Articles

Small business carves up autopsy trade
October 28, 2008 - MSNBC
Except for a small poster of the Grateful Dead rock bank, there’s very little to indicate what happens behind the walled-in industrial compound in East Los Angeles. The only hint a casual observer might have is when a white Hummer pulls in or out of the driveway, the words, “1-800-AUTOPSY” in bold black lettering on the side. More...

From Postmortems Spring a Livelihood
May 2, 2008 - Los Angeles Times
But death has been a godsend to Herrera, who runs three growing businesses out of a gray, two-story building along a dreary El Sereno strip of auto body shops and small warehouses. More...

A Private Autopsy
April 21, 2008 - Los Angeles Times
Most pathologists who perform private autopsies eschew publicity and rely on coroner and funeral home referrals for business, but Los Angeles-based 1-800-AUTOPSY has taken a high-profile approach. More...

Secrets of the Dead Revealed
May 8, 2007 - CBS News
Every day hundreds of people die in Southern California and often they take the secrets of their deaths to the grave. But tonight, we have a rare and exclusive look at how the secrets of the dead are being revealed. We warn you that the images contained in our video report involve a real body and some footage may be considered graphic. More...

Dead Sure
October 2, 2003 - Details
Corpses need cops too. And in California, 1 800 AUTOPSY is the number to dial. More...

Only in L.A.
October 2, 2003 - LA Times
A growth industry in L.A.: Joel Maliniak tipped us to a traffic sign that's even less cheery than a jammed freeway - a van displaying the phone number (800) AUTOPSY. More...

His Business Is Dead
October 1, 2000 - LA Times - Valley
Tujunga - When Vidal Herrera steps out of his white van emblazoned with "1-800-Autopsy" on the side, strangers often go up to him and say, "You're weird." Sometimes, when he is eating in a restaurant, supporters will approach him and ask for his autograph. More...

Death Dealers
July 13, 2000 - Glasgow Herald
A kind of reader draws our attention to an internet site which extols the virtue of the privatized post-mortem examination industry. The site is run by a company called 1-800-autopsy based in Los Angeles (where else). More...

Death of a Salesman?
May 1, 2000 - Foothill Leader
La Crescenta man struggles to open autopsy business in Tujunga Tujunga - Vidal Herrera's empty Foothill Boulevard shop looks like it's starting to come to life - so to speak. More...

The Autopsy: Rest in Peace
April 1, 2000 - Signs of Civilization
Please don't take this personally, but let's imagine for a moment that you have just died. Perhaps your car ran off a cliff or you were shot in a hunting accident. In any case, the manner of your demise is somewhat suspicious, and foul play can't be ruled out. You are about to join the ranks of an ever smaller, ever more select group -you will be autopsied. More...

Handy New Delivery Service
March 1, 2000 - Sky International
America's obsession with to-your-door delivery services has reached new heights. Now in Los Angeles all you have to do is dial 1-800-AUTOPSY and within minutes you get a mobile mortuary at your door. If sudden unexplained deaths are a common occurrence in your life, or you ever feel the need for a quick post-mortem, this is definitely the service for you. Also available are medical photography , DNA paternity tests and the repellent-sounding "tissue procurement". Sounds like the perfect job for your average American serial killer. KW More...

1-800-AUTOPSY Provides Unique Services for Families
December 1, 1999 - Arizona Society of Pathologists
It is my privilege to address the members of the Arizona Society of Pathologists. I will share with you my thoughts and give you a board overview of my company including how it began and it's functionality. More...

People are Dying to Work with Him
December 1, 1999 - Detour
Whether you call him "El Muerto" as his friends and colleagues have endearingly dubbed him, or the traveling autopsy guy, or (death) consultant to the stars - celebrities have been known to call on him for privacy reasons when there is a family death, and production companies hire him as a professional advisor for correct scene-positioning of "dead" bodies-Vidal Herrera will get back to you, day or night. More...

Death is his Fast-Growing Business
August 1, 1999 - San Diego Tribune
Mobile L.A. autopsy vendor looks to franchise concept In the back seat are enough bone saws and industrial steak knives to do three autopsies on the go. At the wheel is the pompadoured, mustachioed Vidal Herrera, bopping and singing along to a 1960s ditty as a skeleton key chain swings from his blue shag dash. More...

Autopsy Specialist Takes His Services on the Road
June 1, 1999 - The Star
DEATH TOLL: Postmortem freelancer sees rising population as business juncture. Vidal Herrera's van says a lot about the man. More...

