{"id":3679,"date":"2026-06-11T22:03:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=3679"},"modified":"2026-06-11T22:03:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:03:58","slug":"pulse-anniversary-medical-examiner-separated-victims-shooter-a-gesture-that-resonated-far-beyond-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=3679","title":{"rendered":"Pulse anniversary: Medical examiner separated victims, shooter, a gesture that resonated far beyond Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As he prepared for the horrible, heart-wrenching task of documenting the 50 deaths from the Pulse massacre, acting medical examiner Joshua Stephany made a decision that resonated nationwide.<\/p>\n

Read more Will Jackson, Reed Ramsier lead football commit flurry; 2 others choose Ivy | Football Insider<\/a><\/p>\n

He insisted that the shooter be separated from his victims.<\/p>\n

The body of Omar Mateen was transported from the scene alone, stored in a different building than his 49 victims and autopsied separately, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted anyone to think of that individual in the same place ever again with those whose lives he took,\u201d Stephany said in a recent Sentinel interview.<\/p>\n

Stephany and a team of forensic investigators were summoned shortly after 2 a.m. June 12, 2016, to the crime scene they will never forget.<\/p>\n

Bodies were everywhere inside Pulse, where the nightclub\u2019s strobe lights were still flashing.<\/p>\n

Stephany, hired as an associate medical examiner for Orange and Osceola counties in 2007, had been serving as the acting chief for about a year. He stepped in for Dr. Jan Garavaglia, better known to reality TV audiences as the star of Discovery Channel\u2019s \u201cDr. G: Medical Examiner,\u201d who had retired.<\/p>\n

Orange County commissioners removed Stephany\u2019s interim label two days after Pulse as he was finishing the last of the autopsies.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The medical examiner\u2019s role, spelled out in Florida statute, requires the dead be identified, injuries and wounds be documented and cause and manner of death be determined. It typically draws little notice \u2014 but Pulse was different, and Stephany\u2019s decision-making distinguished it further.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecial thanks for separating the evil one from the innocents,\u201d wrote Constance O\u2019Hanlon of Oviedo in a letter to the Medical Examiner\u2019s office in the summer of 2016.<\/p>\n

It was one of dozens of hand-written notes of praise, prayers and thanks to Stephany and his staff for their compassionate, professional and respectful work. Some writers recognized the team\u2019s inconceivably heavy burden over a few short days.<\/p>\n

The staff usually works five to seven cases a day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But in addition to the usual work and Pulse, Stephany\u2019s team in the same time frame also performed an autopsy of Grimmie, 22, the singer who was shot to death June 10, 2016, by an obsessed fan during a post-concert meet-and-greet. Then, two days after Pulse, they handled the death of a Nebraska toddler, killed by an alligator that snatched him from the beach of Disney\u2019s Grand Floridian Resort.<\/p>\n

Some letters urged Stephany and his staff to take care of themselves, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are leading the way for so many who mourn,\u201d a physician from Washington, D.C., wrote. \u201cMy sincerest condolences to all of you \u2014 for we, as providers, never go untouched by the ills of the world around us. We give what we can \u2014 time, energy, careful thought and above all compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Geneva defensive end Duke Carpenter commits to Stanford<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joshua Stephany, the medical examiner, insisted the body of the Pulse shooter be separated from those of his victims, a gesture that many people appreciated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPulse anniversary: Medical examiner separated victims, shooter, a gesture that resonated far beyond Orlando - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=3679\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pulse anniversary: Medical examiner separated victims, shooter, a gesture that resonated far beyond Orlando - 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