Mystery surrounded deaths of two Georgia women

Two women had died. That much was clear. Their gruesome ordeals were described by the nurse who treated them at the Georgia prison where the women were inmates. So why were there no records of their deaths at the prison? That was the mystery that AJC investigative reporter Danny Robbins set out to solve.

The nurse couldn’t recall the women’s names, only that one became so bloated she looked pregnant and the skin of the other had turned a deep yellow – and that the doctor overseeing the prison had refused to let them see outside specialists. The former warden, tracked down at her home, confirmed the deaths, recalling the memorials she led for both women. But she had no names to offer. Robbins could find no death certificates in the counties surrounding the prison. The county hospital couldn’t help him.  The women’s names seemed to have been erased from memory.

Finally, clues began to emerge. Robbins obtained a 911 call confirming that one woman had been transported from the prison by ambulance. He tracked down former inmates, who told him how the women’s deaths, only days apart, shocked them. Robbins got names. He found the families. And he pressed the Department of Corrections, again, for records that would show what happened.