Research short list

Seven reports worth adding next

A ranked set of public documents with story power: seven direct PDFs and zero page-image viewers, all checked on legitimate archive hosts.

Editorial note. “Verified” means the document or viewer opened successfully during research. It does not certify the uploader’s copy as an official original. LINKS CHECKED · OCT 5, 2026
RANK01

President John F. Kennedy

DALLAS · NOV 22, 1963 · ASSASSINATION

The official autopsy at the center of one of the 20th century’s most persistent conspiracy debates.

Watch: The report is 5 pages. Autopsy photographs and X-rays remain restricted at the National Archives, leaving the central source of controversy outside this file.

RANK02

Michael Jackson

LOS ANGELES · JUN 25, 2009 · HOMICIDE

The King of Pop, a propofol drip, and the coroner’s findings behind Dr. Conrad Murray’s conviction.

Watch: DocumentCloud identifies this as the LA County coroner report, but uploader attribution was not captured during verification. Treat its provenance as “hosted copy,” not a certified original.

Direct PDF · 51 pages Open report DocumentCloud source page
RANK03

President James A. Garfield

WASHINGTON, D.C. · SEP 19, 1881 · ASSASSINATION

The assassin said the doctors killed Garfield; the period autopsy makes a remarkable medical-history case around unsterile wound probing.

Watch: This is an 1881 primary source with archaic medical terminology. Garfield was shot July 2 and died September 19; the examination is dated September 20.

RANK04

Whitney Houston

BEVERLY HILLS · FEB 11, 2012 · ACCIDENT

Found in a hotel bathtub on Grammy weekend; the coroner ruled accidental drowning with heart disease and cocaine use contributing.

Watch: No foul play was found. The story’s pull is cultural and toxicological rather than an unresolved forensic mystery.

RANK05

Anna Nicole Smith

HOLLYWOOD, FL · FEB 8, 2007 · ACCIDENT

A nine-drug combination led by chloral hydrate, a celebrity death only months after her son’s, and an unusually detailed public record.

Direct PDF · 8 pages Open report The Smoking Gun article
RANK06

Terri Schiavo

PINELLAS PARK, FL · MAR 31, 2005 · RIGHT-TO-DIE CASE

The case drew Congress into a national right-to-die conflict; the autopsy documented profound brain atrophy and no evidence of abuse.

Watch: The medical examiner could not determine to reasonable medical certainty what caused her 1990 collapse; opposing sides both claimed vindication.

RANK07

Donda West

LOS ANGELES · NOV 10, 2007 · SURGICAL COMPLICATIONS

Kanye West’s mother died one day after cosmetic surgery, leaving a consequential record about heart disease, postoperative complications, and unanswered malpractice questions.

Watch: The coroner cited coronary artery disease and complications from the November 9 procedures; breathing difficulties “may have triggered the cardiac event.”

No reports match this view.

Popular on Autopsyfiles.org

Eight reader favorites from the Autopsyfiles.org collection. Each link opens the full report hosted on the site.