Content warning: This article contains references to sexual assault.

George Tyndall, the former USC gynecologist accused of sexually abusing hundreds of young women throughout his 27-year tenure at the University, died while awaiting trial for allegedly assaulting 16 former patients within California’s statute of limitations. Judge Larry Fidler officially dismissed the criminal case against Tyndall on Friday morning at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles. 

Fidler accepted Tyndall’s defense team’s request for dismissal Friday morning, following receipt of Tyndall’s death certificate from the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner. The certificate ruled that Tyndall died of natural causes from heart disease at his home Oct. 4, 2023, with diabetes as a contributing factor in his passing. 

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Among those in attendance at the court were two alleged victims, Lucy Chi and Lauren Freedman, both covered under the state’s statute of limitations, as well as three other women who alleged that Tyndall abused them as patients: Audry Nafziger, Erin Searcy and Allison Rowland. All five women delivered victim impact statements at the case dismissal, condemning the criminal justice system for delaying the trial for five -and -a -half years. 

“This whole process has been a huge disappointment,” said Nafziger, a senior deputy district attorney in Ventura County. “It dragged on for over five years, and instead of justice for a multitude of victims, we were re-traumatized over and over only for Tyndall to take USC’s secrets with him to the grave.” 

The criminal charges against Tyndall would have required him to stand trial against allegations that he sexually assaulted several former patients between 2009 and 2016 during his career as a gynecologist at Engemann Student Health Center. While the allegations against Tyndall first surfaced in May 2018, there was a 13-month delay in officially charging him. There was an additional delay in his trial date, as well, which was expected to take place this year, despite the original investigation from the Los Angeles Times taking place in 2018. 

During the nearly three-decade period in which Tyndall worked at USC, there were four presidents of the University, most notably Steven B. Sample and C.L. Max Nikias, both of whom presided over the University while Tyndall’s crimes against 16 patients were allegedly committed between 2009 and 2016. 

“The justice system has utterly and completely failed us,” Nafziger said. “Why wasn’t anyone else at USC other than Tyndall investigated? Why is it that not one person at USC was investigated by the LAPD?”

Tyndall’s death, which was declared unsuspicious “with no suspicious circumstances for foul play, suicide or toxins playing a role in his death” by the Medical Examiner in October, occurred less than two months after Fidler found that the prosecution had sufficient evidence against Tyndall to stand trial on 18 felony counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person, as well as nine felony counts of sexual battery by fraud. 

All of Tyndall’s accusers had gone to Engemann for yearly gynecological examinations or other related appointments while Tyndall was employed by the University as a gynecologist. In March 2021, about three years after the L.A. Times’ original investigation, several attorneys representing Tyndall’s alleged victims declared an $852 million settlement of lawsuits against the University. 

The settlement provided compensation for approximately 17,000 former gynecological patients of Tyndall to receive at least $2,500 each. Additionally, former patients willing to provide more information about their experiences at Engemann could receive up to $250,000 in compensation. 

Following the March 2021 settlement, 13th USC President Carol Folt released a statement that read, “I am deeply sorry for the pain experienced by these valued members of the USC community. We appreciate the courage of all who came forward and hope this much-needed resolution provides some relief to the women abused by George Tyndall.”

Amid the buzz surrounding the charges and calls for Tyndall’s arrest from the onset of the case, Tyndall staunchly maintained his innocence until his death, although he surrendered his medical license in September 2019 when faced with the option of doing so or contesting a 13-page accusation from the Medical Board of California instead. One of the defense lawyers representing Tyndall, Leonard Levine, emphasized Tyndall’s self-proclaimed guiltlessness on Friday after Fidler’s motion to dismiss. 

“The case has been dismissed,” Levine said. “We’re not calling it a victory, we’re just saying we hope everyone understands he wanted to go to trial as much as anyone. He wanted to tell his story, he has maintained his innocence, and his side of the story will never be heard now.”

Fidler, in saying that he “cannot take a position” on the case, still spoke to the alleged victims directly in the courtroom, saying: “I feel terribly that you didn’t get what you were seeking.” 

“Now there’s no justice for me, for all my fellow charged victims and for all of those who so bravely have come forward,” Chi said in her victim impact statement to the court. “Justice delayed has become justice denied.”