Queensland man’s heart retained during Indonesian forensic autopsy; remains repatriated to Australia without organ

A 23-year-old Noosa man, Byron Haddow, who died in Bali on May 26, was repatriated to Australia without his heart after the organ was removed and kept in Indonesia during a forensic autopsy, a fact his family learned only after a second autopsy in Queensland.

Following Haddow’s death, which a Bali coroner described as suspicious, the incident was not reported to local police until May 30; by the time officers reached the villa, the scene had been contaminated. His body was first transported to BIMC private hospital, where a death certificate listing drowning as the apparent cause of death was issued, and then to the Bali Funeral Home in preparation for repatriation to Brisbane. Family concerns grew because Haddow was a strong swimmer, was 178cm tall, and the pool depth was 150cm; cuts and bruises were observed on his body and blood was found on towels used to wrap him.

The family requested an autopsy in Bali through an Australian friend, emphasizing in an email that they wanted his “entire body sent home.” On May 30, Haddow’s body and a signed request for a clinical autopsy were received by forensic medicine specialist Dr Nola Margaret Gunawan at Ngurah General Hospital in Denpasar. After the body thawed from storage at the funeral home, Dr Gunawan received a second request from Bali’s provincial police for a forensic autopsy and proceeded under Indonesian law, which prioritizes legal proceedings in suspicious, violent or unexplained deaths and can involve removal of whole organs for examination.

Dr. Gunawan said she recognises that a deceased person is more than forensic evidence, but when both a medical and a police-requested autopsy are sought, the legal investigation must take precedence. Pathologists all over the world do the same thing.” She added that she had not seen the family’s email but would still have followed forensic procedure: “For a clinical autopsy, consent is required from the next of kin to retain organs. But for a forensic autopsy, according to Indonesian Criminal Procedure Code, consent is not required. Whole organ retention to determine the cause of death in forensic autopsies is a common practice all over the world. We cannot do a partial autopsy.”

Dr Gunawan concluded the probable cause of death was the combined effect of ethanal (alcohol) intoxication and the antidepressant Duloxetine, which could have prevented Haddow from escaping the pool. She was unable to determine accident, suicide, or homicide, noting extensive scars and bruises, and said, “With the availability of more advanced technology in the forensic lab in Brisbane, I hope that some new findings can be achieved.”

After nearly four weeks, Byron Haddow’s remains arrived back in Queensland, where the Coroners Court of Queensland notified his family that his heart was missing. A court spokesperson said the death had been referred by the Queensland Attorney-General and added, “As this matter is currently an open coronial investigation, no further information can be provided at this time.” His mother, Chantal, said, “We had a small amount of relief when we finally got our son back to Australia. We thought at least we could say goodbye to him and lay him to rest. But then to learn they’d taken his heart and that no one else knew, not even the consulate in Bali, it was a big shock.” The family reported experiencing “delay after delay, half-truths and silence,” and said that “two days before his funeral, we were told by the Queensland Coroner his heart had been taken and left behind in Bali — without our knowledge, without our consent, without any legal or moral justification. This is inhumane. This is devastating beyond words.”

The family paid an additional \$700 and waited months for the heart to be repatriated, which occurred after Haddow’s funeral and burial. Forensic anthropologist and criminologist Dr Xanthé Mallett said organs are weighed and dissected during forensic examinations but questioned why the heart was not returned to the body afterward. Monash University associate law professor Dr Marc Trabsky said organ retention “is not a common practice all over the world and in Australia it is strongly discouraged,” adding that while tissue samples may be retained, “they would never retain an entire heart.”

Bali Funeral Home director Ian Giovanni said the hospital should have informed the family: “Maybe that is their standard operating procedure but they should have explained it to the family first, and at the very least they should have taken responsibility and sent the heart back after they found out it was missing… Instead, they gave it to me to repatriate. It was a very complicated process. I needed dozens of documents and it took many months.”

Dr. Gunawan said she is pursuing changes to hospital policy on organ retention in forensic autopsies and added that she “can’t dismiss the probability of foul play based on the pattern of injuries found on his body,” while stressing she could not determine whether the case involved accident, suicide, or homicide. Haddow’s parents reject the idea of an accidental death; Chantal said, “None of what they say about him drowning in a plunge pool adds up… I strongly believe he was set up, drugged, robbed, and it all went bad. That’s my opinion.”

The family awaits the findings of the Queensland autopsy and an Australian Federal Police investigation into the circumstances of Haddow’s death in Bali. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is “providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who died in Bali,” adding, “We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time… Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.”