Flud of Emotions

Kirk Baird

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2000 | 3:50 a.m.

Ron Flud is the the first to admit it: He's the one person you don't want to see.

As Clark County coroner for nine years, Flud has dealt with death, be it in high-profile cases or the unidentified "John or Jane Does" who show up every so often in the desert.

His job, simply, is to oversee the three branches of the coroner's office (investigation, forensics and administration) and "to make sure that the office runs and I take care all of the resource needs of the office." He rarely goes to the scene now -- whether it is a crime or an accident -- unless it's a special case, such as the 1998 death of Ted Binion.

Born in Muleshoe, Texas, Flud's family moved to Las Vegas when he was 5. He has a wife, Beverly. His daughter, Amy, 20, is from a previous marriage.

In a recent interview with the Sun, Flud, 48, talked about the challenges of his career:

Las Vegas Sun: What are some of the misconceptions people have about your job?

Ron Flud: One, they think I'm a doctor. My job is as an administrator. I have three experts that are doctors that work for me. They expect me to be a doctor, (but) in this line the decisions I make are usually determined by law and common sense -- it's not about medicine. We have three experts that, when they do the autopsies, their jobs as the medical examiners are totally about medicine; they're my experts in that area. I think that people watch (the TV show) "Quincy" and think I'm a doctor. Well, I'm not a doctor.

And they think I'm out on every case. They don't stop to think about how many cases (we get). We're averaging over 20 bodies a day here, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can't be on every one of those cases, so unless it's a major situation, then I've got quality people who go out and do the investigations.

Sun: What have been some of your more interesting cases?

RF: The guy who was in prison that swallowed the three plastic forks (is) kind of interesting. First time I've ever seen three whole plastic forks in somebody's stomach.

We had another guy that was found dead on Thanksgiving Day several years back. He was found in the desert area out by Vacation Village with no clothes on, but he's got a hole through each one of his hands and feet. It looks like he's gone through chemotherapy; his hair's been pulled out. Not much of a scene around him -- no clothing or anything. A bizarre situation. It took several months to get him identified, but he was identified as a guy from Illinois. He had left his car in Indianapolis, and he was on steroids and he was going somewhere, like where Jesus had been (in the desert). The next day he lands here, and the (following) day we find him dead in the desert.

The question is did he do that to himself or did somebody do that to him?

Sun: Was that ever resolved?

RF: No. Police feel that it was a suicide, but we carried that case as undetermined because there's some real unanswered questions about the case ... Those kinds of cases stick in your mind.

Sun: Do you have cases that go beyond interesting and really haunt you?

RF: Oh yeah. I think everybody who works in this business has certain things that will get to them or bother them. But there are certain cases that were close to me personally. One of them was a 5-year-old by the name of Jessica. She was probably tortured for three or four days by her mother and her stepdad or (her mother's) boyfriend. She died not from any injuries she received -- they had scalded her with hot water, beat her, hung her by her hair, done terrible things to this child -- she died from the stress of being tortured for all this time. My daughter was about the same age at the time and I will never forget how (Jessica) looked. I will never forget that case. None of these people who work in this office go away unscathed because they personally get involved.

Sun: How has that affected you over the years?

RF: I'm sure it has had an effect -- it has a cumulative effect on everybody. It's part of your job. But I think there comes a point, at least for me, I love my career and I like what I do. But do I look forward to the day when I don't have to deal with traumatized parents or loved ones who come in here to see about their deceased family members. It'll make me very happy never to have to discuss that or have to meet with them or be attacked by them because they don't like what you've done.

I think you have to put it in perspective. I think a sense of humor really helps. You can look at things and keep them where they belong. But it definitely affects you. Anybody who says it doesn't affect them, I would question.

Sun: Some people might find a coroner with a sense of humor odd.

RF: I don't think most people are ready for it. It's kind of like people (who work) in the emergency room have a sense of humor. (You) might call it a black sense of humor. Same thing with a police officers at the scene. You have to keep it in balance. Because people don't understand if you're sitting there looking at this stuff ... We have people here that are severely traumatized and badly injured, but you keep that in perspective to do your job. And what the job entails is you have to deal with these things. I think every person deals with that in their own way.