Dr. Amanda Fisher: Full Testimony, the Coroner in the Salsa Joe's Murders Trial

The coroner walked onto a back deck expecting a fire death and saw far too much blood for one. Here is her whole testimony in the Salsa Joe's Murders trial. Dr. Amanda Fisher is the elected coroner of Belmont County, Ohio, and a chiropractor with her own practice in Barnesville. She had been in office about nine months on the morning of September 21, 2021, when her office got the call: a house fire on Trails End Drive, two people dead. They were Tom Strussion and his wife, Angela. Andrew Griffin, the man who opened a Salsa Joe's with Tom, is on trial for killing them both, and the State's question is whether he came back from Oklahoma, shot them and burned the house to cover it. Griffin is presumed innocent, and only the jury decides. On Day 3 the State called Fisher first, and she is the witness who explains how a fire call turned into a murder investigation. Watch how she reads the scene. She tells the jury what she saw on the deck, why the amount of blood bothered her, what she found when she looked through Angela's hair, and why she stopped her exam and asked for autopsies on both of them. Then she gives the window she gave the detective that day, and she shows her work: rigor, the stiffening of the joints after death, had set into the jaw and arms but not yet into the legs, and she says the heat of the fire had to be weighed against that. Listen for how she rules on the death certificate too, because the manner and the cause are two different calls and she makes both. Then the defense goes after two things. First, her training. She is a doctor of chiropractic, not a medical doctor, and the defense asks whether she can give a medical opinion at all. Her answer is worth hearing in her own words. Second, the clock. The report her chief investigator sent to Licking County with the bodies put the time of death between 10:30 p.m. and 7 a.m., and the defense lays that next to her 11 to 2. She says that report was written early and on purpose broad, from the earliest it could have happened to the moment smoke was first seen. Here is what I want you to hold onto. A time of death only matters if it lines up with where the State can put Griffin that night. Does a three-hour window from a coroner at a fire scene hold up, or does the wider one in her own office's paperwork give the defense room later? That is the jury's call, not mine, but keep it in mind with every witness who follows. --- WATCH WITH JUSTICE 0:00 What this video is, and a preview 0:11 Intro 0:49 Video starts: The Coroner Takes the Stand for the State: the Blood, the Wounds and the Time of Death 27:03 The Defense Attacks Her Training and the Time of Death in Her Office's Report 34:27 The State Comes Back to 11 P.M. 34:47 Who Did Her Testimony Help? The Scale CASE BACKGROUND REPORT: https://justiceisaprocess.com/oh-v-an... Complete case overview including the charges, the timeline, the key players, and the legal questions this trial raises. State of Ohio v. Andrew Isaac Griffin. Belmont County Court of Common Pleas, St. Clairsville, Ohio, Judge Chris Berhalter presiding. Griffin is charged with aggravated murder in the September 2021 deaths of Thomas and Angela Strussion, who were found shot in their home near Belmont after it was set on fire, along with aggravated arson, aggravated burglary and firearm specifications. Tom Strussion was his former business partner in a Salsa Joe's restaurant. Griffin has pleaded not guilty. Opening statements are set for October 26, 2026. He is presumed innocent unless and until the State proves each charge beyond a reasonable doubt. PLAYLISTS AND RESOURCES Website: https://justiceisaprocess.com/coverag... Full Trial Live Broadcasts:    • Ohio v. Andrew Griffin: Full Trial Live Br...   No Breaks Edition:    • Ohio v. Andrew Griffin: No Breaks Edition   Trial Analysis Podcast:    • Ohio v. Andrew Griffin: Case Story Trial P...   Key Moments and Testimony:    • Ohio v. Andrew Griffin: Key Moments & Test...   Commentary:    • Ohio v. Andrew Griffin: Commentary   Subscribe for Daily Coverage:    / @justiceisaprocess   FAIR USE AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE This content is produced under Fair Use (17 U.S.C. 107) for news reporting, criticism, and educational purposes. We provide transformative commentary on public court proceedings, advancing public understanding of the judicial process through timestamps, analysis, and educational context. #JusticeIsAProcess #SalsaJoesMurders #AndrewGriffin