Speaker, To Breathe or Not to Breathe, That is the Question: Expanding the Role of Asphyxiation Crimes Against Children, Dallas Child Advocacy Center Lecture Series (with Andrea Zaferes), July 15 & 22, 2021

Respiration is the physiological foundation of being alive. Without respiration the heart cannot beat, the brain cannot function, and all cells will die. A solid understanding of respiration is necessary to effectively recognize, identify, document, investigate, diagnose, and when appropriate, prosecute, fatal and nonfatal, pediatric asphyxiation. Kelsey and Andrea will take you on a respiration journey from the external atmosphere, through the airways and lungs, to blood, into cells, right through to the final exhalation of respiratory byproducts. You will then use learning by discovery to apply this knowledge to different types of pediatric asphyxia involving inert gases, manual suffocation, neck compression, drowning, choking, torso compression, restraint postures, and more.

Asphyxiation abuses and homicides often lack any external signs. This lack of external evidence often misguides the criminal justice system and results in missed opportunities to identify and investigate serious cases ranging from physical abuse, sexual violence and homicide.

Part II of this presentation will take the audience through case histories of each type of asphyxiation while learning what questions to ask, evidence to document, medical records to study, and experts with whom to consult, in order to best determine the manner of asphyxiation. This presentation will provide you with practical, evidence-based investigative techniques and protocols for working fatal and nonfatal pediatric asphyxiation cases.

Kelsey McKay trains and consults nationally for communities to implement protocol in various fields including intimate partner violence, child abuse, sexual assault, the use of expert witnesses, translating trauma other complex topics. She is a former prosecutor who exclusively prosecuted strangulation related crimes for seven years. She has developed and implemented protocol for strangulation and domestic violence response and treatment. She works with law enforcement to develop protocol and implement the use of a Strangulation Supplement into the field transforming the role of first responders to be more investigative by carrying her knowledge and needs as a prosecutor into the field on every case. She is President and CEO of the non-profit organization, RESPOND Against Violence that works to develop evidence-based protocol with forward-thinking approaches.

Andrea Zaferes is a medicolegal death investigator specializing in the handling of aquatic cases from scene to courtroom. She trains law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, domestic violence workers, medical personnel, and jurisprudence members to recognize, document, and investigate aquatic homicide, death, assault, and abuse cases. She assists in analyzing and building such cases in the U.S. and abroad and has developed standards for their investigation. She is recognized in multiple jurisdictions and the U.S. Army as an expert witness in bodies-found-in-water/aquatic death investigation. For over 30 years, she has taught dive and surface teams around the world to perform water rescue and find/recover submerged evidence and bodies. She is an author and frequent public speaker on the topics of aquatic death and aquatic abuse.

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