Over the past three years, the causes of death in two cases Okoye ruled as homicides were changed after experts disagreed with him, including a case in which prosecutors dismissed a felony child abuse charge against a day-care provider based on Okoye's conclusion the child died of blunt force trauma.

The third doctor in Brad's case, Jonathan Thompson in Johnston, Iowa, notes the bruises found on Brad's body but concludes they were not life-threatening.

Johnston suggests Brad may have had an altered mental state because of severe dehydration or starvation.

Family members don't buy the starvation/dehydration idea. And they feel that even if he didn't die of whatever caused the bruising, something happened.

The day of the funeral, Mason said, an employee there recommended they get a second autopsy because of all the bruising he'd seen.

Brad's family still thinks it adds up to homicide.

They just can't explain the condition of the apartment -- which Mandy had been over to clean the week before -- any other way.

Assistant Police Chief Jim Peschong said his investigators could not come up with anything to support that a crime had occurred, despite the disarray in the apartment.