Medical examiner ruled Shockley died from 'manual strangulation'

Apr. 18—Marianne Shockley died by manual strangulation, according to the official results of an autopsy that was performed on her body at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory in Decatur on May 13, 2019.

The finding was revealed last Wednesday during testimony from Dr. Melissa Sims-Stanley in the murder trial of Marcus Allen Lillard. Sims-Stanley is a licensed medical examiner for Houston County in Warner Robins and the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office in Atlanta.

From July 2000 until December 2019, Sims-Stanley was a regional medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

She is a forensic pathologist, a doctor specially trained in evaluating disease and injury. She also can provide autopsies to determine how and why a person died.

The 44-year-old Lillard, a former car/truck salesman and finance manager, was recently acquitted of the murder of Marianne Shockley, a world-renowed professor at the University of Georgia in Athens, who studied the human consumption of bugs around the world.

The trial, which was held in Baldwin County Superior Court in Milledgeville, lasted five days.

Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Nancy Scott Malcor tendered Sims-Stanley as an expert witness in the field of forensic pathology.

One of the first questions asked by Malcor of Sims-Stanley was whether she performed the autopsy on the body of Marianne Shockley.

The autopsy was performed on May 13, 2019, Sims-Stanley said.

Malcor then asked the medical examiner to describe the basic procedures that are performed in conducting an autopsy.

"Once the coroner calls the medical examiner investigator and jurisdiction is accepted, then the body is brought into the office, then the autopsy is performed," Sims-Stanley said.

The medical examiner said several photographs were taken of the body. An external and internal examination of the victim's body was performed.

"And did you, upon the external examination of Marianne Shockley, did you notice any injuries, externally," Malcor asked.

Sims-Stanley replied, "Yes."

She was then asked to explain the injuries to the primary jurors and alternates.

"She had multiple abrasions, scrapes, contusions, which are bruises scattered over the face, also involving the neck, torso and trunk of the body, and the arms and legs," Sims-Stanley said.

The medical examiner also said the victim had sustained a laceration to the right side of her forehead.

She explained that a laceration is a blunt force impact due to crushing and tearing of the skin.

Malcor also asked Sims-Stanley about the internal injuries Shockley sustained.

"The internal injuries included injuries to the neck that are consistent to manual strangulation," Sims-Stanley told a packed and hushed gallery in the courtroom.

Malcor then showed the medical examiner a series of photographs that were taken of Shockley's body during the autopsy. She asked her to explain each one of them to jurors.

Sims-Stanley also discussed the anatomy. She followed by identifying the photographs.

One of the photographs depicted facial injuries that Shockley received.

Sims-Stanley said there also were some bruises and contusions on the face.

"On the right forehead, there is a laceration, which a blunt force injury and not due to cutting of the skin," Sims-Stanley said. "It is due to crushing and tearing of the skin."

She explained that those injuries were consistent with a terminal fall or a mitigated fall where someone is either unresponsive or unable to protect their fall and face.

"And would the injuries that you see here be consistent with an unconscious person falling and hitting her face," asked Malcor, who was assisted in the prosecution of the case by Assistant District Attorney Tammy Coffey.

The medical examiner replied, "Yes ma'am."

The injuries to Shockley's face happened at or near the time of her death, Sims-Stanley said.

During one of the three interviews that Lillard had with Baldwin County Sheriff's Detective Reid White and Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Michael Maybin, Lillard admitted he accidentally dropped Shockley and that she fell face-down. He also indicated that she struck her head, which resulted in a gash in her forehead.

Sims-Stanley later said that Shockley's blood was positive for drugs.

She also had several fractured ribs.

"Those fractures are consistent with attempts at CPR," Sims-Stanley said.

"Based on the injury that you observed, is this type of strangulation consistent with manual strangulation," asked Malcor. "And what is manual strangulation?"

Sims-Stanley told the prosecutor that there are two types — ligature strangulation and manual strangulation.

"And based on the injury that you determined here, were you able to determine which was more likely, which type," Malcor asked.

Sims-Stanley said the injuries to Shockley's neck was consistent with one or both hands being used.

So, you could not conclude whether it was one hand or both hands that were used to strangle Marrianne Shockley, asked Lillard's defense attorney, Matt Tucker, of Jonesboro, of the medical examiner.

"That's correct," Sims-Stanley said.

Sims-Stanley said she always maintained that an autopsy is never performed in a vacuum.

"An autopsy is always performed with investigative information beforehand," Sims-Stanley said. "So, the medical examiner investigator had received information from the coroner prior to my performance of the autopsy."

The medical examiner said a full autopsy was performed on Shockley's body.