Homicide

Medical examiner says autopsy on ex-wife of Utah doctor found she had wounds on wrist, leg

Associated Press
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Defense lawyer Fred Metos, left, questions medical examiner Dr. Erik Christensen, during the trial of John Brickman Wall in Salt Lake City on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. Christensen said that an autopsy showed that von Schwedler had suspicious wounds on her wrist and leg. Christensen said Monday that the 2011 death of Uta von Schwedler in Salt Lake City initially looked like a suicide, but the wounds pointed to a homicide. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Judge James Blanch speaks to the jury during the trial of John Brickman Wall in Salt Lake City on Feb. 23, 2015. Wall is accused of killing his wife, Uta von Schwedler, in Sept. 2011. A medical examiner has testified at the trial of the Utah doctor charged with killing his ex-wife that an autopsy showed she had suspicious wounds on her wrist and leg. Examiner Erik Christensen said Monday that the 2011 death of Uta von Schwedler in Salt Lake City initially looked like a suicide, but the wounds pointed to a homicide.(AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Defense lawyer Fred Metos, left, questions medical examiner Dr. Erik Christensen, right, seated on the stand, during the trial of John Brickman Wall in Salt Lake City on Feb. 23, 2015. Christensen testified that an autopsy showed that von Schwedler had suspicious wounds on her wrist and leg. Christensen said Monday that the 2011 death of Uta von Schwedler in Salt Lake City initially looked like a suicide, but the wounds pointed to a homicide. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool) (The Associated Press)

A medical examiner has testified at the trial of a Utah doctor charged with killing his ex-wife that an autopsy showed she had suspicious wounds on her wrist and leg.

Examiner Erik Christensen said Monday that the 2011 death of Uta von Schwedler in Salt Lake City initially looked like a suicide, but the wounds pointed to a homicide.

He ultimately found she died of drowning and stopped short of ruling her death a homicide or suicide.

Christensen says von Schwedler was found in her bathtub with a fatal amount of the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in her system. He says it would be difficult to forcibly inject someone with the drug.

Prosecutors say 51-year-old John Brickman Wall killed his wife during a bitter custody battle. Defense attorneys counter that she could have killed herself.