t our mission,  he said.  It's so important for us to release the information that she did not die from something natural, she did not die from drugs, she was stabbed. And then we start to look back at what made her vulnerable to be in that situation. 

A court-ordered security hold still seals the Reiner autopsies. Authorities said immediately after their deaths that they had been stabbed by their son, who has pleaded not guilty, but little information has followed. Ukpo said he would discuss the findings - if he was allowed.

 The Reiners' case is one that's straightforward,  he said.  It's unclear to me what sort of information we have that would ruin the case. 

Sometimes there is no good reason for secrecy, he said.

 People say:  Why would they get the information out there? Because then the case is just going to go awry.' But awry? How? What information?  he said, adding:  The killer knows what they did. 

The LA County Sheriff's Department said in a statement that security holds  are rarely requested and are carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine whether temporarily withholding the autopsy report is necessary to preserve sensitive investigative information.  It said the reports can contain details  that only the person responsible would know,  meaning detectives can use that knowledge to assess the credibility of witness statements and uncover false confessions.

The Los Angeles Police Department, which handled the D4vd and Reiner cases, did not respond to a request for comment, and the district attorney's office declined comment.

A change to his title underscores Ukpo's independence

Ukpo was appointed chief medical examiner-coroner in 2023, becoming the agency's first Black leader since it was founded in 1850. His staff responds to about 13,000 sudden, unexpected and premature deaths per year.

The  coroner  part of his title was dropped soon after his appointment and Ukpo supported that change, saying a coroner is usually an elected official - often also the county sheriff - but not a doctor.

 'Coroner' just kind of confused our purpose and suggested that we were within a law enforcement agency,  Ukpo said.  It's so important to establish our independence. 

Andrew Bernstein, a longtime New York criminal defense attorney who is not involved in any of Ukpo's cases, said  buddy-buddy  relationships can easily develop between medical examiners and law enforcement.

 They're dealing with the cops all the time,  he said.  They're using the same language. 

That relationship can hurt a prosecutor's case, he said, because  jurors pick up on that all the time  and may perceive a testifying medical examiner as biased.

But, Bernstein said,  you don't want so much independence  that the medical examiner makes decisions regardless of the wants and needs of police and prosecutors.

 You don't want a rock star chief medical examiner,  he said.

How he decided to make autopsies his life's work

At age 6, Ukpo - who grew up in Anaheim not far from Disneyland - had wanted to be a homicide detective.

But when he met his family physician, he  thought it was really cool how he would work with his hands, do dirty work, work with blood  but  could be very professional in his office, in a suit, in a tie. 

 There you go, that's the formula for a forensic pathologist,  he said.

Very few medical students want to make autopsies their life's work. He said with a laugh that declaring his intentions  made for interesting medical school interviews. 

His education included stints at Loyola University in Chicago, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and with the medical examiner in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Celebrity autopsies hold meaning beyond L.A. County

Ukpo performed autopsies on rapper Mac Miller, actor Tommy Lister Jr., and model and actor Kim Porter, the former longtime partner of Sean  Diddy  Combs.

Perry died within months of Ukpo getting the top job, and his office determined the primary cause of death was acute ketamine toxicity.

 Matthew Perry was really an important one to notify people that ketamine is not harmless,  he said.

He said this and all his work is driven by his desire to first and foremost serve the public.

 What I'm trying to shift during my leadership here is to try to focus on community first,  he said.  Death doesn't just happen for the family, for the individual. When a death happens, it reverberates.