belimom
Speak the truth even if your voice shakes~M.Kuhn
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2008
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Is there a method of suicide involving obstructing the tail pipe?? I've never heard of such a thing. The exhaust is toxic, so someone trying to commit suicide would want to breathe in that gas, not block it.
I actually haven't heard of anyone ever intentionally obstructing a tailpipe outside of a mechanic testing for leaks. I've heard of people opening up the exhaust so there's less resistance during the exhaust strokes. If noise weren't an issue you'd want it wide open with no muffler. Why on earth would someone ever obstruct the exhaust!?
None of the hypotheses make sense:
- Reduce engine smoking - Has anyone heard of this as even a folkloric remedy for car trouble?
- Suicide - Has anyone heard of a suicide method involving obstructing a tailpipe?
- Hiding evidence - If someone was trying to hide blood or alcohol, why not leave it out in the open? If they wanted the evidence to dry, why not spread it out over the engine block? They could have taken it anywhere away from the scene where it would be much less likely to be found.
- Someone intentionally disabling the car - I suspect the car would have had problems very quickly and not gotten far from the restaurant. If the pipe was only partially obstructed and the car still ran, she could have returned with the car to a populated area.
- Someone trying to throw off investigators - I can't imagine someone who committed a crime thinking, "I'll put a cloth up her car's tailpipe to throw them off." They didn't leave any other evidence of a crime, so they didn't need to leave evidence on purpose.
The weirdest thing about the rag was, according to posts on this board, her father didn't seem concerned and said that a rag in the tailpipe was normal. What? It sounds so bizarre. To me it's the one clue that makes this look like foul play.
Everything else seems normal (at least in Wisconsin):
I have done or known someone who foolishly did almost all of those things. I can't imagine stuffing a rag in a tailpipe, even if there was some bizarre problem with the choke not engaging. That's the one element that makes no sense.
- Upsetting phone calls
- Going to the north woods to think things through
- Crashing on an icy road
- Drinking and driving
- Fleeing the scene of an accident involving drinking
- Not thinking through carefully which items to take/leave, i.e. forgetting something important while taking other items out of habit with no intention of using it
I'm with you on the rag in the tailpipe looking like foul play. But you actually can get carbon monoxide poison that way because the fumes would flood the interior of the vehicle. This article is about snow blocking tailpipes, but it explains about blocked tailpipes:
...Instead of escaping into the atmosphere, exhaust fumes tend to concentrate under the car's chassis, where they can enter the heating system or cracks in the body.
Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-te.carbon19feb19,0,2865977.story#ixzz2i5wP99zd