Family in Turmoil Over Identification of Remains
June 1, 1999 - Chino Hills
Ed and Sheri Denzin learned with a shock on July 4, 1998 that their daughter might not be in her grave. The Denzins requested a second exhumation after learning that cemetery personnel at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier were not sure that their daughters body was returned after it was exhumed the first time for an autopsy by the county coroner's office. More...

It's a Living
May 10, 1999 - Daily Breeze
Usually, Herrera gets a whole body -on a slab. That's because he's a "death specialist," as advertised on the side of his 1994 white Chevy van, which is also emblazoned with his business phone, 1-800-AUTOPSY. In this case, Herrera is going to fingerprint and store the detached digit for a personal injury lawsuit. More...

Dial One Yourself
January 1, 1999 - Economist
Nature abhors a vacuum. So do American entrepreneurs. Consider a firm called Autopsy/Post Services (1-800-AUTOPSY), founded in 1988 by Vidal Herrera. The frequency with which autopsies are performed in America has been falling steadily for over three decades, and Mr. Herrera has made his mark by leaping in to fill the void. More...

Opportunity Knocks
January 1, 1999 - Entrepreneur
And unfortunately so does someone else. While death may seem a bit macabre as a springboard for a business opportunity, approximately 2.3 million Americans died in 1996. With the number of seniors increasing dramatically, we've found mortality seems to be on many franchisors' minds. Autopsy/Post Services Franchise, Inc. performs both forensic autopsies (when the cause of death has legal implications) for a fee, as most hospitals don't offer the procedure routinely. The lesson to be learned? Next time you think a concept can't be franchised, think again. More...

Business Is Anything But Dead
December 1, 1998 - Hispanic Business
Los Angeles-based Autopsy/Post Services, Inc. (APSI), specializes in forensic and private autopsies, exhumations, and organ retrieval. More...

Body Work (800) AUTOPSY
November 1, 1998 - Maxim
According to the police report, Gramdma stumbled off the roof and landed on the 26 bullets. You're not so sure. Now, with a call to 1-800-AUTOPSY, you can find out the truth. Autopsy/Post Services, Inc., founded in 1989 by Vidal Herrera, offers private "post-mortem" services such as autopsies and blood and tissue procurement for DNA tests. The company located in the Los Angeles area, but more than 10 percent of the firm's autopsies are done on bodies from out of state, and Herrera, according to a New York Times interview, is considering offering franchises all over. (He foresees a promising market in crime-ridden Russia) Just think, that O.J. mess could have been cleared up with one phone call. More...

Final Cut
November 1, 1998 - By Frank C. Girardot
Scalpel in hand, autopsy technician Vidal Herrera makes a Y-shaped incision on the body of an 80-year-old man laid out before him in a Hawthorne, Calif., mortuary. More...

Harper's Index
August 1, 1998 - Harper's
Estimated number of news stories published worldwide this year on India's imminent nuclear-test plans: 500 Number of CIA analysts who predicted the country's nuclear test last May: 0 More...

Autopsy King
July 1, 1998 - Hispanic
He's been nicknamed El Muerto and Cadaver King. Some say he has a job to "die" for. One thing is certain: Vidal Herrera will always be known as the Latino who paved the way for others in the independent autopsy business. More...

Autopsy On Wheels
April 28, 1998 - National Examiner
Business is anything but dead for Vidal Herrera. In fact, it's on a roll! Herrera rides around La Crescenta, CA, performing autopsies out of a fully equipped van. And he isn't shy about getting in your face with advertising. More...

Autopsy Technician Turns Adversity and an 800 Number Into Success
April 20, 1998 - New York Times
Mr. Herrera is the founder and owner of Autopsy/Post Services, a company that performs autopsies and other postmortem tasks for private citizens searching for peace of mind or grounds for a lawsuit after a loved one has died. More...

Day of the Dead
April 19, 1998 - In These Times
The day I met Herrera, he was on his way to a funeral home to perform an autopsy on a 36-year old man who died of AIDS-related complications. The dead man's family had contracted Herrera because they had no insurance and wanted to determine if he'd had emphysema prior to death. More...

Autopsy on Wheels
April 3, 1998 - Daily News
Like any other Southern California businessman, Vidal Herrera navigates the region's overlapping freeways every day to visit his customers. But there is a major difference: His clients are dead. More...

Breathing New Life Into Autopsies
March 9, 1998 - American Medical News
A 40-year old Tampa, Fla., attorney tells his secretary he has chest pain and asks for an aspirin. Moments later, he dies in the bathroom of his office. The man's life insurance deems the death the result of natural causes, probably an aneurysm. More...

