San Francisco just agreed to pay $750,000 in a settlement to a former investigator for the Medical Examiner's office, who says she was fired after she accused the office's director of throwing away a human skull. Beth and Courtney talk about the lawsuit, allegations of bullying and bigotry in the Medical Examiner's office, and the unidentified man whose remains are at the center of the story.

Show Notes

Sources/For further reading:

"SF Medical Examiner Lags in Ruling on Deaths" https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/s-f-medical-examiner-lags-in-ruling-on-deaths-5006771.php#photo-5500915

"San Francisco to Pay $750K in Lawsuit Alleging Top Official Threw Away Human Skull" https://www.kqed.org/news/12072739/san-francisco-to-pay-750k-in-lawsuit-alleging-top-official-threw-away-human-skull

"S.F. to pay $750K after employee says she was fired for reporting missing skull" https://archive.is/20260414221457/https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/s-f-to-pay-750k-to-employee-over-missing-skull-22204428.php#selection-1565.0-1565.272

San Francisco Superior Court, case number CGC-24-612139 at SF County Civil Court Case Info https://sf.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-information

"Roaches, worms, and hellish elevator rides: SF's crumbling courthouse" https://sfstandard.com/2024/11/18/inside-crumbling-san-francisco-hall-of-justice/

"San Francisco settles suit involving Jeff Adachi autopsy dispute" https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigation/san-francisco-jeff-adachi-autopsy/3177264/

"Supervisors denounce leak of police report on death of Jeff Adachi" https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/supervisors-denounce-leak-of-police-report-on-death-of-jeff-adachi/article_30220e50-3c05-548e-a57d-48d96bf99a9d.html

"SFPD rate of solving crimes, already well below the national average, gets worse" https://missionlocal.org/2022/04/sfpd-rate-of-solving-crimes-already-well-below-national-average-gets-worse/

"The year in crime 2024: 4 charts that tell the story" https://sfstandard.com/2026/01/02/san-francisco-2025-crime-stats/

On national rape kit backlogs https://www.endthebacklog.org/what-is-the-backlog/

The Medical Examiner and the Missing Skull (allegedly)