Posted on 03/26/2002 5:35:20 PM PST by Oklahoma 1
A close examination of the complete case file compiled by the office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Oklahoma reveals that inhalational anthrax was never considered as a potential cause of death in the case of Ron Miller. The Oklahoma Constitution has published several articles on Miller, a Norman businessman who died under mysterious circumstances on October 12, 1997, just before he was to testify before a congressional committee with allegations concerning some key associates of then-President Bill Clinton, and his wife, Hillary Clinton. (To review these previous articles, you can visit our web site at www.OklahomaConstitution.com).
Miller entered Norman Regional Hospital with flu-like symptoms, later diagnosed with pneumonia. Despite several days at Norman and at a Integris Baptist Hospital in Oklahoma City, physicians were unable to determine the cause of his illness. When Miller's condition worsened until his death, the case was referred to the Chief Medical Examiner (CME).
After five months, the CME finally issued its public report, declaring Miller's death "natural" but without a cause listed. Through the efforts of Dr. Stephen Dresch of Michigan, the CME later amended the cause of death as "undetermined." In a supplemental report included in the complete case file, CME spokesman Ray Blakeney wrote of media inquiries as to why the manner of death was changed from "natural to unknown." According to Blakeney's report, "the case was signed out as natural and should not have been, it should have gone out as unknown" originally. According to a source who spoke to the Oklahoma Constitution, Dr. Fred Jordan and his staff discussed the Miller case and that they all, including Dr. John Cooper (who did the autopsy), agreed with the "unknown" classification. According to our source, Dr. Cooper checked the manner of death as "natural," anyway. When we talked with Dr. Cooper this past summer, he told us that he still believed that Miller's death was "natural," but that he could not explain why.
In our Summer 2001 issue, we examined the possibility of inahalational anthrax as the cause of Miller's death (see "The Strange Death of Ron Miller"). Ray Blakeney of the CME insisted that Miller did not die of anthrax. When we asked if the CME specifically tested for inhaled anthrax, we were told that they had considered "everything."
Apparently not, a review of the complete case file reveals. The Oklahoma Constitution made a formal open records request for the complete case file, to allow us to review the tests conducted on Miller. We were denied access. Shortly after this, the district attorney in Cleveland County used a court order to obtain the complete case file. They were not allowed to copy the file for us or even let us review the file in their office.
We finally obtained a copy of the complete case file from the widow of Ron Miller, who also used a court order to obtain her copy.
While the file contains a great amount of interesting material, absolutely no record is included that inhaled anthrax was ever considered, rejected, or tested for at any time.
A close reading of the file raises even more questions on the Miller case. While the summary report released to the public alludes to a test for the biological agent ricin, there is no indication that such a test was ever actually conducted. In a letter to Special Agent John Hippard of the FBI, Kevin Rowland (the chief investigator for the CME) requested Hippard's help in getting Miller tested at "the only laboratory currently testing for" ricin, the United States Army Medical Research in Infectious Disease lab. Rowland wrote, "Mr. Miller had a type of pneumonia that is very unusual and did not respond to medical treatment. There are various things that could be the cause of this type of pneumonia from natural to chemical to biological agents. One biological agent is Ricin."
No record exists in the file that such a test was ever done or that Hippard responded to Rowland's request.
Another investigator, James Pratt, spoke with Dr. Norman Imes of Baptist. According to Pratt's report, Dr. Imes "could not explain Mr. Miller's decline." Imes stated, "I've been doing this a long time and can't remember renal and pulmonary failure presenting themselves together without trauma."
Pratt reported that "friends" of Miller voiced concern because of Miller's "relationship with Ron Brown and Vince Foster."
Two months after Miller's death, a congressional investigator inquired about the Miller case. The investigator asked if the CME had received cooperation from the federal government. The congressional investigator said that he had heard "otherwise." The investigator for the CME office told the congressional investigator that his "calls to Fort Deitrich regarding ricin testing had not been returned."
Another oddity which could be meaningless is that the case was referred to the CME by telephone by Dr. Imes at 8:54 PM, seven minutes before Miller was pronounced dead (according to the death certificate). While the public summary matches the death certificate as to time of death (9:01 PM), it gives the time that the case was referred to the CME as 9:15 PM. This is an unexplained discrepancy of twenty-one minutes.
It is clear from the complete case file that the investigators at the CME's office were fascinated by the similarities in the deaths of police officer Maxwell Hames and Ron Miller. In a letter to an out of state pathologist, Dr. John T. Cooper (who conducted the Miller autopsy) requested assistance with both unexplained deaths.
"The first case," Cooper wrote, "is that of Ronald G. Miller, case number ML 711-97, which is currently being investigated with pending toxicology and which is the primary focus of this consultation request. The other case is being sent due to the striking similar clinical histories of the two individuals, with somewhat similar pathologic findings. One patient was a local police officer of some standing," while the other, Miller, was "a material witness in certain FBI/Congressional investigative matters. Both individual (sic) were considered to be potential candidates for homicidal activity and, to further enhance the mystique, it has been reported that the two men knew each other."