Autopsies for All Occasions
March 8, 1998 - Los Angeles Business Journal
Everything the company does, including post diagnosis for deceased Alzheimer's and AIDS victims, medical photography and videotaping, crime scene mop-ups and other services, is performed at hospitals, mortuaries or crime scenes. More...

California Thanatologist Expands Autopsy Business Worldwide
February 1, 1998 - Death Advisor
When Vidal Herrera began doing autopsies and various other post-mortem services for a couple of funeral homes nine years ago, he didn't realize right away what he'd stumbled upon. More...

'Cadaver King' Has Turned Death Into The Good L.A. Life
November 16, 1997 - Central Contra Costa Sunday Times
Vidal Herrera's nicknames say it all. Mr. Autopsy, El. Muerto, The Cadaver King. "I want my name to be synonymous with death." Herrera says. And it is. More...

Autopsy Firm Turns Death Into Business
November 1, 1997 - New Mexican
Vidal Herrera's nicknames say it all. Mr. Autopsy. El Muerto. The Cadaver King. "I want my name to be synonymous with death," Herrera says. And it is. More...

Travelling Autopsies Find Growth Market
August 1, 1997 - Health Care Weekly Review
AS HOSPITALS AND municipalities around the country cut back on the costly service of providing autopsies, family members of the deceased who feel there are unanswered questions that could be resolved by a post-mortem investigation are not without recourse. More...

Need an Autopsy? You Might Give Vidal Herrera a Ring
July 1, 1997 - Wall Street Journal
Ten minutes after her mother's death in April, Melody Pulley says, a nurse handed her a white plastic bag filled with her mother's belongings and whisked her from the room. The doctor said Ms. Pulley's 65-year-old mother had died of pneumonia. But Ms. Pulley, a portrait photographer, still had questions she wanted to ask. More...

Giving The Dead A Voice
April 2, 1997 - Westsider
For the past nine years, Vidal Herrera has worked underground performing autopsies on the dead. More...

Autopsy/Post Services, Inc. Debuts The Only National Autopsy Business Offering A Wide Range Of Services
April 1, 1997 - YB News
LOS ANGELES, CA - Selecting the right professional to provide for your client's needs is imperative. Vidal Herrera believes his company, Autopsy/Post Services, Inc. (APSI) is that firm. More...

200 Police Salute A Fallen Comrade
March 26, 1997 - The Outlook
About 200 uniformed police officers marched Tuesday at the funeral of an LAPD officer from the Pacific Division who was denied full honors because he was shot while off duty, after a confrontation with a plainclothes detective. More...

Stiff Competition
March 26, 1997 - The Outlook
Make no bones about it, the Stiffs take a lot of ribbing. Runners from the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, they all work in some way with the deceased and they know their team name is an irresistible source of gallows humor. More...

Autopsy Services Will Help Families
March 1, 1997 - Funeral and Cemetery Today
Autopsy Post Services, Inc., was developed in 1986 by Vidal Herrera, a former Los Angeles county Medical Examiner Coroner Investigator. APSI has cultivated a distinguished reputation with the mortuary, hospital, and legal circles by providing a much needed service to families in their time of need. More...

Autopsies For Sale
February 1, 1997 - Consumers Digest
A death in the family may leave questions behind regarding the exact cause of death, liability disputes, whether a genetic defect existed that might affect other family members in the future or whether a dementia was Alzheimer's disease. More...

Family-Requested Autopsies On The Upswing
February 1, 1997 - Sun-Sentinel
Dr. Abdullah Fatteh distributes a flyer with that cryptic headline to funeral directors, attorneys and hospital administrators in South Florida, letting them know he is available to do autopsies for famlies seeking answers about a loved one's death. More...

1997 Marketing Masters Awards
December 1, 1996 - Inc.
mall business is contributing more and more to the American economy. The more than 800,00 new businesses formed in 1996 generated wealth, created jobs and brought new value-added products and services to customers. More...

800-AUTOPSY
December 1, 1996 - Los Angeles Magazine
A cut above. This is the name and number of Vidal Herrera's thriving private autopsy business. A former investigator with the L.A. County coroner's office, Herrera sees a coming "golden era of death for the death-care profession" as aging baby boomers, frustrated by a decline in autopsies ordered by cost-conscious governments and hospitals, pay for the dissection of deceased loved ones. Currently, Herrera and his crew see 900 clients a year, including the occasional celebrity. They also clean up crime scenes when conventional maintenance workers aren't up to the task. "We are the voice of the dead," says Herrera. "An autopsy is like a biography." -J.S. More...

