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Four years later, Wienckowski family still seeks answers

File photo

On the fourth anniversary of the finding of the body of Amanda Wienckowski in Buffalo, the family's lawyer claims another doctor says the young woman's death was a murder, not an overdose.

Credit WBFO News photo by Mike Desmond
A vigil & news conference held on the steps of City Hall to remember Amanda Wienckowski.

Wienckowski's naked body was found frozen in an East side garbage tote.  The current death certificate cites the cause of death as a drug overdose.

Family lawyer Steven Cohen held a news conference on the City Hall steps Wednesday evening to say yet another doctor agrees Wienckowski was murdered.

The lawyer says the doctor now wants to examine tissue samples kept by the Erie County Medical Examiner's Office to make sure his examination from pictures is matched by the samples. 

Cohen says Antoine Garner killed Wienckowski, but can't be tried because the medical examiner says it wasn't a murder.

Credit WBFO News photo by Mike Desmond
Attorney Steve Cohen represents the Wienckowski family. He held a news conference on the steps of City Hall in Buffalo

"Amanda may never get justice. There is a limit to what the courts can do. Prosecutors have absolute discretion in who they choose to prosecute and in this case it is not prosecutable because the death certificate continues to raise by its very existence reasonable doubt," said Cohen.  

Garner has admitted Wienckowski was in his house after she was taken there but says he didn't kill her.
 

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.