Hames' high reputation apparently was derived from his citation for his good work in investigations into the Oklahoma City Murrah bombing. Interestingly, Cooper noted that Hames' "initial complaint was stomach pain rather than respiratory distress."
The pathologist responded to Cooper's letter about two months later, unable to make any conclusions, stating that "the potential etiologies are numerous."
A supplemental report, dated the day after Miller's death, quoted a nurse at Baptist hospital who was struck by the similarities of the Miller and Hames cases.
In a series of questions with both the questioner and the answerer unidentified, it is asked whether Miller was a gardener. This is interesting in light of the recent death of the 94-year-old woman in Connecticut who died from inhaled anthrax. Investigators in that case wanted to know whether she was a gardener, theorizing she could have contracted the bacteria from gardening. (Neither Miller nor the Connecticut lady were gardeners).
After the changing of the manner of death from natural to unknown, Dr. Fred Jordan, the chief medical examiner, spoke with a local radio newsman "at length" and explained that the manner of death "had probably mistakenly gone out as natural." Dr. Jordan then contacted the district attorney in Cleveland County, Tim Kuykendall, and the Norman Police Chief, Phil Cotten, and informed them of the change, "although we do not know the etiology of Mr. Miller's death any more than we did at that time." Despite that, Jordan and Larry Balding, who assisted Cooper in the Miller autopsy, agreed that "amending the manner of death to unknown is very appropriate." Cooper is now in private practice in California.
While neither the medical records from Norman nor Baptist are included in the complete case file, several police reports that Miller filed on harassing phone calls, death threats, and prowlers at his home are included. Also included are several letters from concerned citizens. One Stillwater physician probably summed up the case as well as anyone: "I'm sure you recognize that the statistical possibility of a man in Mr. Miller's situation dying of this rare disease are about as high as those of the Secretary of Commerce dying of an 'accidental' gunshot wound of the head after an airline crash and the despondent air traffic controller killing himself before investigators could talk with him."
The Miller case is indeed a strange case and we hope to report on pending pathological reports of Miller's blood and tissue samples in our next issue.
Biological agents are bacteria and other such organisms.
I wonder if our cleaner-upper mailed envelopes last fall. If not, I guess we've got at least two separate stashes sitting around out there.
Let's not disregard Russell Welch --- Mena
falmy malik surfaces in norman, oklahoma. practicing medicine under the assumed name, "Dr. Cooper."
can anybody fill in on the details of Maxwell Hames specific involvement with the Murrah investigation? did Hames work closely with OKC police officer Terrance Yeakey?
I think he just wanted to live. Unfortunately for him I think his odds just plummeted. Obviously somebody "spoke" to him about which box to mark and what not to say--and he knows who that somebody was and what they said. Oklahoma 1, maybe you could point out to him that he's safer if EVERYTHING he knows about this is made very, very public very, very quickly--especially the name(s) of whoever may have threatened him. (Especially since he/they are the most likely ones to clean up loose ends such as himself.) In fact, he should go to the CME investigators*** PDQ and give them a sworn statement A-Z. ***He should NOT go to the FBI unless it was to a known trustworthy agent.
He might remain a clean-up target anyway, but at least he'd improve his chances.
Oklahoma 1, thank you a million times over for your brilliant work in this. Is Schippers aware of this? The connection to OKC bombing is stunning. The same perps in the same webs... Clintons, anthrax then and now, ME terrorists then and now...
Sal, I just Love Your Humor !!! :-)
OK, you're right. He should avoid the FBI. But he better find somebody who can do something because he's exposed big time. And for the record, I don't mean exposed by this article. I mean once he crossed the path of the evil ones and they understood that he could hurt them. As soon as this subject gets ANY public scrutiny, they've gotta be sweatin' whether or not he'll hold out. 'Yeah, I said natural causes, but I can't justify that' doesn't exactly qualify as holding out.
And anything he does to molify his potential executioners makes him complicit in the anthrax cover-up which now goes beyond a mere Clintonian murder. He himself speculated on a link to OKC. From there we go to ME terrorists and, perhaps, to the recent anthrax bio-terror. IOW complicity in terrorism. He's in a very bad place. OTOH I remember saying the same thing about Sgt. Edwards (if memory serves right on the name) of Fort Marcy Park complicity. That guy really WAS complicit, not just scared to death like I think this poor doctor is. Wonder what, if anything, ever happened to Sgt. Edwards besides being transferred somewhere (Georgia?).
My sincere desire is that the Good Guys Inherit the Upper Eschelon Positions of their Agencies. Then I'll back off of them as a Collective Corrupt Conspiracy. :-)
you trying to put dash jimmy out of work?
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