MOUNT VERNON — Knox County Coroner Dr. Jennifer Ogle said it may be six weeks before she has all the information she needs to determine the cause of Brad Grosscup’s death. Grosscup’s body was found following the fire Feb. 14 at 209 Shirley Ave., but it has been determined he died about two days before the fire.
Ogle said she will determine the cause of death once the toxicology is complete.
“It is standard procedure for me not to complete the final death certificate until I have all available information,” Ogle said. “From a coroner’s perspective, it is most important to exhaustively evaluate the cause of death and get that right than it is to quickly come to judgment. Unfortunately, these things take far longer in real life than they do on television.”
Ogle noted that the investigating officers in the case are treating it as a homicide.
“Forensically, this, this is based upon several factors, most notable at this point are the post-mortem interval and the fact that arson is involved,” she said.
She also said many factors were used in determining how long Grosscup had been dead, including decompositional changes to the body.
Contact Chuck Martin
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