Case Number: 2026-135-MD, 2026-136-MD, and 2026-137-MD

Court: Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas

Client: The Patriot-News/PennLive

Background: In March 2026, the coroner in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, filed three petitions that asked a Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas to seal the autopsy records of Lori Wasko, Dennis Seelenbrandt, and Carmine Faino.

In August 2025, Faino shot and killed Wasco before Faino died in a shootout with Pennsylvania State Police troopers, two of whom were injured in the gunfire. Seelenbrandt, Faino and Wasco’s neighbor, died in 2023 in what was ruled a suicide. 

The petitions claimed that sealing the autopsy records is necessary “to avoid hindering an ongoing criminal investigation related to the death[s] of Decedent[s],” and to protect unspecified privacy and privilege concerns. The petitions failed to explain how the investigations would be hindered were the records to be publicly accessible. 

On behalf of The Patriot-News/PennLive, Paula Knudsen Burke, the Reporters Committee’s Pennsylvania-based attorney, filed this motion to intervene to oppose the coroner’s petitions to seal the records, arguing that the public and the press have a right to access autopsy records under Pennsylvania law and the coroner’s office has not met the legal standards to justify sealing the records.  

On April 9, 2026, the court sided with PennLive and denied the coroner’s petitions, concluding that “the record fails to demonstrate that the public knowledge of these records would pose a substantial threat to an ongoing criminal investigation and thereby hinder or jeopardize said investigation.”

On June 1, 2026, The Patriot-News/PennLive published an investigation that revealed the coroner is reconsidering the ruling that Seelenbrandt’s death was a suicide. Police may determine that Seelenbrandt’s death is linked to Faino’s, the news outlet reported, which could mean that police missed a chance to prevent Wasko’s death and the injury of two state troopers.

Filings:

2026-04-08: Motion to intervene

2026-04-09: Order granting motion of The Patriot-News/PennLive to intervene

2026-04-09: Order