Crime Stories with Nancy Grace: Mayhem in the Morgue | Holidays

Date: December 21, 2025
Host: Dr. Kendall Crowns
(Note: Despite the podcast and feed being branded as "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace," this full episode is guest-hosted by Dr. Kendall Crowns.)

Episode Overview

Dr. Kendall Crowns reflects on the intersection of holiday traditions and the work of medical examiners. Through an engaging blend of dark humor, personal anecdotes, and forensic detail, Dr. Crowns explores how the holidays influence morgue culture, office dynamics, and even the types of cases that arise. Underpinning the entire episode is a reminder about both the loneliness and the chaos the holidays can bring, culminating in a call for compassion and vigilance toward the vulnerable.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Holiday Spirit in the Morgue (02:11–06:52)

• Festive Traditions:
  Dr. Crowns shares how morgues and hospitals often engage in holiday festivities, from music and door-decorating contests to office parties.

  • "Every office and hospital I have ever worked at gets into the spirit of the season in a variety of ways." (02:40)

• Music in the Morgue:
  Not every office allows holiday music; some, like the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, ban music for being distracting (03:15). Elsewhere, festive music becomes the morbid soundtrack to autopsy work.

  • Memorable moment: Crowns recalls performing an autopsy to "O Tannenbaum" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
    • "I have a very distinctive memory of a traditional rendering of Otanenbaum as I was opening up an intestine at the doctor's request..." (04:10)

• Family Reactions:
  A touching moment occurs when Crowns recounts telling his mother about his work accompanied by Christmas music, leading her to tears.

  • "It was at that moment I realized that my mother really couldn't handle what I did for work." (05:48)

• Personal Preferences:
  Afterward, Crowns prefers non-holiday music during autopsies to "keep death and Santa separate in my mind." (06:22)

2. Door Decorating and Office Dynamics (06:53–12:22)

• Decorating Contests:
  The episode humorously details a pathologist office's attempt at a creative holiday door, which backfires when the chief pathologist takes offense at a Rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer reference.

  • "He took an instant disliking to it and said that we were implying that he was a drunkard by placing the red nose on it." (09:30)
  • They comply by removing the "Rudolph" head, resulting in a "headless decapitated reindeer" leading Santa's sleigh.

• Holiday Parties and Potlucks:
  Office holiday parties are a social minefield, rife with anxiety over food choices and office politics.

  • "It was hard to know what to eat and it could become a political minefield because some people would get offended if you didn't eat what they brought..." (10:54)
  • Crowns describes feeling scrutinized for eating only his own food and rumors about a colleague who might have poisoned her husband, fueling nervous suspicions at potlucks.

• Legend of the Poisoned Potluck Dish:
  Dr. Crowns wonders whether stories about a potentially toxic dish are a joke by long-timers to keep good food for themselves.

  • "If this is true, that was an incredibly sneaky move." (12:00)

3. The Dangers of Office Parties (15:09–22:44)

• Escalating Conflict:
  Transitioning from potlucks to riskier celebrations, Crowns discusses how open-bar, off-site office parties can fuel conflict and even deadly violence.

• Case Study: Death at the Office Party:
  Crowns recounts an actual homicide that occurred when a rivalry at a corporate holiday party turned physical:

  • Two employees, intoxicated and competitive, escalate from a verbal confrontation into a brawl.
  • One man, a former football place kicker, knocks his rival down and kicks him in the head. The victim collapses into the cake table, is found covered in frosting, and dies from a traumatic brain hemorrhage.

• Memorable Description:

  • "His face and shoulders and neck were covered in a red, green and white frosting. His hair was matted with a thick layer of this frosting with occasional sprinkles." (17:42)

• Forensic Explanation:
  Crowns provides a detailed breakdown of subarachnoid hemorrhage, vertebral artery anatomy, and mechanism of traumatic death.

  • "When this occurs, it results in bleeding in the tissue of the neck surrounding the tear and subarachnoid hemorrhage along the base of the brain." (20:52)

• Lesson:
  "Be careful what you say at an office party because you never know what will set Jerry or Phil off, especially if they have a score to settle about how many paperclips you use." (22:28)

4. Alone at the Holidays: Death and Discovery (22:45–26:53)

• Holiday Loneliness:
  The episode turns somber, as Crowns addresses how the holidays can highlight the isolation of the elderly and socially disconnected, leading to delayed discovery of deaths.

• "Death Watch" Paper Route:
  Crowns shares poignant recollections from his teenage years as a paperboy, where over time he and his father developed a system for identifying customers likely to have died alone:

  • "...my dad and I developed a system. I would come back to the car and say, 515 has a buildup of more than five papers, positive mailbox sign, no activity, and he would say, noted, and we'd finish up the route and go back by later." (25:50)

• The Unpleasant Reality:
  Crowd’s family would often be the first to notice and report deaths, underscoring the lack of social support and the frequency of such occurrences.

  • "In the end we were not just the paper carriers, but we were also the local death watch for our route." (26:36)

• Call to Action:

  • "Do me a favor and just check up on your family, neighbor or friends this holiday season, because there really aren't paperboys anymore carrying on the tradition of the death watch." (26:48)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Christmas Music in the Morgue:
  "Such things should not occur with Christmas music playing."
  — Dr. Kendall Crowns, quoting his mother (05:30)

• On Office Politics:
  "Are you vegan? Are you lactose intolerant? Gluten issues? Issues with shapes and colors of food? What is it? Why do you have so little?"
  — Chief Medical Examiner, at a holiday potluck (11:40)

• On Urban Legends and Sneaky Colleagues:
  "Did they make up this legend to convince the new employees that her food was somehow tainted and it was actually that it was really good... Incredibly sneaky move." (12:00)

• On Office Party Violence:
  "When his cranial cavity was open, there was marked subarachnoid hemorrhage at the base of his brain, surrounding his brain stem and cerebellum." (17:59)

• On Decomposition Detection:
  "...they are discovered when the person living below them starts experiencing an ever widening spot in the ceiling that begins dripping from their decomposing neighbor that has begun to liquefy." (23:28)

• Heartfelt Reminder:
  "Do me a favor and just check up on your family, neighbor or friends this holiday season, because there really aren't paperboys anymore carrying on the tradition of the death watch." (26:48)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:11 – Introduction to holiday culture in the morgue
• 04:10 – Autopsy with Christmas music, family’s reaction
• 06:53 – Holiday door decorating contest and mishap
• 10:54 – Office potlucks and their social minefields
• 15:09 – Office party brawl leading to death; forensic explanation
• 22:45 – Effects of isolation: discovering unnoticed deaths
• 25:50 – Backstory of the "death watch" paper route
• 26:48 – Closing message: check on those around you

Final Takeaways

Dr. Crowns blends gallows humor with compassion, revealing both the quirks and the heartbreak of working with death around the holidays. From bizarre party mishaps to sobering reminders about solitude and unnoticed deaths, the episode urges listeners to be aware of their own workplace dynamics and, more importantly, to check in on those who may be alone.