REPORTER:
A couple of quotes from Dr. Wecht that we haven’t mentioned: One of the things that he said on the program, if the body had just plummeted down with that sheer drop of several feet, then the cervical vertebrae would have been fractured or dislocated.
GORE:
Give that to Dr. Lucas.
LUCAS:
No that's fine. Um.. What Dr. Wecht is referring to is a hangman's fracture -- a so called hangman's fracture -- a fracture of the upper cervical spine that is seen in judicial hangings where a trapdoor drops out and a body falls straight down vertically. And it’s true. She did not have this factor – this fracture – um, in fact.. uh.. there is published studies on this that fractures in -- or hangman fractures are actually the exception rather than the rule. There is a series from 1992 showed that in a series of cases they looked at a minority of those cases actually had a fracture. So the absence of a fracture in Rebecca's case doesn't, doesn't prove anything; it doesn't add to or subtract from the case. Um. She had other evidence of a long drop; she had some torn muscles in her neck from the drop but she did not have any fractures.
DAVID GOTFREDSON/CBS8:
Were these other cases seven to nine foot drops?
LUCAS:
I didn’t look – I don't have the details off the top of my head of that study but these were regular judicial hangings.
REPORTER:
Something else Dr. Wecht said, which I think has been in the news a lot recently, and again, I’m quoting from him: I would like to hear from them how do you get four separate impacts at the top of the head in a vertical hanging. End quoting Dr. Wecht.
LUCAS:
Well, that is a good question. Um, the only problem is this is not a vertical hanging. It wouldn't... I don't see how it would be possible for her to be in a position with their feet bound and her hands bound to get in a position where she would be a straight vertical drop. The evidence of the scene supports and the bindings support the notion that she leaned over the balcony shifted her body weight over and went over in that fashion and you can imagine that she would be going with her head down or at least sideways. It's my thought that one of those impacts on the head was probably from the edge of the balcony as she went over. And I'll even -- since you brought those up I might as well clarify these impacts. There were four impacts he's absolutely right. One of them was 2 inches by 1 inch. That's the one that I think was probably from going over the balcony. The three others were smaller than a nickel. Not only did they not have enough -- did they not represent enough force to cause unconsciousness or any other -- they may not even have given her a headache. These were small injuries. I do not know exactly how they happened but they were minor and inconsequential. And uh like I said – there may have -- the mechanics of going over that balcony in a tipped over fashion I think could allow for the possibility of hitting her head on the balcony or perhaps somehow interacting with the rope as she straightened out.
DAVID GOTFREDSON/CBS8:
The two and one half inch gash, could that have caused unconsciousness?
LUCAS:
I don't know.
DAVID GOTFREDSON/CBS8:
And you’re aware the balcony has no lip that sticks out, right? There’s nothing to hit on the way down because there’s no lip that sticks out beyond the railing.
LUCAS:
Well I still think she could have hit -- the railing is – uh – there are spaces between the railings. I think she could've got her head on the edge. It may not stick out but they're still space for her to get her head in there.
DAVID GOTFREDSON/CBS8:
Don’t you think it’s unlikely that after she came down and became vertical, maybe swinging a little, it would be unlikely for her to hit her head at that point.
LUCAS:
You know -- I have to -- I think that's a possibility -- that's a possibility. [Gore to side whispers to Lucas: And when she’s cut down, also] Yeah, one other option was when she was cut down there may have been possibly an impact in that way, it could have bled a little bit – um -- even postmortem you can get a little bleeding after death. So – um -- those are the options I'm offering.
REPORTER:
We have the forensic pathologist Dr. Wecht again saying: I lean very strongly toward it being a homicide based on his findings, his opinions; something involving foul play. I lean very strongly against it being a suicide. Here is somebody who deals with autopsies and these kinds of things, how do you respond to this?
LUCAS:
Well all I can say is that – um -- that you know I respect -- I respectfully differ with his opinion. We were both looking at the same group of facts. Not just the facts of the autopsy but the facts of the entire totality of the investigation. Um, you know... I lived through this investigation from day one and – um – my conclusion is that it’s a suicide based on the same set of facts.
http://www.cbs8.com/story/16061354/...ew-details-revealed-in-coronado-mansion-death