AP News, January 25th, 2007
An investigation of suspected brain harvesting within the state medical examiner's office has ended without any criminal charges, state and federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
At least 99 brains were sent from the medical examiner's office to the Stanley Institute, which uses its brain bank for research on the causes of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, from 1999 to 2003. More than a dozen families have sued, alleging the brains were removed without their consent.
Richard Murphy, Maine special assistant attorney general, who led the two-year investigation with U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby, declined to comment on the investigation.
"The conduct of the investigation and the contents are confidential," Murphy said, noting only that resources were provided by the FBI.
The lawsuits in Maine target the Stanley Institute; Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, its founder; and Matthew Cyr, the former state funeral inspector within the medical examiner's office who was paid more than $150,000 to collect the brains. All have denied wrongdoing.
David Barry, an attorney who represented the institute and its founder, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, said the investigation was "very thorough" and his clients cooperated fully.
Cyr, who now works as a police officer in Bucksport, had been identified by civil lawyers as a target of the federal investigation. A message left for Cyr with Bucksport police was not returned, and there was no phone listing for him in the area.
Attorney C. Donald Briggs, who represents Alice Geary in her lawsuit, said he was disappointed but not necessarily surprised at the outcome of the investigation.
Briggs said the litigation will not be held up by criminal charges, but otherwise the prosecutors' decision should have no effect on his case.
Said Tom Laprade, an attorney for the Stanley Institute and Torrey: "We've never believed the civil cases to have merit."
