Ashland Times-Gazette
reports that Dr. William M. Emery has announced his retirement as Ashland County Coroner, after 24 loooooooong years. His wife, Karen Emery--also the coroner's unpaid "investigator"--is leaving with him.
Good riddance.
These two backwater socialites have long tried to limit media access to Amy Mihaljevic's case, beginning as far back as 1990, the year Amy's body was found in Ashland, when Dr. Emery neglected to file her death certificate until interest died down. No one, outside law enforcement, had read Amy's autopsy report until I demanded it in 2005. Still, many years went by before I forced them to release it (via a last-minute deal with the retiring Cuyahoga County coroner).
Their animus for me went beyond their office. At a reading in Ashland, Dr. Emery sat at the back of the room and loudly voiced his opinions of my work while I spoke to a crowd of 80. Karen Emery had Ashland University's bookstore remove my book from their display.
The blatant conflict of interest in Karen's access to her husband's office so that she could play investigator should never have been allowed--and certainly would not have in a county with a more astute prosecutor.
Their retirement is good news for Ashland County. It's an opportunity to start fresh, with a little less cronyism.
