Colleagues respond to criticism of ex-Whatcom medical examiner as council considers funds
As the Whatcom County Council is set to consider its new medical examiner’s request for a nearly $1 million contract boost, the previous M.E. and several of his former colleagues are pushing back at allegations that Dr. Gary Goldfogel’s work was “substandard.”
Dr. Allison Hunt is seeking an extra $893,449.13 through 2025 after telling the council that she needs to hire more staff, buy equipment and conduct more autopsies than Goldfogel, who retired in 2021 after serving as Whatcom County’s medical examiner for more than 30 years.
A vote on the funding request is set for Tuesday, Feb. 7.
Goldfogel, who supervised several high-profile homicide cases and played a key role in convicting the killer of 18-year-old Mandy Stavik, told The Bellingham Herald that he was “surprised” and “discouraged” at Hunt’s presentation to the council’s Public Works and Health Committee.
“For her to say that my work was substandard is baseless and insulting,” Goldfogel said last week in a telephone conversation from Arizona, where he lives part-time in retirement.
“I’m not going to criticize her work and she has no business criticizing mine. My strategy was to run the best, smallest, high-quality medical examiner’s office in the country, and I think you could assume that I did that for 32 years,” Goldfogel said.
Goldfogel said that he’s never been sued over his work, and The Herald confirmed that in a court records search.
Several of Goldfogel’s former colleagues spoke in his defense in interviews with The Herald since Hunt’s Jan. 24 appearance before the County Council.
Eric Richey, who was just re-elected to a second four-year term as the Whatcom County prosecuting attorney, told The Herald that he often saw Goldfogel personally investigating crime scenes.
“I found him to be very professional with this office,” said Richey, who was chief deputy criminal prosecutor for five years before his 2018 election.
“I think he’s done our community a great service in the time that he was here,” Richey said, adding that he’s also been pleased with Hunt’s work since she started in 2022.
Former Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney Dave McEachran told The Herald that he often worked closely with Goldfogel.
“I did many cases, with Gary. I spent a lot of time with him and attended many autopsies with him,” said McEachran, who was prosecutor more than 46 years.
“Gary brought a lot of professionalism to the office. He was very thorough in what he did. He created a lab and a storage area (morgue) that I thought was very professional,” he said.
Goldfogel often visited crime scenes, McEachran said.
“He would come out in the middle of the night with us. It was important for him to see the scene. Gary just did an outstanding job. He’s well-regarded as a pathologist,” he said.
Sheriff Bill Elfo told The Herald last week that Goldfogel’s forensic examinations were critical to dozens of cases, including the 2017 arrest of Timothy Bass for the 1989 murder of Stavik, whose slaying stunned Whatcom County and the rural community of Acme.
“I was amazed at his testimony in the Bass case. He was nothing short of spectacular,” Elfo said.
Nationally-known medical examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia was on the panel that interviewed Hunt when Hunt Forensics was the only bidder to serve as Whatcom County medical examiner, which operates on a contract and is not part of the county administrative structure.
Garavaglia, who is retired and lives in Skagit County, told The Herald that Hunt is trying to change the way the medical examiner’s office operates, but that Hunt was wrong to criticize Goldfogel’s work.
“You don’t disparage the doctor who came before you,” said Garvaglia, who has appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Larry King Live” and others to discuss her work on the Morning Glory Funeral Home scandal and the murders of 8-year-old Caylee Anthony and Army Pvt. Tracie McBride.
“He’s a good pathologist but you have to work within the constraints of the funds that are given you,” she said.
According to online records, the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office had a budget of $659,095 in 2020, $646,398 in 2021, $755,727 in 2022 and is budgeted for $946,640 in 2023 and $946,919 in 2024.
“(Goldfogel) ran (the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office) really frugally. Is that good or bad?” Garvaglia said.
Dr. Marta Kazymyra of Blaine, who also served on the committee that hired Hunt, told The Herald that Goldfogel is a respected pathologist and that criticism of his work was unfair.
“He has an excellent reputation. He’s extremely eloquent (in court). He does his due diligence. He does not sweep things under the table,” Kazymyra said.
In her presentation to the County Council, Hunt said that one reason she is seeking more funds is that there has been an increase in deaths that require a forensic examination.
“It just so happens that we’ve had many more suicides, homicides and fentanyl deaths (last year). That’s not (Goldfogel’s) fault” Kazymyra said.
This story was originally published February 6, 2023 at 12:11 PM.
