Secrets From The Grave

A Man Who Cheated Death More Than Once Dies Under Strange Circumstances

(CBS)  He says that if Flint's death was a murder, he had nothing to do with it. Brock said the same thing under oath at a custody hearing.

"I would have done anything to keep him alive, if I had the opportunity," says Brock. "He was my friend."

And to this day, Brock says he mourns his lost friend.

Two years after Flint died, there was no real evidence of foul play. But the doubts lingered, and Bonds wanted answers. "I was suspicious," says Bonds. "But I told them that this absolutely had to be ruled a homicide before we could really do anything."

Law enforcement officials have done all they can, so they’ve turned to one of the few men left who can help. Now, Professor James Starrs, who’s world-renowned for solving some of the toughest cases, started digging for answers.

Starrs is a forensic scientist who studied the case and was bothered by what he considers hurried findings from the first autopsy. He believes Flint may not have had a heart attack, even though his arteries were clogged.

Was Flint healthy? "The coronary arteries were not healthy. But the heart was healthy," says Starrs, who adds that in the first autopsy report, there was no evidence of any muscle damage in the heart.

Starrs is prepared to exhume Flint’s body because he believes strongly there could be vital evidence in his grave. In fact, Starrs says that he's putting his money where his mouth is: "I’m paying the bill right now. I’m paying the whole bill."

The exhumation begins. Just after dawn, a local construction crew digs for the casket while Starrs’ team of experts takes soil samples.

Flint's remains are carefully transferred from the casket, to a body bag, and into a hearse. Then, at a nearby hospital, the team begins Flint’s second autopsy. "We’re very pleased. We got all the samples that we wanted," says Starrs. "We’ve got ample work to continue to work with from this point on."

It will be weeks before there are any answers. But until then, the pressure is on. When Starrs studies Flint’s X-Rays, he finds something not included in the autopsy report.

The exhumation of Flint was a drastic step, but his family and friends wanted to find out what really killed him. They believe he might have been poisoned, and it’s the first thing the team of experts looks for when they perform this second autopsy.

Toxicologist Bruce Goldberger asked for as many samples of Flint’s tissues as possible. He’ll look for traces of poison in them. After weeks of testing, Goldberger could find no evidence Flint was poisoned. But he still can’t rule it out, since Flint’s organs weren’t preserved well enough.

The poison theory might not pan out, but Starrs has a new theory. He's discovered new evidence and it is tantalizing.

"We have, from the X-rays of the chest, indications that he had suffered fractures of three ribs on the right side," says Starrs, who believes that Flint's ribs were broken before he died but he needs another specialist to confirm that.

Dr. Gil Brogdon is one of the leading experts in reading these types of X-rays, and he believes the fractures happened shortly before Flint died: "Could be stomping, could be a baseball bat, could be a brick. … I think these are new."

Starrs says the fractures were too low on Flint's ribcage to have been caused by CPR. And he believes an injury like this is severe enough to kill someone, through what's called a pneumo-thoracic reaction.

The broken ribs can puncture a lung, which can cause fluid to build up, putting pressure on the heart and causing a heart attack.

There was nothing in the first autopsy report about broken ribs. And when Flint stumbled into that pizza parlor the day he died, witnesses say he never mentioned being attacked.

Starrs now says there is enough doubt about how Flint died to change the official cause of death from "natural" to "undetermined" and begin an investigation into whether he was murdered.

Bonds, however, says he needs more than just a probability of murder: "To continue this investigation, I need a definitive ruling that this was a homicide."

The medical examiner's office has no plans to change Flint's death certificate. The Houston medical examiner is also waiting for some new information. He is willing to consider making a change in the official cause of death if he finds real evidence of homicide in Starrs' final report.

After Flint's death, Cassandra and Brock were asked under oath whether they had anything to do with Flint’s death, and they swore they did not. Cassandra was living three hours away from Flint and Andras had an airtight alibi. At the time Flint died, Andras was in prison for trying to have him killed earlier. They all refused to talk to 48 Hours on camera.

With Bill gone, Cassandra once again asked for custody of Jane, who was then 12-years-old. But Jane told the judge she was scared of her mother, so she was allowed to stay with Bill’s mother. At age 15, she’s still there.

"I’m a cheerleader, and I go to school and I’m a freshman now," Jane explains. "I just want to stay where I am and, like, stop moving around."

As of May 2005, Cassandra is once again living in Texas with Charlton Andras, who was paroled after serving less than eight years of a 25-year sentence for trying to have Bill murdered. Cassandra is allowed only limited phone and e-mail contact with her daughter.

"She still is my mother," says "Jane." "No matter what. And I still love her."

But "Jane" holds out hope for some kind of future with her mother. "I miss my mom," says "Jane." "But I try not to think about it. And I try to just keep going."

Meanwhile, Starrs vows to keep working on the case.

"I think there is still an opportunity to find, for sure, what killed Bill Flint," says Starrs. "I still think the door is not closed. It's still open on that issue."

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Bill Flint's mother was awarded full custody of "Jane," who turned 16. Cassandra never showed up for the final custody hearing.

Professor Starrs expects to receive the results of the final forensic tests soon.