TV spotlight shines on coroner’s office

By CHRISTOPHER LAWRENCE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

10 years ago

Coroner P. Michael Murphy sits in his office located at 1704 Pinto Lane on Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. Murphy determines the manner of death for cases the office sees, and has held his position for 12 years. (Rachel Crosby/Special to the Review-Journal)

Well, that was accurate for all of two days.

On Monday, I spent 1,500 words or so tracing the history of Las Vegas on television.

“Postmortem in Vegas” (7 p.m. Wednesday, Lifetime Movie Network) could kick off a new chapter.

The special serves as a pilot for a potential series that would chronicle life at the Clark County Coroner/Medical Examiner’s Office.

Here’s the synopsis:

A crime scene is filled with mysteries, but nothing holds more secrets than a dead body. And when it comes to solving these mysteries, there is no one better than “Murph.” Michael “Murph” Murphy is considered an “artist of autopsy.” He’s a dynamic, relentless former Chief of Police and detective-turned-coroner in Clark County, where he oversees both the medical and investigative teams. They handle more than 3,500 souls a year (2,000 of which are mysterious deaths) and in Vegas, that means they see cases that no one else in the rest of the country will see.