Found Deceased NH - Ashley Turcotte, 31, last seen at home, her car found at the town hall with her phone & backpack, Barnstead, 4 Jan 2024

[JerseyWasHome2]

How does someone even learn that a lot of salt can kill you?? It is not a suicide method I would have ever thought of. Is this true??

I know. I hope they've been able to search the digital history on her phone and/or devices, even if they were possibly deleted, to see if she'd ever looked up anything like that.

 

[CuriousCricket]

This claim is made in many, many cases, has been disproven just as many times.
MOO

Especially with two days between last seen and reported missing. The trail was already cold before anyone knew, wasn't it?

 

[Stephen2016]

I was perplexed by the information that her final purchases were table salt and a bag of candy. I was honestly expecting something like cold medicine or something that might be used to self-harm. Would you buy a container of table salt before going off into the woods to end your life? Candy I could maybe see if you wanted some kind of comfort item, like a bag of your favorite candy, as a kind of last treat before the end. But salt?

Maybe eating the candy with the salt, which might only be 5 tablespoons might be easier to ingest that quantity of salt. That would have been thought out. from wikipedia : "..Salt poisoning typically results in a feeling of confusion and jitteriness; more severe degrees of intoxication can cause seizures and coma. Death can result if medical intervention is not forthcoming. These symptoms are generally a consequence of hypernatremia – an abnormally high sodium level in the blood. (There are myriad causes of hypernatremia, which is frequently encountered in medical practice; salt poisoning is not a common cause)..." Salt poisoning - Wikipedia

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

How does someone even learn that a lot of salt can kill you?? It is not a suicide method I would have ever thought of. Is this true??

yes.
just, yes.

 

[Shamrock1]

How does someone even learn that a lot of salt can kill you?? It is not a suicide method I would have ever thought of. Is this true??

There was a case - early 2000s, upstate NY maybe? - where a mother was convicted of poisoning her young son with table salt. More recently, a different salt - sodium nitrite - has become known for being a cheap, easily purchased toxin for those contemplating suicide.

 

[Dotta]

Beware of too much salt!
Especially in processed foods.

What Happens If You Eat Too Much Salt?

Ingesting too much salt can have unpleasant effects, both in the short and long term. This article discusses what happens in your body if you eat too much salt in a single meal or day and compares this to the long-term effects of a salt-rich diet.

www.healthline.com

 

[Stephen2016]

How does someone even learn that a lot of salt can kill you?? It is not a suicide method I would have ever thought of. Is this true??

i was surprised too that a relatively small amount of Sodium can be fatal.

medical news today: However, a person would need to eat a huge amount of salt for this to occur. A person would need to eat approximately 0.5–1 g of salt per kilogram (kg) of body weight for it to be fatal. A person weighing 154 pounds, or 70 kg, would have to consume 35–70 g of salt to experience fatal levels.

70g is only 2.47 ounces.

Salt poisoning - Wikipedia: Salt poisoning typically results in a feeling of confusion and jitteriness; more severe degrees of intoxication can cause seizures and coma. Death can result if medical intervention is not forthcoming. These symptoms are generally a consequence of hypernatremia

 

[ch_13]

i was surprised too that a relatively small amount of Sodium can be fatal.

medical news today: However, a person would need to eat a huge amount of salt for this to occur. A person would need to eat approximately 0.5–1 g of salt per kilogram (kg) of body weight for it to be fatal. A person weighing 154 pounds, or 70 kg, would have to consume 35–70 g of salt to experience fatal levels.

70g is only 2.47 ounces.

Salt poisoning - Wikipedia: Salt poisoning typically results in a feeling of confusion and jitteriness; more severe degrees of intoxication can cause seizures and coma. Death can result if medical intervention is not forthcoming. These symptoms are generally a consequence of hypernatremia

I have trouble with this suicide-by-salt theory, because it doesn't explain what happened to Ashley's remains.

Assuming she's deceased, IMO the most likely explanation is that she fell into the Suncook River. I suppose that she could have ingested something fatal and then dived into the icy cold water, but it just seems very unlikely.

 

[bombardier]

I have trouble with this suicide-by-salt theory, because it doesn't explain what happened to Ashley's remains.

Assuming she's deceased, IMO the most likely explanation is that she fell into the Suncook River. I suppose that she could have ingested something fatal and then dived into the icy cold water, but it just seems very unlikely.

