Found Deceased NC - Maddox Ritch, 6 w/Autism, Gastonia, 22 Sept 2018 #3

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heartgoesout said:
I'm trying to understand toxicology tests. Can anyone find an article to link about what else other than drugs would a toxicology test for. Every article I find makes it seems like only drugs aka toxins are tested. So why a toxicology on a 6 year old unless drug ingestion is suspected?
Someone mentioned the creek water. Could it be to test if there where toxins in the water he potentially drank that killed him? What else could be considered a toxin?
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If Maddox had been on some kind of medication for autism (or if his parents said he had been given some other kind of medication, for example a pain medicine), a toxicology report would most likely be able to show if he had been given the medicine at a correct time, or if it had been missed. There are medications that needs to be given with regular intervals to be effective.
 
Gardener1850 said:
I said it in one of the previous threads, but I think it is worth repeating: often, when there is significant decomposition, drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion. They have to rule everything else out first.
Here is a good read on the subject:
Immersion deaths and drowning: issues arising in the investigation of bodies recovered from water

Maddox was not found for nearly a week -- 6 days. And it was still warm weather during the days he was missing. There could have been significant decomp and possibly animal activity by the time he was found. JMO.
As for it taking weeks or months to finalize a cause of death-- not unusual in my opinion based on observations of other cases on this board.

Jake Wilson (also autistic) was found in a river Aug 16, over two months later we don't have cause of death: Found Deceased - IA - Jake Wilson, 16, La Porte City, 07 Apr 2018 *autistic*

Timothy Cunningham drowned (suicide). His body was ID'd on Apr 5th, They gave a preliminary cause of drowning but had to wait on toxicology. Official cause of death and toxicology took over a month and was reported in press May 24: Found Deceased - GA - Timothy Cunningham, 35, Chamblee, 12 Feb 2018 #2

Blake Smith accidentally drowned after he sustained a head injury from a car accident. He went missing Feb 3rd and found only 2 days later. The autopsy was done on Feb 6th but it was not complete and released to the public until Feb 27th: Found Deceased - TN - Blake Smith, 20, Knoxville, 3 Feb 2018

Denise Martin drowned (suicide). She was found about a week after she went missing in June. Official cause of death was not released until Sept 24th:
Found Deceased - Va - Denise Martin, 22, Virginia Beach, 19 June 2018

In all of the above cases posters continued to speculate that a delay in reporting the autopsy was somehow suspicious or indicated foul play may have occurred. There were crazy government conspiracy theories about Timothy Cunningham's death. There were people suspecting Blake Smith was rebellious and killed by a lover (no one else was involved and he was a good kid with no drugs in his system). After Denise was found people were still posting theories about how she might have been abducted. None of the cases turned out to be suspicious (not including Jake who we are still waiting on but no mention of foul play has been made by authorities-- and in that case as well people continue to give a side-eye to the parents).

My opinion only, of course, but based on all of the above cases I have come to believe that a lack of info does not equal suspicion. If anything, it may indicate the opposite. If there were any preliminary signs of foul play they would be making more pleas to the public for tips and info or making moves towards an arrest. There have not been any new requests for tips since the presser where they ID'd Maddox. On Oct 3rd they thanked the public for their help and said they had a timeline and evidence Maddox was in the park and said they awaited autopsy results: Gastonia Police Department
On Oct 18th they thanked the public for being patient and again reiterated they are waiting on the autopsy and toxicology:
Gastonia Police Department

This is a child, so emotions are high. But if LE have no clear COD from the prelim, they have to do their due diligence and wait for toxicology before ruling it either accidental or suspicious. To make any kind of statement without clear evidence would be irresponsible and could damage the public trust if they ended up being wrong. JMO.
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Excellent post and very well written
 
heartgoesout said:
I'm trying to understand toxicology tests. Can anyone find an article to link about what else other than drugs would a toxicology test for. Every article I find makes it seems like only drugs aka toxins are tested. So why a toxicology on a 6 year old unless drug ingestion is suspected?
Someone mentioned the creek water. Could it be to test if there where toxins in the water he potentially drank that killed him? What else could be considered a toxin?
Click to expand...

I can only assume that the standard drug panel is probably mandatory in suspicious deaths.

If the child was on the medications, the levels of them in blood would be probably tested, although in this case, we don't even know when Maddox died. If he got lost and lived for several days, low levels of all, if any, therapeutic medications should be expected.

As to why test a 6-year-old for street drugs, I can think of two situations, a) second-hand exposure to some that are smoked (marijuana, meth, heroin),
or
b) given the number of marijuana enthusiasts actively advising to give marijuana to kids with seizures, I'd be definitely testing for THC in such cases.MOO
 
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FrostOwl said:
If Maddox had been on some kind of medication for autism (or if his parents said he had been given some other kind of medication, for example a pain medicine), a toxicology report would most likely be able to show if he had been given the medicine at a correct time, or if it had been missed. There are medications that needs to be given with regular intervals to be effective.
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Yes, but we don't know when he died. If he lived for a few days after disappearance, then the levels would be low to none.

