Philly’s medical examiner resigns after a year on the job

Philadelphia Chief Medical Examiner Constance DiAngelo resigned from her position on Tuesday after a year in her role overseeing death investigations in Philadelphia. City officials declined to say why she had resigned.

Lindsay Simon, previously a forensic pathologist and acting chief deputy medical examiner in the office, will fill the position while a search for a new medical examiner is underway, said James Garrow, a spokesperson for the city health department.

DiAngelo’s departure came days after 6ABC reported that her office had allegedly wrongfully cremated the body of a 16-year-old girl without her family’s consent, but Garrow said the resignation was not related.

DiAngelo’s predecessor, Sam Gulino, left the office in 2021 after concerns were raised about the mishandling of victims’ remains during one of the office’s most prominent investigations. That controversy centered on the storage of remains from the 1985 MOVE bombing, in which 11 people, including five children, from the Black liberation and activist group MOVE were killed after police dropped explosives on their fortified house during a standoff.

In 2017, a staffer at the ME’s office found a box labeled “MOVE Evidence.” Inside were human remains, including bones. An independent investigation commissioned by the city found that Gulino recommended that then-health commissioner Thomas Farley should cremate the bones. Farley issued an order to dispose of them, without informing victims’ family members, but an employee at the office disobeyed the cremation order.

In 2021, the mishandling of the remains came to light and Farley and Gulino resigned. Lionell Dotson, a brother of two MOVE victims, received the remains of his sisters that had been stored in the box.

DiAngelo was appointed to the position in 2022 and vowed to reform the office.

“If you’re not aware of history, it will repeat itself,” DiAngelo said in an October 2022 Inquirer interview. “I would never do the things that happened 35 years ago. As long as I’m here, it will not happen.”

Last week, 6ABC reported that the family of Ashay McCord, 16, was suing DiAngelo’s office over allegedly cremating her remains without telling them. McCord, who was born premature, had cerebral palsy and also experienced seizures. In April, her family found her dead in her bedroom, and DiAngelo’s office took custody of her body as part of standard investigation procedures when a minor dies, 6ABC reported.

McCord’s mother, Aisha, said her family called the office for more than a month asking for her death certificate or any details on her cause of death. After 41 days, a lawyer for the family told 6ABC, the office cremated her daughter’s body. The family says the office told them that Ashay was mistakenly listed in records as a “Jane Doe” — an unidentified person.

Garrow, citing ongoing litigation, declined to comment on the case Thursday.