Dr. Dianne R. Vertes, former chief medical examiner for Erie County testified last week that she retired from her county post 11 years ago after a dispute over the cause
Mother of 20-year-old woman found dead in a garbage tote seeks answers
The family of Amanda Wienckowski believes she was murdered in 2009, despite an Erie County medical examiner s ruling that she overdosed. Author: WGRZ Staff Updated: 11:17 PM EDT April 28, 2021
BUFFALO, N.Y. A local mother stood outside Buffalo City Hall on Wednesday afternoon and said she will continue to fight for justice for her daughter, 20-year-old Amanda Wienckowski.
Surrounded by family and community activists she said, It s sad that it has to come to this. I just beg everyone to help me.
Wienckowski was found dead on Buffalo s East Side. Her nude body had been stuffed into a garbage tote outside a church.
Activists and family of Amanda Wienckowski, found dead on Buffalo s East Side in 2008, are calling for authorities to reopen the case based upon new evidence.
Reopen activists say Wienckowski, 20, was stun-gunned and then strangled by Antoine Garner, who lived across the street from where the tote containing her naked, frozen body was found. Garner is currently serving 18 years in prison for a series of violent sexual crimes.
Credit Mike Desmond / WBFO News
Supporters of reopening the case say they have a new scientific report that doesn’t match the medical examiner’s report listing her death as an accidental overdose. The new report says that can’t be true, based on the county’s own toxicology tests, and that a lot of evidence, like numerous DNA samples, wasn t tested.