Deputy Slain by Colleague Was Hit in the Back : Autopsy: Report is released on the killing of a masked detective in an Olivenhain robbery attempt.

An autopsy report released by the county medical examiner’s office shows that Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Stanewich was shot twice in the back after being surprised by a uniformed deputy during the robbery of an Olivenhain home.

The 17-page report details the path of three bullets fired by Officer Gary E. Steadman the morning of July 3 when he responded to a robbery-in-progress call at the rural North County home.

As Steadman entered the kitchen of the home through a garage door, he confronted Stanewich, a 36-year-old street narcotics detective who authorities say had broken into the home looking for more than $100,000 stored in a safe there. Stanewich was masked.

The autopsy report shows that Stanewich’s back was turned to the gun when the fatal shots were fired. The off-duty detective was killed by one of the two bullets that entered his torso, striking vital organs. The other round entered his back but struck only flesh and muscle. A third bullet grazed his left elbow.

One bullet entered the right side of his back above the waist at a 45-degree angle, exiting through the lower part of the left ribs, the report said.

Another round fired from the 9-millimeter handgun entered the lower left back and exited the left side of the body, about 3 inches from the other wound.

Dr. Brian Blackbourne, the county medical examiner, said, however, that he could draw no conclusions from the position of Stanewich’s body in relation to the gun that killed him.

“You have someone turning away from a gun--I’m assuming they were facing each other,” he said. “It’s someone surprised, someone moving. We noted it. We were not shocked by it.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Dan Greenblat said the “wounds are consistent with the recollection of Deputy Steadman that Deputy Stanewich was twisting and turning and in perpetual motion, reaching to the kitchen sink looking for something.”

Sheriff’s officials have maintained that Stanewich was looking for a knife on the kitchen sink at the time he was shot.

“The autopsy report confirms Deputy Steadman’s rendition of what happened,” Greenblat said.

According to Blackbourne, the report indicates that the two men were at least 3 feet apart when the shots were fired. Stanewich was discovered by paramedics lying against the back kitchen doorway, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt bearing the name of the heavy-metal group “Black Sabbath.”

Blackbourne said he could not conclude whether Stanewich was in an offensive or defensive position when he was shot. “I don’t think you can make that determination,” he said. “You can’t tell where things were in relation to one another, whether he was reaching back for a weapon or what.”

The autopsy also showed no traces of drugs in Stanewich’s body.

More than a month after the fatal shooting, Stanewich’s body is still being kept at a San Diego mortuary at the family’s request, a decision a mortician has called out of the ordinary.

Kathy Stanewich, the officer’s wife, could not be reached for comment Thursday and has not spoken publicly since the incident.

Times Staff Writer Mark Platte contributed to this report.