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I wasn't aware of that case.
Imho, very odd they would rule it suicide so fast. Esp considering where he was found. The bit about the red head is interesting as well...
I wasn't aware of that case.
The smiley faces were discovered by the two Detectives and were not released until this week...so there could be no copy cats using this as a "signature".
With the one who survived, he did not know anything that happened after he left the bar. It is not clear in anything I read that he tested positive for drugs in his system. GHB does stay in the system only a short time, but I believe he would have still have tested positive. ......
Full article: click here (scroll down)Friday, Jan. 13, 2006 E-mail gone wild in the Coulee Region
Here's my story from Saturday's Tribune about the river e-mail.
FW: THIS HAPPENED HERE THIS WEEKEND IN LA CROSSE!
By REID MAGNEY
La Crosse Tribune
I am still a little numb. We almost lost Cullen early Sunday morning.
Thats how it started, with a concerned mothers e-mail to two close friends on Tuesday, in which she tells the twisted tale of her sons escape from death in the Mississippi River the previous weekend.
At least one of those friends forwarded the e-mail to three other people, one of whom forwarded it to eight more.
Its impossible to say how many people have seen the e-mail, but it was forwarded 11 times in 24 hours before it reached a La Crosse Tribune editor at midday Wednesday.
And who knows how many people have seen it since the story hit local media Wednesday afternoon.
[...]
Exactly what happened last Saturday night remains unclear. La Crosse police interviewed the family on Thursday and Friday, and issued a brief statement Friday:
Through the assistance of Mr. Fortney, investigators have been able to determine that he did fall into the Mississippi River but did not go under water. Mr. Fortney was able to get himself out of the river on his own and walked to the hospital. The investigation has shown no indications of criminal activity involving this case.
If it helps, we explored this in another case that was listed as a hypothermia death, it appears there is no further metab of alcohol in the blood to change BAC content at TOD..I found only alcohol listed as an intoxicant. Interestingly the highest value of 0.12 grams per 100 ml doesnt correlate with the heavy intoxication reported as Chris left the bar. Was he alive long enough to process some of his alcohol before being killed? Was another drug used and Chris only seemed so intoxicated due to that rather than alcohol?
Im off to research the possibility that alcohol undergoes significant post mortem metabolism as an alternative explanation.
C6
Right. Looks like huge doses with tissue levels >180-200 micrograms per ml are not seen in natural postmortem states, but the range of "normal" is so scattered that lower values can be either intoxication or post mortem.Regarding detection of GHB after death:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Hydroxybutyric_acid
Determining conclusively whether someone's death was caused by GHB is very difficult because a lab test will always detect the presence of some GHB in the human body, and levels of GHB can vary in the same individual depending on what part of the body is tested. GHB is a naturally-occurring substance that is always present in everyone, but little research has been done on what levels are normal in what parts of the body at what times.
If it helps, we explored this in another case that was listed as a hypothermia death, it appears there is no further metab of alcohol in the blood to change BAC content at TOD..
Shado, thank you for finding the info on Cullen.
We've discussed the possibility that the perp(s) could be truck drivers, cab drivers, traveling salesmen. How about the bands playing at the clubs and bars? Has LE taken a look to see if the same band is involved in any of these cases? To see if they were in the area at the time of the drownings?