LEXINGTON, S.C. — The cause of death of the wife of a Lexington doctor can't be determined, the coroner says after examining final autopsy results.
Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher released a statement Wednesday on the death of Vanessa Biery. Biery was married to Dr. Adam Lazzarini, a Lexington orthopedic surgeon.
She died on May 1, 2018 at the couple's home on Hunter Mills Drive.
An initial autopsy was performed on her body two days after her death at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. During the procedure, that reported said "no apparent evidence was found to indicate that Mrs. Biery's death was natural." Fisher added at the time that she was waiting on further analysis, however, including a toxicology report.
That additional information has now come back, and in those new findings, the pathologist could not determine how Biery died. Because nothing was found, Fisher has officially ruled Biery's manner of death as undetermined as well.
Attorneys for her husband had said last year they conducted a private autopsy which said she died of natural causes.
Despite Fisher's decision, Chief Bryon Snellgrove, the Director of the Cayce of Department of Public Safety, said the investigation continues.
"This is still an ongoing and active investigation," Fisher said. "If the result of this investigation leads our Department to any finding of probable cause, appropriate charges will be made at that time. The Cayce Department of Public Safety does not make statements during ongoing investigations."
But while investigating her death last year, Cayce Department of Public Safety officers remembered they'd been to the couple's home before on October 9, 2017 for the death of 30-year-old William Holland. Holland's death had originally been ruled an accidental shooting.
However, after reopening the probe into his death, officers filed involuntary manslaughter and obstruction justice charges against Lazzarini in May of 2018.
A warrant said Lazzarini pointed the gun at Holland's chest, and the weapon went off. It also stated that Lazzarinia made false and conflicting statements to officers about Holland's death. Investigators also say he didn't give them information about a witness to the shooting, which officers felt obstructed justice, and officers claimed the doctor had been drinking before Holland's death.
Online court records show the two charges are still pending.
Lazzarini later resigned his position at Southeastern Orthopedics and Sports Medicine of Lexington Medical Center.