George Tyndall, the former USC gynecologist accused of sexual abuse, was found dead at his home today. He was 76 years old.
Tyndall practiced at the campus health clinic for three decades, but, in 2019 he was charged with 27 felonies. His alleged crimes took place between 2009 and 2016. Tyndall vehemently denied the allegations against him.
USC’s 1.1-billion-dollar settlement involved thousands of women treated by Tyndall. It was the largest payout in higher education history.
According to the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s office, no autopsy was performed, and the death was reported by the LAPD as natural causes.
Because Tyndall’s criminal trial was scheduled to begin next year, survivors will no longer be able to get their day in court.
Audry Nafziger is a former patient of Tyndall. She’s now a sexual assault prosecutor. She always worried that before George Tyndall could be tried, he could pass away. Nafziger says...
Audry Nafziger: And this possibility has always been on my mind why this case wasn’t prioritized. Due to the fact of how many survivors there were and how old he was. It’s very hard to understand because the lack of urgency from the district attorney’s office led to this outcome that was really inevitable.
That lack of urgency meant that most of thousands of women allegedly assaulted never even had their first hearings.
Nafziger: It’s a really sad day for survivors because we’re now denied justice. This case is more than five years in now and four years to get the preliminary hearings completed on a handful of survivors. You know, the LADA filed on just a handful of survivors by being presented with hundreds from the LAPD and the case has been slow walked to this point.
Survivor Audry Nafziger reflects on what today’s news means to the survivors.
Nafziger: And now with Mr. Tyndall’s death. The truth will never be publicly known. He took all of the secrets with him to the grave.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Nicole Bednar.