Dead Heats
October 1, 1996 - Playboy
As exciting as the Olympics were, we'd rather watch the Stiffs, a 13-person relay team from the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center. A Group including autopsy technicians, pathologists and brain specimen lab personnel, the Stiffs show up at meets with an ice chest that resembles a coffin, uniforms that bear the number 187 (the state police code for homicide) and a femur instead of a baton. Presumably, they don't want to finish dead last. More...

Hospitals Performing Fewer Autopsies
June 30, 1996 - USA Today
The number of autopsies performed in American hospitals has fallen dramatically since the 1960s, raising alarm among doctors who fear the trend threatens the quality of care and the country's store of medical knowledge. More...

A Dying Art
May 27, 1996 - Daily Breeze
Sometime this summer he will transform his four-year old business into one of the most unique franchise opportunities ever offered - private autopsy services. More...

Working-Out Stiffs
April 26, 1996 - Westside Weekly
They're 13 men and women, most of whom work at the West Los Angeles Veteran Affairs Medical Center. They ran and rode bikes together in the Los Angeles Marathon and last weekend's Jimmy Stewart Relays in Griffith Park. They train on Saturday mornings. More...

1-800-AUTOPSY
February 1, 1996 - Glendale News-Press
He's got brains and eyeballs in the back of his van, but Vidal Herrera says he just wants to be another guy in the neighborhood. More...

Calling the Cadaver King
January 8, 1996 - Newsweek
A longtime investigator for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office who assisted in the autopsies of Hillside Strangler victims, Herrera went solo seven years ago and says he's made a much better living in dying his way. More...

Autopsy/Post Services - A Sure Thing!
September 1, 1995 - Stakeholder
If death and taxes are the only certainties in life, Vidal Herrera has one of the few businesses with a guaranteed, eternal customer base. More...

Member Spotlight: 1-800-AUTOPSY House Calls to the Dead.
September 1, 1995 - West LA Up 2 Date
We have often heard of house calls made to the living, but never house calls to the dead. How morbid can one get? Perhaps morbid enough to pursue a career as a door-to-door autopsy man who answers to the call of 1-800-AUTOPSY. More...

Pathologists Request Autopsy Revival
June 1, 1995 - JAMA
To look at the data, the practice of autopsy is a dying procedure. Thirty years ago around 50% of hospital deaths were autopsied. Since then there has been a steady decline, so that today in teaching hospitals only 10% to 20% of deaths are autopsied. More...

Stiff Competition
May 1, 1995 - Telegraph Magazine
Vidal Herrera runs the Grim Reaper a close second when it comes to harvesting the dead. After losing his job at the Los Angeles coroner's office through back injury he started a private autopsy service that has since made him a good living. ED LEIBOWEITZ meets a man with more brains than more. More...

To Live And Die In L.A.
May 1, 1995 - Telegraph Magazine
Delivery culture enters new terrain with 1-800-AUTOPSY, the toll-free number of Vidal Herrera's Autopsy/Post Services. Herrera offers Los Angeles residents a range of services associated with the big sleep, from routine autopsies to a scary-sounding "posttraumatic cleanup." More...

REVIVING POSTMORTEMS
January 1, 1995 - Physician's Weekly
Herrera, a one-time technician at the L.A. County coroner's office, has parlayed a clever phone number and a clear need into a thriving trade in private autopsies for families, hospitals, and lawyers. Called Autopsy/Post Services, it uses nine pathologists who do some 900 postmortems a year. DNA testing is extra. More...

1-800-AUTOPSY
January 1, 1995 - Franchise Times
Vidal Herrera's portable autopsy business in Southern California is so successful he has plans to franchise it. Mr. Herrera's company (1-800-AUTOPSY) does it less expensively than local medical examiners. He hopes to sell 72 autopsy franchises in the United States and 16 abroad. He says there are 2,300 applicants. "Because of the baby boomers, there's going to be a large number of deaths," he said. "People know the need is there." More...

Autopsies Key Pieces To Puzzle
January 1, 1995 - Pasadena Star News
Though the dead may tell no tales, coroner's investigators were able to tell much from the bodies of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman in the early hours of June 13. More...

Autopsies-To-Go
January 1, 1995 - El Sereno Star
For Vidal Herrera, of El Sereno, an on-the-job injury may have been the best thing that ever happened to him, though he didn't realize it at the time. More...

Entrepreneur Offers Private Pay Autopsies
January 1, 1995 - Unknown
Ongoing unmet demand for autopsies creates significant business opportunity More...

Final Exams
January 1, 1995 - Daily News
For people in the death business, it's not the celebrity drug overdose or the serial killer slayings that stand out, although there have been plenty of those in Los Angeles County. More...

