Despite a meticulous 2¹/₂-hour exam, the lack of a toxicology report meant that Melinek couldn’t rule Booker’s death an overdose. She instead attributed it to “anoxic encephalopathy due to loss of consciousness of undetermined etiology,” which she says roughly translates to “F–k if I know!” More exotic cases soon followed. There was the hipster struck by lightning during a rooftop party in Chinatown, body intact but shoes blown clean off. “A good-looking guy,” Melinek later told her husband. “But his eyes had a stupid look in them.” “Everyone has a stupid look when they’re dead, don’t they?” her husband said. Melinek corrected herself. “He looked thunder-struck.”

The most insane deaths seen by an NYC medical examiner | New York Post Sunday, August 3, 2014 @ 10:05pm