Which deaths claimed on the lists have official autopsy reports or prosecutor statements confirming causes?

1. What the sources actually document about autopsy reports

The documents collected focus on legal and administrative rules for autopsy-report availability and the role of medical examiners rather than on discrete case findings: the Reporters Committee explains legal precedents and public-record classifications for autopsy and coroner reports ^[1], state OCME pages describe which deaths are investigated and how reports are produced ^{[5] [2]}, and multiple county and state pages set out practical request procedures and timelines for obtaining reports ^{[6] [4] [7] [8]}.

2. Why those sources cannot confirm which deaths on a third‑party list have corroborating autopsies or prosecutor statements

None of the provided items contain a dataset or index matching individual names from an external “list” to finalized autopsy reports or prosecutor releases; they state only that autopsy reports are produced, sometimes sent automatically to prosecutors, and that access rules differ by jurisdiction ^{[4] [8]}. Where a source does describe public-access norms it is general: Massachusetts and some New York county guidance say autopsy reports may be non-public or restricted to next-of-kin ^{[3] [9]}, while other jurisdictions treat them as public records or provide clear request channels ^{[2] [7] [8]}, but none of these pages tie that policy language to verification of specific deaths named on an external list.

3. How official confirmations normally appear and where to look for them

When cause and manner are formally confirmed, the typical pathways are a finalized medical examiner report and/or a prosecutor’s public statement or charging document; many medical examiner offices send completed autopsy reports to the state attorney’s office and to investigating law enforcement ^[4]. Several state OCME pages explain that forensic autopsy reports generally list cause and manner and are completed within a set timeframe (about 90 days in one jurisdiction) and that family, prosecutors, and authorized agencies are standard recipients ^{[2] [10]}. Therefore, verifying a named death usually requires requesting the autopsy report from the relevant medical examiner/coroner or checking the county/state prosecutor’s press releases or court filings ^{[4] [8]}.

4. Important caveats: privacy, pending investigations, and uneven transparency

Laws and practice vary: some states explicitly treat autopsy reports as public records while others restrict access to next-of-kin or by statute; Massachusetts’ portal, for example, states autopsy reports are not public records ^[3] while Colorado case law discussed by the Reporters Committee emphasizes public access in that state’s context ^[1]. Reports may be withheld when a case is under active investigation or involved in ongoing legal proceedings, and final reports may not be issued until toxicology and ancillary testing are complete ^{[8] [4]}. These structural differences mean that an absence of a public autopsy report does not itself prove a given claimed cause is false; it may reflect legal privacy rules or pending processes ^{[3] [8]}.

5. Practical next steps to determine which deaths on any list have official confirmation

To verify individual entries, request the autopsy report from the medical examiner or coroner in the county/state of death following that office’s published procedures ^{[2] [7]}, and search the local prosecutor’s press releases and court records because autopsy findings are routinely transmitted to prosecutors and final charges or statements often reference cause and manner ^[4]. If records are denied, the public‑records policies cited here identify legitimate appeal routes and typical restrictions ^{[1] [9]}. Given the reporting at hand, any claim that “X deaths on the list are confirmed by autopsy/prosecutor” cannot be substantiated without that jurisdictional, case-level retrieval ^{[1] [8]}.