Roger Byard – whose colleagues seek advice from him as ‘Doctor Death’ – has investigated among the most traumatic deaths in Australia.
He’s also investigated among the strangest.
The forensic pathologist told the newest episode of Gary Jubelin’s I Catch Killers podcast about his baptism of fireplace into the occupation, being called out to analyze the infamous ‘bodies in barrels’ Snowtown murders on his first week on call.
“I used to be called by the top of Major Crime one night … and I used to be so green,” he explained. “I didn’t realize that when the top of Major Crime calls you, it’s pretty serious.”
The Snowtown murders were a series of murders committed by John Justin Bunting, Robert Joe Wagner, and James Spyridon Vlassakis between August 1992 and May 1999, in and around Adelaide. A fourth person, Mark Haydon, was convicted of helping to eliminate the bodies. The trial was one in all the longest and most publicized in Australian legal history, with Byard’s forensic evidence contributing to the convictions.
But while Snowtown could have been probably the most publicized cases Byard has worked on, it wasn’t essentially the most bizarre.
“I’ve been collecting animal deaths,” he told Jubelin.
“Deaths from dogs, snakes, sharks, roosters, mackerel.”
You read that right. Mackerel.
“There was a bloke fishing within the Darwin Harbour and sharks were nearby, so this 25 kilogram mackerel jumped out of the water and sideswiped him,” he recalled.
“Mistaken place, unsuitable time,” he continued.
But what concerning the rooster?
“There was slightly old lady out the back collecting eggs,” he explains.
“Roosters, I understand, are nasty creatures. It went for her, and she or he had varicose veins and it just pecked her leg.”
Byard explains that he’s had plenty of deaths come across his desk where individuals with varicose veins have experienced minor trauma and ended up dying.
“One case was a cat scratch,” he said. “People don’t realize, and that is the explanation that I actually publicize these items, it’s not since it’s bizarre and bizarre, it’s to let people know that when you got varicose veins and also you get a small hole, you should lie down and put your finger over it and elevate it and also you’ll survive. What [people] are inclined to do is wander around panicking they usually bleed to death – completely unnecessary deaths.”
“But yeah,” adds Byard, “never trust a rooster.”
And while the stranger elements of Byard’s job is perhaps headline-making, there’s a darker trauma that lingers.
“No one talks about post-traumatic stress with forensic pathologists, and yet every month of yearly we exit to scenes,” he explained sadly.
“We see dismembered bodies, incinerated bodies. We see children which can be being starved to death, vehicle accidents, dreadful scenes. And we now have to not only immerse ourselves in it, we now have to then describe it in great detail, understand it, then we now have to present it to a jury and sometimes have our credibility attacked while we’re doing it.”
He explained that while his trauma has built up with each case he’s worked, so too has his understanding that he isn’t at all times going to search out the answers.
“Once I first began, I assumed I used to be gonna find the causes of all these deaths – I used to be gung-ho,” he said.
“After which as I got further and further into my profession, I noticed that, no, I’m not going to search out answers on a regular basis. And I’m going to have to sit down down with families and say, ‘I do not know’. All I can say to them is, ‘it was nothing that you simply did’.
“ And in addition, loads of the time they only want to satisfy the individual that sorted their baby between the time once they saw the infant last, and once they saw their baby on the funeral home.”
Roger Byard – whose colleagues seek advice from him as ‘Doctor Death’ – has investigated among the most traumatic deaths in Australia.
He’s also investigated among the strangest.
The forensic pathologist told the newest episode of Gary Jubelin’s I Catch Killers podcast about his baptism of fireplace into the occupation, being called out to analyze the infamous ‘bodies in barrels’ Snowtown murders on his first week on call.
“I used to be called by the top of Major Crime one night … and I used to be so green,” he explained. “I didn’t realize that when the top of Major Crime calls you, it’s pretty serious.”
The Snowtown murders were a series of murders committed by John Justin Bunting, Robert Joe Wagner, and James Spyridon Vlassakis between August 1992 and May 1999, in and around Adelaide. A fourth person, Mark Haydon, was convicted of helping to eliminate the bodies. The trial was one in all the longest and most publicized in Australian legal history, with Byard’s forensic evidence contributing to the convictions.
But while Snowtown could have been probably the most publicized cases Byard has worked on, it wasn’t essentially the most bizarre.
“I’ve been collecting animal deaths,” he told Jubelin.
“Deaths from dogs, snakes, sharks, roosters, mackerel.”
You read that right. Mackerel.
“There was a bloke fishing within the Darwin Harbour and sharks were nearby, so this 25 kilogram mackerel jumped out of the water and sideswiped him,” he recalled.
“Mistaken place, unsuitable time,” he continued.
But what concerning the rooster?
“There was slightly old lady out the back collecting eggs,” he explains.
“Roosters, I understand, are nasty creatures. It went for her, and she or he had varicose veins and it just pecked her leg.”
Byard explains that he’s had plenty of deaths come across his desk where individuals with varicose veins have experienced minor trauma and ended up dying.
“One case was a cat scratch,” he said. “People don’t realize, and that is the explanation that I actually publicize these items, it’s not since it’s bizarre and bizarre, it’s to let people know that when you got varicose veins and also you get a small hole, you should lie down and put your finger over it and elevate it and also you’ll survive. What [people] are inclined to do is wander around panicking they usually bleed to death – completely unnecessary deaths.”
“But yeah,” adds Byard, “never trust a rooster.”
And while the stranger elements of Byard’s job is perhaps headline-making, there’s a darker trauma that lingers.
“No one talks about post-traumatic stress with forensic pathologists, and yet every month of yearly we exit to scenes,” he explained sadly.
“We see dismembered bodies, incinerated bodies. We see children which can be being starved to death, vehicle accidents, dreadful scenes. And we now have to not only immerse ourselves in it, we now have to then describe it in great detail, understand it, then we now have to present it to a jury and sometimes have our credibility attacked while we’re doing it.”
He explained that while his trauma has built up with each case he’s worked, so too has his understanding that he isn’t at all times going to search out the answers.
“Once I first began, I assumed I used to be gonna find the causes of all these deaths – I used to be gung-ho,” he said.
“After which as I got further and further into my profession, I noticed that, no, I’m not going to search out answers on a regular basis. And I’m going to have to sit down down with families and say, ‘I do not know’. All I can say to them is, ‘it was nothing that you simply did’.
“ And in addition, loads of the time they only want to satisfy the individual that sorted their baby between the time once they saw the infant last, and once they saw their baby on the funeral home.”
