Preliminary autopsy information indicates that no signs of obvious acute injuries were found when the remains of Emilie Porterfield-Hill were examined last week. At this point, Cowley County Sheriff David Falletti said, foul play is not suspected.
Final autopsy findings, though, and results of toxicology testing, are weeks away.
“With my background at the KBI, I’ve learned not to say much beyond that,” the sheriff said Friday. “I don’t want to speculate on anything only to be contradicted by the final autopsy report.”
Autopsy work at the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center can often take time to be completed because of the number of cases being worked on, Falletti said.
Porterfield-Hill, 39, had been reported missing nearly two weeks ago by Sumner County authorities after she had apparently left her residence in that county and taken a walk into Cowley County. She was said to have been walking, law enforcement said, on U.S. 166 highway near Mid America Dragway.
Then on Wednesday, July 23, remains were found near a pond in southwest Cowley County. A property owner reported the findings, and authorities were called to the property and with help from Ark City Fire-EMS retrieved the remains.
The Sumner County Sheriff’s Office was contacted because they had recently reported Porterfield-Hill as missing.
If a final autopsy report indicates a need for more investigation, then that would be done.
“There’s absolutely nothing to hide here,” Falletti said, in response to questions from Cowley Post about how investigators go about ruling out foul play or any involvement by another person when someone goes missing. “If something needs to be looked into, we look into it.”
The sheriff said he knew of some speculation that Porterfield-Hill’s case could be connected to other missing persons cases that ended with the person being found, deceased.
He said there was no indication at this point that the cases had any connection to one another.
