News

Official record reports cause of death of accused embezzler

By Bill Moss, Published: December 20, 2023

The woman accused of embezzling more than $500,000 from the medical practice she managed died of cerebellar tonsillar herniation and cerebellar infarction, according to a death certificate filed with the Henderson County register of deeds.

Kerry Henderson Spachman, who was awaiting trial on the charges after rejecting a plea agreement in August, died on Oct. 18 at age 58 after being admitted to UNC Health Pardee. The death certificate described the “manner of death” as natural causes.
Dr. Charles F. Willson, a retired physician who also was a clinical professor at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, described in lay terms a cerebellar tonsillar herniation.
“That’s where the brain swells and sticks the tonsils of the cerebellum down into the bottom of the skull, which presses on the brainstem,” he said. Brain swelling could be caused by “trauma or meningitis or encephalitis or a tumor. There are a lot of different things that will cause cerebral edema, which is brain swelling.” A cerebellar infarction is “where there’s been a disruption of the blood supply to the cerebellum,” Dr. Willson said. “That will cause the cells to quickly die. That’s like a stroke.”
The cause of death was certified by Dr. Michael J. Brazil, a family physician affiliated with Pardee.
Spachman appeared in Henderson County Superior Court on Aug. 18 with her Hendersonville attorney, Christopher S. Stepp and entered a plea of not guilty to the embezzlement charges one day after she rejected a plea offer from J. Kyle Smith, a special prosecutor brought in to try the case. Spachman was accused of stealing more than $500,000 from the office of Dr. James Caserio from 2008 to September 2020.