Break in the Case?

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," January 31, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

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GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Joining us in New York is forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden.

DR. MICHAEL BADEN, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Hi, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Hello, Dr. Baden. Dr. Baden, now the forensic investigation begins, assuming that this is Cindy Lynch. Is it possible to tell whether or not she had alcohol in her system, now that she presumably has been in the water since January 18?

BADEN: Yes. One of the things the medical examiner will do — identification, cause of death, whether or not she was alive or dead when she went in the water will all be part of what the medical examiner will look at tomorrow morning, but also, any drugs or alcohol that are present. And that can be found. The issue will be how much alcohol was it that she was drinking while she was in the car, and how much was made after death? That is, after death, as the body, bacteria grow, they ferment any sugar that's in the blood and make it into alcohol. So some of the alcohol found tomorrow will have been made after death, and the issue will be to figure out how much was before death.

VAN SUSTEREN: Dr. Baden, an intoxicated person can have an accident. An intoxicated person can also be murdered. How do you tell the difference under these circumstances?

BADEN: Well, what the medical examiner will have to do is, first, to try and determine from the lungs, from certain kind of changes in the body, whether she was alive or dead when she goes in the water. Did she inhale any water? Did she swallow water?

Second thing, are there any other injuries on the body that cannot be accounted for by the fall? A shootings, stabbing would be seen right away. The more subtle thing would be any kind of strangulation or neck compression because if there's evidence of strangulation, that means somebody did her harm before she went into the water. And it could be accident. Theoretically, it could be suicide. There's no suggestion of that. And it could be homicide. And that will be looked at carefully tomorrow. I think right now, they know who it is.

VAN SUSTEREN: And I suppose you could even push someone into the water, where the person would exhibit no injuries whatsoever, but could drown in that very cold water at this time of the year. And there'd be no sign of any sort of homicide. It would look simply like a drowning.

BADEN: Greta, your legal expertise grows all the time. Yes, if she were pushed in the water and drowned, that would be the hardest thing to determine. Of course, the pushing part of it, we wouldn't be able to tell in an autopsy. And it would be important to know how — whether she could swim — I don't know if she could swim or not — whether anybody heard her cry for help. Remember, there were other boats around. If she were pushed in the water or if she fell accidentally...

VAN SUSTEREN: You might have heard it.

BADEN: ... you would expect her to yell and cry for help, and some of the people in the boats that were right nearby would have — I'm sure are being interviewed to hear if they heard anything.

VAN SUSTEREN: And I should add that I've been on the boat, and there's about a foot between the steps of the boat and the actual boat. So there's even a place where you — if you're stepping into the boat — you could fall in.

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