If you recognize the name Ralph Erdmann, you know just how bad Lubbock County’s reputation has been for autopsies and forensic pathology – a terrible legacy dating back decades.
As just one example, there was a case in the early 1990s when a woman’s headless body was found in Plainview. Erdmann, Lubbock County’s chief pathologist, did the autopsy and then returned the body with a head belonging to someone else. Erdmann made national news more than once for a list of incidents.
Despite a period of stability, pathologists following Erdmann – who died in 2010 – did not permanently turn things around. One was accused of keeping breast implants from autopsies and took a retirement package when the claims became public knowledge. He denied wrongdoing, saying items were kept for teaching purposes…