The OCME’s website said that in the overwhelming majority of death cases, it identifies the subject within 24 hours.
In depositions, staff alleged that the skull had been last seen in reconstruction clay, which made it look like a mannequin head. Kominek-Adachi argued that Serrano Sewell, who thought that the skull was a prop, threw it away during the viewing room cleaning, which was needed for inspection.
“It was total incompetence,” Kominek-Adachi told KQED. “He has an office job and had no business handling remains.”
In 2024, records obtained by the San Francisco Standard connected the head to an unidentified man found dead near an encampment in the city’s Lake Merced neighborhood. Depositions with other OCME employees show that attempts weren’t made to locate the skull until “it was on the news.”
“The skull was a critical element in the OCME’s ability to identify Doe #82’s remains,” the suit alleges. However, it said Serrano Sewell “made no effort to initiate an investigation into the whereabouts of the skull,” nor did he respond to Kominek-Adachi’s emails about it.
Instead, he allegedly tried to stop her from getting a promotion by illegally directing her to take a polygraph test that other candidates for the position were not required to take. When she was ultimately promoted, she was given a temporary position, a loophole that allowed her to be fired at will, the suit states.
San Francisco City Hall on Aug. 2, 2023. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Then, Kominek-Adachi and Serrano Sewell became embroiled in a state consumer affairs case against a funeral home in Placer County, which refused to cremate Kominek-Adachi’s grandmother, the suit states. Although she said her complaint was a personal matter, the funeral home contacted the OCME, which Serrano Sewell allegedly seized upon as an opportunity to terminate her.
Court records show that Serrano Sewell said he found the skull in February 2024, after multiple other employees “diligently searched for it and couldn’t find it,” Urbanic said.
“It was only after Ms. Kominek was fired that they found the skull, and that’s its own story,” he said.
The ordinance to approve the settlement will be introduced on Tuesday and then assigned to the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, before the Board of Supervisors finalizes the settlement over the next few weeks.
KQED’s Alex Hall contributed to this report.