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#1
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07-01-2018, 08:25 PM
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 Curmudgeonly Jackwagon Poster Rank:185 Country Trash Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 8,306
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Medical Student Found Dead Under Suspicious Circumstances
20 year old 1st-year student in Dental Surgery was found hanging in her hostel room this week. Hanging is the most common method of suicide in the sub-continent of Asia and academic stress has become a major catalyst for it in recent years. The administration of the college agrees with this verdict. Her family, however, believes that it is murder and that the hanging was staged and then covered up by the college to preserve their reputation. Normally I eschew such remarks as the Denial stage of grief from mourning families, but a significant amount of access to the inside of this case plus the recent high-profile staged hanging in Cambodia have given me pause for second thought. I have actually spoken with witnesses at the scene as well as received a copy of the girl's postmortem report and, while I am no medical examiner, I've done enough research into hangings and seen thousands of photo and video examples of hanging scenes. So the postmortem report, aside from disclosing a lot of extraneous information that is not necessarily germane to the scene, does attest that 1.Asphyxia was her cause of death. 2. It notes that the tongue is swollen, protruding, presents a drying artifact, and has been clamped upon by the teeth. 3. Rigor mortis is noted fully in all extremities 4. The lips are cyanosed and livor mortis is present but not fixed in the fingers and legs. 5. The stomach contains about 50g of partially digested food, the bladder is empty and there is formed stool in the colon. She is also noted to have voided both urine and fecal matter into her pants during her asphyxiation. 6. The vaginal slide and pubic hair comings reveal no presence of sperm or foreign matter. 7. There is a 1.5cm ligature mark around her neck and her hyoid bone is broken. Now...looking at the scene it looks like a fairly typical suicidal hanging. Unlike the Camobdian political aid, this young woman's hands are not entangled in the noose and the obvious urine stain on her left leg trails broadly down her thigh and then tapers a bit towards the knee, likely having partially dried. Both of those things lend themselves to a hanging death in a vertical position, as seen here. The tongue protrusion is fairly normal for this type of hanging, but is also common in manual strangulations. Now the two problems...first off, that ligature mark. In the photos, you can see that the noose of choice here was a double-wrapped dupatta. Far larger than 1.5cm wide. You know what is about 1.5cm wide, though? That rope lying down by her left foot on the floor. Weird, huh? I havent seen the autopsy photos (working on it), but the ligature mark described in the postmortem report (which I have seen) is highly unlikely to have come from that double-wrapped dupatta. Secondarily, that pesky hyoid bone. I have at least three research studies (and a long and extensive background of postmortem report review) that indicate that the instance rateof a broken hyoid bone in a 20 year old hanging suicide is 2%. Yes, it CAN happen, but is extremely rare. Instance rate in manual or ligature strangulation applied with force? Over 85%. I can see the point her family is making. Apparently the school also removed her body and sent it to the local hospital for a postmortem before even informing the family that she was dead. Rather unusual, as well. The Admins at the school stonewalled her father, so he went to the police. They have reserved public statement thus far other than to say that they are opening a case on the school and that they have not yet ruled out murder as the girl's cause of death. I'll post more details as they update. This case is ongoing.  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · |
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#2
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07-01-2018, 09:00 PM
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| My Rank: PRIVATE FIRST CLASS Poster Rank:4278 Doll parts Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 71 71Posts 120Thanked 33Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
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Re: Medical Student Found Dead Under Suspicious Circumstances
Wow- please remember to update- this is very interesting!  |
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#3
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07-01-2018, 09:11 PM
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 My Rank: STAFF SERGEANT Poster Rank:823 Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 948 948Posts 3,116Thanked 282Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
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Re: Medical Student Found Dead Under Suspicious Circumstances
Interesting case... but 1 thing I am almost certain is that the rope on the ground is definitely less than 1.5cm in diameter... maybe has to be wrapped 2 times for the 1.5 cm. Also the rope should leave much deeper cuts than the sheet she is hanging at.. the morgue pictures should be the tell tell
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#6
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07-02-2018, 02:53 PM
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| Curmudgeonly Jackwagon Poster Rank:185 Country Trash Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 8,306
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8,306Posts 88,718Thanked 3,679Quoted 198Mentioned 285Contrib. |
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Re: Medical Student Found Dead Under Suspicious Circumstances
Oh, I think the rope is pretty close to 1.5cm, but there's absolutely no reason for a murderer to have strangled her to death with a rope, then staged the hanging with the dupatta, and then have left the actual murder weapon lying at her feet. My speculation is that she gathered a couple of different potential ligatures to use as a noose and opted for the dupatta rather than the rope, either due to issues of length or whatever. I still have no idea why the ligature mark doesn't match the ligature's footprint, though. Nor do I understand how the postmortem indicated a broken hyoid bone in a 20yo girl. That's extremely rare. In most cases of an allegedly broken hyoid in that age range, it was mis-reported (cartilaginous joints mistaken for fractures) or it was actually broken by the autopsy tech during a clumsy autopsy. Problem is, on this postmortem report, it indicates a hematoma in the area around the broken hyoid, which would be a bit unusual if it was mis-classified or if the damage to the bone occurred during the procedure. I'm still not sure on this one, but there are definitely some anomalies. I was on the phone with several people close to the investigation for several hours last night (my wife was overjoyed to be awakened at 3am with calls from India to discuss autopsies, LOL) and am expecting some more information later today. My gut still tells me it was a suicide, but fucked if I'm not puzzled about that hyoid bone. |
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#7
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07-02-2018, 04:48 PM
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 My Rank: PRIVATE FIRST CLASS Poster Rank:3673 I'm a meat popsicle Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 91 91Posts 101Thanked 22Quoted 1Mentioned 0Contrib. |
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Re: Medical Student Found Dead Under Suspicious Circumstances
Could the width of the ligature have something to do with it? It's not uncommon for a wide cloth to bunch up forming a semi ridgid edge that could cause bruising or other injury. Could such an edge have pressed up into the hyoid and caused a break? Aside: real shame. She was a pretty girl. |
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#8
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07-02-2018, 04:53 PM
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| Curmudgeonly Jackwagon Poster Rank:185 Country Trash Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 8,306
Contributions: 285
8,306Posts 88,718Thanked 3,679Quoted 198Mentioned 285Contrib. |
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Re: Medical Student Found Dead Under Suspicious Circumstances
Possible, yes. It bucks the odds, but it has happened before, specifically with a partial suspension hanging. There was also a small swollen bump just above her right ear that is largely unexplained. There's nothing visible in the photos that I can associate with it. Of course, it may well have happened the day before in the shower and be totally unrelated. But broken hyoid bone...inconsistencies with the ligature furrow width...no recent history of depression or undue stress...bump on the head...plus a rushed postmortem without even contacting the family? I dunno. My gut still says suicide, but I have to continue to admit that I see her family's side and feel that, at the LEAST, a police investigation should be launched. |
