Michael Cormier, Forensic Technician for L.A. County Coroner, Dies Under 'Suspicious Circumstances'

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The L.A. County Department of Coroner is a crazy place. Employees at the old, haunted-house-looking office -- including sentence-servers like Lindsay Lohan -- see a flurry of celebrity overdoses and true-Hollywood murders come through, alongside countless casualties of this brutal gangland.

And the story just got stranger: Michael A. Cormier, a forensic technician and an integral character at the Coroner's Office, recently turned up dead at his home in North Hollywood.

CBS LA reports that Cormier, 61, was rushed to St. Joseph's Medical Center about a week ago, where he was soon declared dead.

And the death may not have been a natural one: LAPD Lieutenant Alan Hamilton tells the news station that hospital staff think Cormier may have died under "suspicious circumstances."

The lieutenant goes on to say that police "have information that could potentially include foul play."

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Cormier, who CBS reports also served occasionally as "a photographer with the special operations response team," became a minor celebrity himself when he starred in a DVD extra for 2005 horror movie Chaos.

The short, called "Inside the Coroner's Office: A Tour of the L.A. Coroner's Crypt," featured the forensic technician showing writer/director Dave "The Demon" DeFalco around the morgue.

According to one film blogger who watched the clip:

"This dude is even weirder than DeFalco...he's kind of a mix between Dr. Lawrence Jacoby and Dr. Matthew "Frankenstein" Logan. He walks us through the various crypts pointing out all sorts of stuff, like dead babies (wrapped in plastic) and dead fat people (wrapped in plastic)! ... He even shows off his "tools of the trade"...including a long handle, curved head branch trimmer and a dry erase marker!"

At the end of the video, Cormier and DeFalco reportedly discuss an upcoming collaboration called The Devil's Doorway, which deals with...

"... their theory on how true evil manifests in human beings...through methamphetamines! You see, the meth opens up a doorway to another dimension allowing demons to possess these meth-heads and then these possessed speed freaks commit brutal crimes!"

We've contacted the L.A. County Coroner and the LAPD for any additional details on Cormier's possible cause of death.

Update: Cormier also appears in this video of a car crash on Sunset Boulevard. He's the bearded guy wheeling the corpse around:

[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]