However, if Maddox was on some medications needed to be given regularly, and we know that the father gave them to him in the morning, the levels in blood could help in establishing the time of the death.
 
Charlot123 said:
I just wanted to add - this case attracted so much attention, could some tests even be done outside of the state, by the best experts, to be sure? This could explain more time needed.
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That's possible, since the FBI is involved. The FBI also tends to release very little info or not release anything until they have a solid conclusion. JMO.
 
If toxicology plays a big part of this investigation, I think it is very possible Maddox accidentally ingested street drugs. If drugs are the cause of death there would be no water in the lungs from drowning to be the COD.
 
<modsnip - quoted post has been removed>
In the accompanying video to the following article the reporter said that in dad's early interview he said it was his and Maddox' first time at Rankin Lake Park. I also remember the same in Ian's interview with reporter David Begnaud but haven't been able to find anything in msm about dad now saying it was his second time <modsnip - not from an allowed source>.
On Saturday, he wrote on the popular Maddox Scott Ritch Case Discussion Facebook page, "These pics are from our park in kannapolis and after i walked the greenway this is why i feel like he could have qent this way. It reminded me of our old park and im sure he would think that too. I never weent that way before if i knew it id have went that way looking for him." [sic]

He also included photos of Maddox at an unspecified park.

In two of those photos, he appears to be mid-stride as he runs away from the photographer.

A third photo showed him clearly at a distance from the photographer.

The Facebook page where he published those photos is a closed group dedicated to discussing the Maddox Ritch case. Those who want to join must request permission.
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Father of Maddox Ritch defends himself on social media
<modsnip - discussing SM comments> I also noticed that all 3 remaining GFMs (one was shut down early on) named Maddox' mom as the recipient (no mention of dad) and there was also an article on a local restaurant donating 10% of it's Saturday dinner service to her. The headline said family but but the body said mom.
MADDOX RITCH: Cornelius restaurant donates 10 percent of sales to help family of 6-year-old Maddox Ritch
 
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Presumably, folks can bring picnic baskets, etc. into the park. Are there also food/beverage concessions within the park? If so, where are they located?
 
https://www.cityofgastonia.com/images/files/parks_recreation/documents/RankinLakeMap.pdf

This park map was posted early in the discussion. I don't see any type of food/beverage concessions within the park. I was wondering if Maddox's dad had asked his son to wait somewhere while he got them a snack or something to drink. Perhaps Maddox became impatient and ran off while his dad was standing in line. 2:30 in the afternoon seems like a good time for a snack or beverage if they had lunch around noon. Perhaps someone local who has been to Rankin Lake Park or is familiar with it can let us know whether or not there are kiosks for soda, ice cream, popcorn, etc.
 
pinkfly said:
Bumping little Maddox back up.....really hoping to see full toxicology/autopsy reports soon....or at least a solid COD.
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Agreed.
All we have at this time is the 'official' version of events... which I'm thinking to LE is only 'best guess'.
Unverified sightings and very little in the form of a timeline from when Maddox entered the park, to when he went missing.
Very frustrating.
 
LietKynes said:
Agreed.
All we have at this time is the 'official' version of events... which I'm thinking to LE is only 'best guess'.
Unverified sightings and very little in the form of a timeline from when Maddox entered the park, to when he went missing.
Very frustrating.
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"Unverified Sightings."
This may be may new favorite way to phrase something to not get deleted.
 
One thing I learned from following Charli Scott's murder is that people hear a story of what someone says happened and they stick with that. It's hard for the brain to step outside of that story because that's what the brain "remembers" to be true even if it is completely false.
Charli's ex boyfriend story was such. When we all took a step back from what he said and instead looked at the facts and created a factual story, it became very clear the story was a lie. That was hard to do because we all kept going back thinking simply off of his story. A story that was false. He also told the news he knew he was the number one suspect while she was still just a missing person. hmmm

The timeline in Maddox's story does not make sense. If you really pay attention and sort through the information at hand it simply could not have happened the way the story goes. I am confident there will be an arrest.
 
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heartgoesout said:
One thing I learned from following Charli Scott's murder is that people hear a story of what someone says happened and they stick with that. It's hard for the brain to step outside of that story because that's what the brain "remembers" to be true even if it is completely false.
Charli's ex boyfriend story was such. When we all took a step back from what he said and instead looked at the facts and created a factual story, it became very clear the story was a lie. That was hard to do because we all kept going back thinking simply off of his story. A story that was false. He also told the news he knew he was the number one suspect while she was still just a missing person. hmmm

The timeline in Maddox's story does not make sense. If you really pay attention and sort through the information at hand it simply could not have happened the way the story goes. I am confident there will be an arrest.
Click to expand...

What exactly could not have happened as said?
Little boy takes off because he is autistic, father and friend cannot catch him, he wanders until he ends up drowning. Sad, but plausible, no?
 
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