(printed jULY 17TH) On Wednesday, Los Angeles Department of Coroner Captain John Kades said that his office has not closed its investigation because it is awaiting the results of a range of autopsy tests—which will take another four to six weeks to complete. Hastings’ body was delivered at his family’s request to a funeral home, he said, where it was subsequently cremated. This procedure for transferring remains was routine, he said.
“We did a complete autopsy,” Kades said, saying the Coroner’s first task was to identify the body, which it did from fingerprints. “We still got a fingerprint ID; I can’t say how badly the body was burned.”
“The LAPD did their own investigation of the cause of the crash,” Kades said, distinguishing between the LAPD traffic accident investigation and the medical examiner’s investigation. “We’re awaiting lab test results” from the autopsy. “We can still do toxicology, detect internal injuries, thermal damage. That process has to run its course.”
The autopsy tests are likely to reveal if Hastings might have been drinking or consuming any drugs that could have played a role in the crash. It would also describe the physical injuries that killed him.
Kades said there was nothing unusual or out of the ordinary about his officeÂ’s ongoing investigation.