Agreed. I really don't want to get too dark here, but there are many other suicide methods that I think someone would turn to first before salt poisoning. Looking into the literature, theres been some recent sodium nitrite (different compounds, works by a different mechanism than table salt) suicides because it was recently featured in a 'suicide method' book. As for pure salt, I found a few case studies (mostly involving ingestion of soy sauce) but...these case studies are highlighted because of how unusual they are. If someone wanted to commit suicide by ingestion, there are other medications, OTC pills, antifreeze agents, etc that I think most people would consider first. And that's discounting more 'popular' North Americans method like hanging and guns.
I cannot discount that LE (presumably) not finding the salt is weird, though. Was it ever outright said that her Dollar General purchases were not found in the car?

 

[CuriousCricket]

I cannot discount that LE (presumably) not finding the salt is weird, though. Was it ever outright said that her Dollar General purchases were not found in the car?

I haven't seen any mention of that. Nor do I know which was purchased which trip: did she buy the candy on the way to Town Hall? Drop her vehicle, then possibly traveling with someone else, run in to purchase table salt? or were the purchases vice versa and the salt SHOULD have been in Ashley's car.

It has just occurred to me to wonder about road conditions the day she went missing. And whether the Dollar Store stocked the rock salt for thawing ice or stocked only table sale . . .. If salt was the final purchase, is that a clue that the salt might be used if the car became stuck? (haven't tried this except on steps, so don't know how this might or might not work).

Of course, IF Ashley knew she was meeting someone and they would be traveling somewhere ice might be a problem, she could have purchased the salt on her way to Town Hall, but then she had to lug it back up the trail or where ever the meet up was.

 

[Cartie]

Salt is used by some to ward of evil spirits and also used in in a circle when doing rituals or ouija boards as a protective barrier. I don't personally believe in this kind a think but know some do.

 

[JosieMae]

And ... sometimes you just run out of salt.

 

[Cartie]

And ... sometimes you just run out of salt.

Very true

 

[Stunned]

Very true

Or someone else does and asks you to pick some up.

 

[OddOneOut]

I don't have a link so consider this rumor; however, as I recall, the mother that used salt to kill her little boy fed it to him using a feeding tube.

 

[Seattle1]

UPDATE: Security Footage Shows Missing NH Artist Buying Items at Dollar General Store Before Vanishing

Police in New Hampshire released security footage Thursday, showing the last time a missing Barnstead artist was seen. According to the Barnstead Police Department, Ashley Turcotte, who has been missing for over three weeks, was last seen on January 4 at a Dollar General in Barnstead. Police...

www.crimeonline.com

Jan 29, 2024

Police in New Hampshire released security footage Thursday, showing the last time a missing Barnstead artist was seen.

According to the Barnstead Police Department, Ashley Turcotte, who has been missing for over three weeks, was last seen on January 4 at a Dollar General in Barnstead. Police said she made purchases at the store at 9:18 a.m. and 10:44 a.m.

There were no cameras outside the store, police said, and the only images currently available from her last known whereabouts were from security footage inside the store.

[..]

The following day, police found Turcotte’s silver Hyundai Elantra parked at the town hall the following day. Her belongings, including a backpack and cell phone, were found inside the car. Search crews have since carried out “extensive searches of land and waterways” but have not been able to locate her.

ETA: Police (Cheney) have since identified the contents of her purchases as table salt and candy but we don't know if these items were located inside the car with her belongings.

Also, Ashley is a painter and artist -- painting with salt (and sugar) is not unusual!

SALT — House of Watercolor

www.houseofwatercolor.com

 

[charminglane]

I was thinking maybe the salt was for making a salt dough used in crafts.
Or in a dye process.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

The 2A TAC Air OPS Drone Services group has been very active lately in trying to locate her, according to her official missing page on FB. Good to read. They saw something suspicious yesterday that turned out to be unrelated, but LE came out immediately.

Log into Facebook

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www.facebook.com

 

[lightofmine99]

I don't have a link so consider this rumor; however, as I recall, the mother that used salt to kill her little boy fed it to him using a feeding tube.

For anyone curious I think OddOneOut is thinking of Garnett Spears. Munchausen's by proxy.
LINK

 

[SleutherGirl]

Huh, so it was table salt. Maybe she just. . . remembered that she ran out of salt?