Miami-Dade’s chief medical examiner took 18 months to finish his probe into the death of Eleonora “Lina” Kaufman, found crumpled on the floor of her Aventura home with strange markings on her neck.

On Monday, Dr. Bruce Hyma told jurors he stood by his delayed ruling – homicide by “mechanical asphyxia” – which came after interviews with paramedics who attended to Kaufman and a litany of tests on her blood and organs.