Barbara Butcher is one of the most seasoned and respected death investigators in New York City history — a woman who has walked into more than 5,500 death scenes and helped identify victims of the 9/11 attacks. Now, she’s the face of Oxygen True Crime’s gripping new series The Death Investigator, produced by Dick Wolf, revealing the hidden clues our bodies leave behind and the secrets only a trained eye can see.

In this episode of My Fame, Explained, Barbara opens up about her extraordinary life: growing up the daughter of an NYPD Deputy Inspector, losing everything to alcoholism, rebuilding her career from scratch, breaking barriers as one of the first female medicolegal investigators in NYC, and facing unimaginable tragedy at Ground Zero.

She also discusses her acclaimed memoir What the Dead Know, the cases that changed her, the surprising lessons the dead teach the living, and how she transformed her decades of trauma, grit, and expertise into powerful storytelling on screen.

If you love true crime, resilience stories, or behind-the-scenes looks at the world’s toughest jobs, this conversation will stay with you long after it’s over.

Follow Barbara on Instagram @butcher.barbara and catch The Death Investigator on Oxygen True Crime.

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