Policy changes considered after ID of body delayed

DETROIT (AP) -- Michigan officials are looking at whether policy changes are needed after it took years to determine that an unidentified body was that of a missing 13-year-old girl. No autopsy was conducted because the 2008 death was deemed a suicide and investigators initially believed the body was that of a woman between 19 and 21, the Detroit Free Press reported recently. DNA samples weren't taken and the body was buried in 2011. After the remains were exhumed last year, authorities used DNA testing to confirm that the body was that of Breanna Sharp. She lived with her father Lenard Cobb in Texas before moving to Detroit to live with her mother in 2008. In 2009, Cobb contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about his daughter. He said he doesn't believe she committed suicide. "I'll go to my grave not believing that," he said. The state attorney general's office has been in contact with Breanna's family about the case. "It's an ongoing discussion right now," said Joy Yearout, an office spokeswoman. "We are working with Michigan State Police and missing person advocates to determine whether any legislative or other changes might be necessary to improve the outcome for crime victims' families." Breanna's body was found hanging in August 2008 in an abandoned building on Detroit's west side and was in the early stages of decomposition. In her case, an external examination of the body was conducted, which is standard practice in most suicide cases, Wayne County Medical Examiner Carl Schmidt said. The office has buried more than two dozen unidentified people since 2005 and routinely has not taken DNA samples. The office now plans to begin taking blood samples on cases in the hopes of earning accreditation from the National Association of Medical Examiners. If they had been collecting blood samples when Breanna's case came through, "we would have been able to skip the exhumation process," Schmidt said. Published: Wed, Feb 20, 2013