CSI TOLD YOU LIES is a surprisingly moving account of the real forensic pathologists at the frontline of Australia’s major crime and disaster investigations. These are the men and women whose post-mortem examinations help the dead to speak. Along with the pathologists, Meshel Laurie, host of the Australian True Crime podcast also speaks to the homicide detectives, defence barristers and victim’s families in this ground-breaking study of the ripple-effect of violent crime and large-scale natural disaster.
All of the forensic pathologists involved in the book are part of the team at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, (VIFM), a state-of-the-art facility in Melbourne created in the wake of the Lindy Chamberlain case. Since then, VIFM has become a world leader and team members have been called upon to lead in every major forensic recovery operation of the last 30 years, from the mass graves of Kosovo to earthquakes in Timor and Turkey. Their daily work though, is more likely to be played out in our most horrific headlines. Former Victoria Legal Aid’s Chief Counsel Tim Marsh who defended both Eurydice Dixon and Aiia Marsaawe’s killers, both of whom were convicted, talks about his close relationships with the VIFM team. After reading CSI TOLD YOU LIES you’ll never read another homicide headline without thinking about the forensic pathologist who happened to be on call. You’ll never read another story about a murder trial or an inquest without acknowledging the forensic evidence and considering the brilliance and the sacrifice of the person who submitted it. You’ll never hear the terrible news of a disaster without imagining one of the characters in this book pulling a suitcase down from on top of a wardrobe and bidding farewell to their own family for who-knows-how-long.