Morbid Vanity Generates Thousands of Calls
January 1, 1995 - Teleservice News
Ten years ago, Vidal Herrera, living on disability after rupturing three discs by hoisting a 5-foot 2-inch, 285-pound dead woman, mailed more than 2,000 resumes but received no job offers. More...

Pizzas, Flowers . . . Autopsies?
January 1, 1995 - unknown
A 1994 white Chevy Astro minivan may not seem terribly eye-catching, but consider that Herrera's has "1800-AUTOPSY" painted in tall letters on the sides, and a run-down of related corpse services plastered over the rest of it. More...

Team Spirit
January 1, 1995 - VA Visions
Perhaps one of the best kept secrets at WLA VAMC is our reputation for having one of the cleanest morgues in Los Angeles County. More...

The Meticulous Art Of Autopsy
January 1, 1995 - Prism
In the inconspicuous autopsy area of a Los Angeles hospital, Autopsy Technician Vidal Herrera, pulls open a walk-in refrigerator door and wheels out a stainless steel table with a white body bag heaped onto it. More...

Autopsies Are Easy, Red Tape is Hard
July 3, 1994 - LA Times
At least dead men don't give you the runaround. That much Vidal Herrera knows. Herrera, 42, owns an El Sereno company called Autopsy/Post Services, Inc. More...

Commercial Autopsy Service Booms
July 1, 1994 - Funeral Monitor
After the Los Angeles County coroner's office raised its prices for private autopsies last year, business has been booming for Vidal Herrera's Autopsy/Post Services, the area's only commercial autopsy service. More...

Death Takes A Sideline
July 1, 1994 - California Lawyer
After the Los Angeles County Coroner's office raised its prices for private autopsies last year, business has been booming for Vidal Herrera's Autopsy/Post Services, the area's only commercial autopsy service. Autopsies conducted at the discretion of the county coroner are free. BMost of his customers are attorneys seeking evidence for medical malpractice actions or criminal defense cases. More...

Dead? Just Dial 1-800-AUTOPSY!
April 1, 1994 - Public Eye
When L.A. coroner Vidal Herrera was forced to retire - "I hurt my back lifting a body" - he decided to got into business for himself. Now his mobile Autopsy Serifs "meets all the personal autopsy needs of families, attorneys and hospitals." Since advertising his macabre menu on his van, business since has gone up 50%, he says. Herrera has even been asked about franchising. Now there's a job to die for. More...

McDeath: It Had To Happen
April 1, 1994 - Worth
Among the Mexican Americans of Los Angeles, Vidal Herrera is known simply as El Muerto. But even Angelenos who don't know his grisly reputation may be familiar with Herrera-he tools around in a van emblazoned with his memorable instate toll-free number: 1-800-AUTOPSY. Does the world really need a coroner who makes house calls? Herrera says it's a growing business: He hopes to open 20 franchises of his Autopsy/Post Services nationwide. His own staff performs about 600 autopsies a year-including about 100 for private citizens, Now A/PS is branching into specialties such as "posttraumatic and decomposition cleanup." that's mopping up mass-murder scenes, to a layman. "It's recession-proof," he says cheerfully. More...

This Scalpel For Hire
April 1, 1994 - Maclean's
In the home of drive-by shootings, the sight of a white van with the logo "1-800-AUTOPSY" is hardly comforting. But for Vidal Herrera, it pays to advertise. After 14 years as an autopsy technician and investigator with the Los Angeles County coroner's office, Herrera's career was cut short in 1984 when he injured his back trying to life a body. More...

They call him "El Muerto"
March 24, 1994 - Daily News Daily Life
Think of a place you would never want to be and, chances are, Vidal Herrera has been there, Crime scenes of the Hillside Strangler. Crime scenes of the Nightstalker. More currently, the scene of the multiple shootings in Santa Fe Springs. More...

News of the Weird
March 1, 1994 - LA Reader
Using a van painted with "1-800-AUTOPSY," Vidal Herrera acts as a free-lance coroner in Los Angeles County, where budget cuts have reduced the size and efficiency of the county coroner�s office. More...

It's 1-800-Dial-a-Slab
November 1, 1993 - New York Newsday
In Los Angeles, proving ground for the drive-in restaurant and the drive-by shooting, Vidal Herrera as 1-800-AUTOPSY van seems an inevitable addition to the landscape. More...

A Rigorous Professional Takes to the Road
August 1, 1993 - Westways
Many motorists are doing double (and triple) takes when they find themselves sharing the freeway with one of three white vans emblazoned with a memorable phone number: 1-800-AUTOPSY. More...