A state medical examiner could not rule out the possibility of foul play in the case of a 36-year-old suspected prostitute, whose death was officially classified as “undetermined,” according to an autopsy report reviewed by The Examiner.
Dr. Pamela Southall, an assistant medical examiner, wrote that Tyra McClary, 36, was found buried under a “pile of mulch” with a plastic bag tied around her feet and her underwear pulled down around her knees in 2006.
Southall concluded that “because of where Ms. McClary’s body was found in conjunction with the lack of preservation of the body, the possibility of asphyxiation cannot be ruled out,” according to the autopsy report. The report also notes McClary’s thyroid and adrenal glands were hemorrhaging at the time of death.
That’s an indication she was experiencing “severe stress” at the time of her death, said Cyril Wecht, one of the nation’s leading pathologists who criticized the Warren Commission in the Kennedy assassination. “Thyroid hemorrhage can be caused by manual strangulation,” Wecht said.
McClary’s toxicology report listed morphine, methadone and cocaine in her system. The report also noted “no obvious signs of injury,” leaving Southall to classify the death as “undetermined.”
The undetermined classification means the coroner’s office cannot definitely say whether a death was a homicide, suicide, accident, or due to natural causes.
The Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office in Baltimore consistently posted higher numbers of undetermined deaths than other states or large cities. In 2004, for instance, 341 deaths were ruled undetermined in Baltimore City, and 807 in the state of Maryland. The same year, Washington, D.C., had 76 undetermined deaths.
In McClary’s case, Wecht said undetermined appeared to be the “proper” ruling. “In a case like this, where they need more information, it’s the right thing to do,” Wecht said.
McClary’s body was discovered Aug. 30, 2006, on Beaufort and West Belvedere avenues, near where former police Commissioner Leonard Hamm’s stepdaughter Nicole Sesker was found strangled this year.
“We always thought it was suspicious,” said Rhonda McClary, Tyra’s sister. “We’ve really never had any closure. It’s been very hard for her mother.”
There have been 26 prostitutes killed since 1998, according to records reviewed by The Examiner.
Records revealed this year that police knew as far back as 2004 that three females, including two prostitutes, were attacked by the same assailant.
William Brown, 41, of Gwynn Oak, has been charged in those attacks after his DNA matched evidence recovered from the scene of the crimes.
Residents of the neighborhood said they were suspicious when McClary’s body was found two years ago buried in a freshly dug community garden.
“We thought it was murder, her feet were tied up,” said Dana Hazleton, who lives across the street from where the body was found. “They had just dug the garden, so someone must have known they could put her there.”
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