disrespecting bodies and abandoning evidence.
The
lawsuit says that as a result the family of Hanson Jones Jr. of Ripley
will never know whether his August shooting death was a homicide or a
suicide.
The lawsuit says the Varnaus left behind a shotgun and
chunks of Jones’ skull, later found by his sister, and never ordered an
autopsy or tests to see if there was gun residue on Jones’ hands.
The Varnaus declined to comment, but Dennis Varnau defended his wife as responsible.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal civil rights lawsuit accuses a
southern Ohio coroner of using deaths as political pawns in an ongoing
feud with the local sheriff.
The lawsuit filed Monday in federal
court in Cincinnati accuses Brown County Coroner Judith Varnau and her
husband, Dennis Varnau, of disrespecting bodies and abandoning evidence.
The
lawsuit says that as a result the family of Hanson Jones Jr. of Ripley
will never know whether his August shooting death was a homicide or a
suicide.
The lawsuit says the Varnaus left behind a shotgun and
chunks of Jones’ skull, later found by his sister, and never ordered an
autopsy or tests to see if there was gun residue on Jones’ hands.
The Varnaus declined to comment, but Dennis Varnau defended his wife as responsible.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.