Jessica Dwyer spends her days in a place where bodies arrive without answers. \u00a0<\/p>\n
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As chief medical examiner<\/a> for Dallas County, she works to solve what she calls \u201cthe ultimate jigsaw puzzle\u201d \u2014 examining the human body to determine how someone died.<\/p>\n In Dwyer\u2019s office, dozens of skulls of all shapes, sizes and colors bare their teeth. The word \u201cAutopsy\u201d glows from an electric purple neon sign over her desk.<\/p>\n A medical examiner is a licensed physician with specialized training in forensic pathology. Dwyer, 42, leads a tight-knit team of 13 full-time medical examiners who work alongside 20 forensic investigators and 12 autopsy technicians.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Dallas County Director and Chief Medical Examiner Jessica Dwyer is pictured in her Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences office, July 27, 2026.<\/p>\n Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Finding her calling<\/p>\n Dwyer was always fascinated by the human body, compelled by subjects like biochemistry and anatomy, and medicine seemed like the natural path.\u00a0<\/p>\n She stumbled upon forensic pathology \u2014 a specialty that combines medicine and science with law enforcement, the legal system and on-scene investigations \u2014 while listening to a lecture in medical school.\u00a0<\/p>\n She joined the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences\u00a0in 2017 as a medical examiner staff member and became the director and chief in 2024 after the\u00a0previous chief retired<\/a>. She is the first woman to hold the position in Dallas County.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On a recent day, Dwyer leaned back in her chair against a round pillow with a grinning skull on it. The decor might seem morbid, but for those who regularly encounter traumatic deaths and disturbing scenes, dark humor is a coping mechanism.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think all of us have a little bit of a twisted personality, a little bit of dark humor,\u201d Dwyer said. \u201cBut really, that’s the key thing. This is not for everybody. And if you don’t do well with blood and guts, this is definitely not going to be good for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n