Shawn Parcells owns National Forensic Autopsy and Recovery Services, which provides medical examiner services for coroners and private autopsies for families.  He presents himself as a forensic medicine expert and child abuse consultant.  He calls himself a “forensic pathologist assistant” who has observed or helped with over 1,000 autopsies.  Yet many Missouri medical examiners doubt his qualifications and accuse Parcells of performing autopsies without a medical license.
In April 2013, the Phelps County, Missouri prosecutor requested a delay in a murder trial over questions about blood work handled by Kansas Forensics for a toxicology report in a drug death. One of the pathologists working for Parcells was Dr. Edward Friedlander, whose signature was on the report listing the cause of death in the case as an overdose of heroin.  The doctor testified “that he had not signed the report, that it was not his signature on the report, that he had not been consulted concerning the death.” according to a motion filed by the prosecutor in Phelps County, John Beger.  It was later determined by an Andrews County Sheriff’s Department detective, Grant Gillett, that Dr. Friedlander was not present at the autopsy; only Parcells and a female assistant were present.