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This is a tale of two tragedies.At the heart of the first is Dr. Steven Hayne, a doctor the State of Mississippi employed as its de facto medical examiner for two decades. Beginning in the late 1980s, he performed anywhere from 1,200 to 1,800 autopsies a year, five times more than is recommended, performed at night in the basement of a local funeral home. Autopsy reports claimed organs had been observed and weighed when, in reality, they had been surgically removed from the body years before. Hayne, the only game in town, also often brought in local dentist and self-styled ''bite-mark specialist'' Dr. Michael West, who would discover marks on victim's bodies, at times invisible to the naked eye, and then match those marks -- ''indeed and without doubt'' -- to law enforcement's lead suspect.



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