Washington -- On October 3, 1997, GW Professor of Law and Forensic Sciences James Starrs filed suit in D.C. Superior Court to compel the D.C. Medical Examiner's Office to verify the existence of and make available autopsy or related records on the remains of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. The action was filed in response to Chief Medical Examiner Humphrey D. Germaniuk's refusal of Starrs' August 29th request to view and copy such records, if they do exist.

Starrs' inquiry into the death of J. Edgar Hoover is the subject of a program to be presented to the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in February 1998. Since his death on May 2, 1972, there has been considerable speculation abo ut whether Hoover died of natural causes as reflected in his death certificate or as a result of a homicide or suicide. Presenters at the AAFS annual meeting hope to put the various divergent reports to the test of scientific analysis and discussion.

Media reports on Hoover's death reveal that he died from hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Being 77 at the time of his death, it is not unreasonable to assume that he could have expired in this manner but his medical record did not support such an ass umption. He was not in ill health and had 2,626 unused hours of sick leave with the Bureau when he died. No complete autopsy was conducted by the D.C. Medical Examiner.

Eleven months after Hoover's death, an article in the Harvard Crimson reported that the Hoover home had been burglarized twice prior to his demise. During the second burglary, a poison of the thiophosphate genre was placed on Hoover's personal toilet art icles. Whether poisoning by this means might induce a heart attack is a matter to be addressed by the presenters.

Other suggestive circumstances near the time of his death present the possibility of his having committed suicide. A biography, "Citizen Hoover" written by Jay Nash, was a brutal assault on Hoover's career as FBI director. Authorities found the book on h is nightstand when his body was discovered. Aside from events which may have caused him to be severely depressed, Hoover may have had physical torments. One of his many biographers, Curt Gentry, remarked that Hoover was alleged to have been taking injecti ons of vitamins on a regular basis. Gentry leaves the impression that Hoover may have been taking amphetamines, an overdose of which could have been a contributing factor in his death.

Starrs' prayer for declaratory and injunctive relief is based on D.C. Code Subsection 11-209(c), which allows for release of records held by the chief medical examiner to any person with a "legitimate interest" either because the medical examiner of the District of Columbia approves such disclosure or when such disclosure is required under an order of a court finding that the applicant has a legitimate interest in those records.

Said Germaniuk in his rejection letter to Starrs, "Just as in life people are entitled to their privacy, so its [sic] my belief that in death people are still entitled to their privacy."

A hearing is scheduled for January 2, 1998 before Judge Geoffrey M. Alprin.