Kane County coroner changes death ruling in cold case
A full 1,565 days after Emma Mebane died, her parents say they received an appropriate ruling from the Kane County coroner's office.
Mebane, 19, died in her sleep in her St. Charles home in June 2011. Former Coroner Chuck West believed the death was a suicide by overdose and determined it was an "accident" due to "adverse effects of polypharmacy."
After recently reviewing several cold cases, Kane County Coroner Rob Russell changed the cause of death to "undetermined."
"Although neither of us can bring Emma back, we can do what's right by preserving her memory with the truth," Russell said in a letter to her family.
Emma's father, Rod Mebane, said the distinction was of utmost importance to her grieving family, who disputed the idea that she intentionally harmed herself. He penned a letter thanking Russell's office.
Russell's office condemned the previous coroner's decision not to do an autopsy. Russell has maintained throughout his first term as coroner the office had a history of not performing autopsies in cases that needed them. But the increase in the number and expense of autopsies performed under Russell has been a point of criticism by Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen. At one point, Lauzen commissioned an outside review of all the autopsies authorized by Russell. The review found the number of autopsies to be excessive. However, Lauzen backed off the criticism when Russell brought forward support from other area coroners.
In the new ruling for Mebane, Russell pointed to a toxicology report that later determined the drugs in her system were at a therapeutic level and not in fact an overdose. She was cremated, so no other tests could be run, her father said.
The Mebane family hired an independent medical examiner and forensic pathologist who disagreed with West's labeling of the death. They appealed to West to amend the death certificate, but West stood by his original determination. West died in July 2012 following complications from a liver transplant.
When Russell invited the public in July 2015 to come to him with any concerns about past death cases, the Mebane family jumped at the opportunity.
In August, Russell's office hand delivered an amended death certificate to the family.
"One thing that my wife and I have found since losing Emma is that we still have parenting responsibilities even though she is gone, in the sense that we want to celebrate Emma's life in various ways and want to encourage others to remember her," Rod said in a letter. "In this context, how the official permanent record characterizes the circumstances surrounding Emma's death is of paramount importance. To us, after four and a half years of unfinished business, being able to close the file with some appropriate finality brings an invaluable sense of comfort."
Mebane's death was one of five cases Russell reopened. Two of the cases remain under review. In the two other cases, Russell left the original rulings in place. That includes a case brought to Russell's attention by Dr. Bob Tiballi. Tiballi and Russell have an adversarial relationship stemming from Russell's triumph over Tiballi in the most recent Republican primary for the coroner's office. Tiballi recently announced he will run against Russell again in 2016.