Nebraska fails to oversee death investigations

Karyn Spencer of the Omaha World-Herald discovered Nebraska has no state oversight and few standards to ensure quality death investigations by coroners or law enforcement. The lack of oversight and standards lead to murder cases remaining unsolved, coroners skipping autopsies to save money or guessing at the cause of death and bodies being exhumed to resolve questions from inadequate investigations.
Throughout a two-week series, Spencer examined 15 cases that illustrated weaknesses in the system, including an in-depth look into the murder of Tara Russell.