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"She Didn't Deserve It"
On the morning of April 20, 2003, a truck pulled into Glenwood Cemetery in Shelbyville and parked near a freshly dug six-foot-deep hole. In the hole was the coffin of Sally Mercer, whose body was being exhumed. After detectives broke open the sealed casket, Sally’s remains—her skin darkened black after 35 years in the ground—were transported to a hospital in Springfield. There Dr. Cohle cut open the sutures of the original autopsy, then removed from the abdomen a plastic bag containing her internal organs.
Tissue samples from the organs were sent to a forensic laboratory in Pennsylvania to be tested. Results showed lethal levels of propoxyphene, the active ingredient in Darvon—a drug Dr. Mercer admitted to keeping around the house for his headaches. The distribution of the drug suggested that the dose was administered by injection—though Dr. Cohle had been unable to find evidence of a needle mark on the body. At the time of Sally’s death, Darvon was sold only in capsule form, suggesting that someone with medical knowledge had created a homemade injectable solution by dissolving capsules in liquid.
Based primarily on the findings from the Pennsylvania lab, Michigan authorities in 2003 began interviewing witnesses and ultimately arrested Dr. Mercer on June 5, 2006.
While on the surface the case against Sally Mercer’s former husband might seem strong, it is hardly open-and-shut. In the preliminary examination, experts acknowledged that they could not say how decomposition or embalming might affect drug testing; because there are no long-term studies, the results could be highly skewed. A respected forensic toxicologist testifying for the defense called the testing “junk science.”
In addition, key original evidence, including Sally’s blood samples and the contents of her stomach, are missing from the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office. Also missing are Sally’s letter, written in red ink, and the hotel room photos. The friend in Grand Rapids who received the letter has since died.
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, while admitting that she is convinced Sally was murdered, ruled out the propoxyphene testing as it related to the cause of death in the preliminary examination. If the trial judge follows suit, it’s not clear what evidence a jury will hear. Still, Ingham County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Eric Matwiejczyk says, “We are confident of the evidence we’re going to present at trial.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Mercer’s lawyer will certainly question the memory of witnesses who are now elderly. And Dr. Mercer himself has his share of supporters, including his younger daughter, Sara, who attended much of the preliminary exam. (Daughter Cindy, one of the first to discover her mother’s body, died in 1998 while in treatment at a drug rehabilitation facility.)
Silver-haired and possessing the distinguished good looks of a soap opera patriarch, Dr. Mercer has built an impressive professional reputation over the years. In 1989 he was named Surgeon of the Year by the American Association of Osteopathic Specialists. “He’s a very bright man and a good person,” says Pat Munshaw, retired senior vice president of Ingham Regional Medical Center, where Dr. Mercer practiced.
Frank Garrison, retired president of the Michigan State AFL-CIO and a friend of 17 years, says the doctor performed lifesaving surgery on his wife after she suffered a heart attack in 1990. “He is the most gentle human being. He’d have a hard time killing a fish or a butterfly.”
Under Michigan law, if convicted of first-degree murder, Dr. Mercer would go to jail for life without parole.
As a potential witness, Diane Brown, Sally Mercer’s childhood friend, can’t talk about the upcoming trial. But she never passes up an opportunity to reminisce about Sally, an only child who came after her parents had tried for years to have a baby. “She was the most positive and optimistic person I’ve ever been around,” says Brown. “She had a pony in her backyard, and we all rode and played. She shared everything she had. That was just Sally. She was killed, and she didn’t deserve it.”
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