Hi.
I have this nagging question from an actual case 11 years ago in 2009 at a hotel in Singapore. The circumstances in this case are very strange.
A newly-wed bridegroom fell to his death just a few hours after the end of his wedding dinner. CCTV footage showed him leaving his honeymoon suite on the 10th floor at 3:08 am and heading towards the fire exit stairway. He left without the knowledge of his wife who was in the shower. He was barefoot and clad only in a white singlet and checkered shorts, and was supposedly in a half intoxicated state.
There were no CCTV in the stairwell above the fifth floor. Next, CCTV from the fifth floor down caught him going towards the ground floor and the basement. He descended the stairwell at a steady pace with his arms folded across his chest.
He tried to open the exit doors at the ground floor and the basement without success. Next he turned towards a corner in the basement where a service lift was. The service lift was not in use at that time and was not in the sight of the CCTV. The lights were also not on there.
He was out of sight in the service lift area for some 4 minutes. When he reappeared in the stairwell, he seemed to be in a panic. He scrambled up the stairs two steps at a time, using both hands to grab the railings on each side. He seemed to be in urgency to look for a way out.
Fatefully at the 4th floor, there was a door ajar. But it was not the exit door. The door led to a machine room where some wiring works were being done. It was left propped open with a metal rod to prevent wires from being crushed. It was dark inside.
By this time, the wife had found him missing from their room and had alerted security, who started searching for him. A guard entering the stairwell from the ground floor saw a hand on the railing between the 4th and 5th floor. He called out but received no response.
Next, CCTV at the hotel driveway recorded the man falling onto the driveway at 3:25 am. The body bounced once from the impact and landed partly on its side.
At the inquest held a year later, the court heard that CCTV at the hotel rooftop on the 24th floor did not record the man there, implying that he did not go to the rooftop which was accessible to guests because there was a pool there. The court surmised that the man must have entered the machine room on the 4th floor when he found the door ajar. On the other side of the machine room, there was another door that opened up to a service roof (see attached pics). The service roof was not lit and had no railings, just a ledge 17 cm high and 13 cm wide. The court surmised that in the dark the man must have accidentally tripped over the ledge and fell to his death from the 4th floor rooftop.
The drop from the service rooftop to the ground was stated at 13.3 metres. The body was reported to be about 3.5 metres from the front of the hotel, which is about right judging from photographs. Now, putting aside all the other strange circumstances, I wonder if it is really possible for the body to land 3.5 metres away if it was an accidental fall. I hope some experts here can provide insights. The man was about 1.75-1.78 m tall and likely around 75 kg.
These two captures from google earth show the approximate spot where the body landed (red circle) and the presumed spot from the rooftop where he fell from (yellow circle):
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