Fayetteville, N.Y. – At 15, Dr. Mary Jumbelic, Central New York’s first female chief medical examiner, visited the morgue while she was in high school. She didn’t know then the experience would eventually lead her to a long career in forensic pathology.
In her new book, “Speak Her Name,” Jumbelic talks about the impact of examining almost a thousand murder victims who were killed by someone they knew. Many were women. One of them was her friend, Leslie Neulander, whose case divided a community after another medical examiner ruled her death an accident.
Jumbelic, 69, has examined bodies, testified in court, and appeared on shows such as “Dateline” over her 25-year career to talk about these cases. In this book, she draws parallels between her own life and the lives of the bodies she has examined, from her own almost kidnapping as a child, to the phone calls from victims who said, “You’re my hero.”
Syracuse.com | The Post Standard sat down with Jumbelic on a Tuesday morning at Freedom of Espresso in Fayetteville. She talked through her writing process and how these experiences helped shape her into the woman she is today.
Q: What made you write this book and publish it now?
Jumbelic: I had started writing it even while I was in the midst of my first book. I saw it at first as a story about Leslie Neulander. But as I got into it and Leslie was coming alive through the stories, there just were other women that insisted on capturing my attention. For example, Carol Ryan, that was one of the first non-Leslie stories that I wrote that I felt very passionate about putting down on paper…And then I began to say, “What is the book trying to say? What am I trying to say? Am I just listing terrible things?” And I realized I wasn’t. I was trying to learn how I became a woman through the course of doing the work that I do.
Q: What was your process in writing it? How did you choose the cases?
Jumbelic: The ones that made it into the book; I felt each one had their unique story…Whether it was Michelle from the Midwest, who I wasn’t allowed to speak about her injuries in the courtroom...All the way up to Carol Ryan, who never was solved. And so, [it] felt important to acknowledge that fact. But then there’s other moments like Julie, who lived. And that felt important, because it gives hope.
Q: How did you decide the order? Because it’s not in chronological order.
Jumbelic: It’s not...I found that as I tried to talk about something from my life, I would try to see if there was an analogous story or vice versa…Like I could identify with Michelle, you know? Yes, bad decision? Sure. We all make bad decisions all the time. It doesn’t mean we should be murdered for it...And then some stories didn’t connect at all, but they fit into my development. Or they fit into, as I was talking about Leslie.
Q: The moment at the FBI Academy where you spoke to a lecture hall full of men illustrated your role in a male-dominated field. Can you talk to me about how you approach those moments?
Jumbelic: I didn’t have a lot of reserve, because I knew that people expected me as a woman to be slightly different. And so when I was harder or sharper, or firmer, I was a bitch. And I just got used to that.
It didn’t bother me…Conversely, though, my female nurturing, everything I learned from my mother and caretakers. I was much softer with families. That was where that strength could really shine.
Q: You mentioned this a little bit– the importance of your professional relationships, like, the one with DA Fitzpatrick. Can you talk about the importance of those throughout your career?
Jumbelic: We always talk about the old boys’ club...and then there’s a lot of women networking and all that’s fine. We all find our groups, our clubs, or the people we relate to. But as a woman I found, I really had to look at it non-gender-oriented because otherwise I wouldn’t get to wherever I felt like I needed to go.
Q: How did you balance motherhood and your career?
Jumbelic: I’m so lucky because my mother…When I got pregnant in Chicago with my first son, she moved to Chicago…And so that began, a decade of her caring for my kids…I used to think when I was younger in the ‘70s, “Oh, I am woman. Hear me roar, I can do everything.” I can’t. I just can’t. It’s not possible, so both parents have to be very engaged, and then you still need help.
Q: This book in particular focuses on Leslie a little bit. And you talked about feeling angry over the shunning of your community. Can you tell me the feelings came up when deciding to publish this book?
Jumbelic: Well, she died in 2012. And then I got involved later, early 2013. There wasn’t a trial until 2015. So, there’s a gap of time when a very limited number of people know what really happened…In that period of time, the community was very divided…It wasn’t until the trial…That people are like, “Oh, I didn’t know that…”
So it was like a two and a half year period of everybody just looking at me askance and feeling anxious about not wanting this to have happened in their community. You don’t want to believe it.
Q: Did you feel any of that after the verdict?
Jumbelic: I think after the verdict, some people were still pretty dug in because they had just convinced themselves. But more people were toward the, “Oh, I see what happened now.” So I would say it lightened up after the sentencing, and or the verdict and the sentencing.
Q: How was it for you in the process of writing this book? What feelings came up?
Jumbelic: Well, Leslie is kind of a symbol, if you will, of what can go right, and that sounds strange. But so she’s murdered, but it’s covered up. And then the murder itself is uncovered. And through sheer persistence, justice is sought and won. So it’s worth it, I guess.
Q: And you’ve also seen cases where the person who commits the crime walks free. How do you grapple with that?
Jumbelic: I don’t want to be judge, jury, executioner. I want to look at the science. I want to tell you what happened to the person. But I have feelings and emotions. And so when something isn’t adjudicated, perhaps in what I might feel is a fair way, and then, yes, it’s sad, it bears, it’s heavy. At the same time, I don’t want to then lose sight of the person. And so that’s why I tell their story, because I don’t want to lose sight of that.
Q: Death held your attention for 25 years, as you say, in your book. What led to your decision to retire?
Jumbelic: Well, I have rheumatoid arthritis, and it started when I was like 50…I was really having a lot of trouble with my joints, with my hands… And so that led to me having early retirement from the county...It’s impactful because Leslie died after I had just gotten home from that whole process in Prague. I had been in the hospital in a coma, on dialysis, and intubated and she’s telling me, you know, “Oh, a little fall, and I’m glad you’re okay.” And she’s dead two days later. But it also impacts that I didn’t really look into it…It was sad, but I almost died myself, just like a few weeks earlier, so I could understand how a little misstep could lead to a problem...But even after all my experience, I guess, as a medical examiner, then when I did step up to the plate, I utilized that wealth of experience to figure out what happened to her.
Q: If your readers could only take one thing away from this book, what would you want that to be?
Jumbelic: Witness her. Hear her. Speak her name. These women died, don’t be afraid to look at it. Do something about it. Maybe help someone else or yourself.
Author appearances for Mary Jumbelic:
August 8, 4:30 p.m. at Books End Bookshop | 2443 James St., Syracuse.
August 9, 1 p.m. at Clay Historical Park | 4939 State Rte 31, Clay.
August 13, 7 p.m. at Skaneateles Library | 49 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles.
August 16, noon at Barnes & Noble Clay | 3956 Rte 31, Liverpool.
August 18, 6 p.m. at DeWitt & Jamesville Library | 5110 Jamesville Rd, Jamesville.
August 28, 6:30 p.m.at Northern Onondaga Public Library | 100 Trolley Barn Ln., North Syracuse.