Morgue

Chief Medical Examiner Joshua Stephany, who led identification and autopsy efforts after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, said he deliberately kept gunman Omar Mateen's body in a separate, smaller morgue from the 49 victims. He said there was no legal requirement to do so, calling it a personal decision: "It's just what I felt was right." Stephany, filling in as medical examiner for Orange and Osceola counties with a small staff, set a goal of identifying and autopsying all victims by Tuesday, enlisting two state pathologists to help process the bodies.

Technicians used fingerprints, driver's licenses, tattoos, and other identifiers to confirm victims, with a final John Doe matched through a discarded wallet found at the club. Stephany personally conducted Mateen's autopsy along with several victims' autopsies, saying evidence suggested the victims did not suffer prolonged struggles. By Thursday, all victims' remains had been released to funeral homes; Mateen's body had not. Stephany was named permanent chief medical examiner the same week, amid an unusually heavy caseload including other high-profile Orlando-area deaths.