I had missed the link buried inside that HeraldNet article previously (hard to see the highlight), it links to a NIH article based on suicide cases in King County (adjacent to south of Snohomish county). Apologies if someone noted this before, but it seems quite relevant.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8947355
Here is the abstract (BBM):
Fifty-three suicides using plastic bags were identified in a review of cases within the jurisdiction of the King County Medical Examiner's Office, Seattle, Washington from 1984 to 1993. We found that this method was used at a greater frequency by individuals older than 50 in comparison with other methods. The most commonly identified stressor leading to the suicide in this population was failing health. The use of this method as a means of "self deliverance," as advocated by the Hemlock Society, could be inferred in only a small minority of cases where terminal illnesses were identified. This method may be preferred by those older than 50 years because of the ready availability of plastic bags and the relative nonviolence of the death. Analysis of the autopsy findings showed no specific features for this method of suicide. In particular, petechiae, which are often considered a marker of asphyxia, were present in only a small minority of cases (3%). Furthermore, the scene investigation rarely revealed specific features, other than the plastic bag in place. Thus, if the plastic bag were removed after death, the cause and manner of death would be obscure
Very interesting. I know Cheryl doesn't fit every single statistic, but I don't imagine many do. Of note to me is that the manner of death would be obscure.
It doesn't take 10 seconds to asphyxiate someone. A healthy adult is not going to just stand there and let someone put a bag on their heads
for minutes without kicking up a fuss.There were no ligature marks and there weren't any drugs that came up on the toxicology that would indicate she was immobilized.
I just read a case where the death was from asphyxiation. There were over 40 defensive wounds to the body. (bruises/scrapes etc) The victim was much younger than Cheryl, a teen, but Cheryl looked
strong and healthy to me. I think she'd have fought if someone did this to her. Even infants and small children that have been asphyxiated tend to have some defensive bruises from their struggle.
On top of all that, murder just isn't logical to me. If someone wanted to murder Cheryl and make this look like a suicide, why not make her pass out with the bag, slit her wrists with the razor that was right there, then remove the bag and be done with it?
Why leave it so ambiguous? The tools for what would appear to be a clear cut suicide were RIGHT THERE!
I think that Cheryl did not want to do this in her home for her family to find her. I think she planned on using the razor blades but when she made the tentative cuts she got scared and backed out with that method and decided to use the bag that she had
on hand. I think she must have been in pain that no one knew about, people can hide a lot from those they love to not upset them. As far as the animal blood, she hunted but I really don't have a theory on that without knowing how much, where, or what kind of animal. I don't think there is a killer walking around with jars of animal blood to dump in their victims car. It wasn't necessary to do that to stage the suicide if that was their goal. Anyone clever enough to stage such an elaborate scene would know the blood they dumped in her car would be found to be of animal origin, and that it would appear strange and not lend itself well to a suicide theory.
Suicide is still such a taboo and so very misunderstood, it's a shame. I feel like there is an outdated belief/stigma that remains that a person who commits suicide is "selfish". That makes people argue vehemently against the
theory in many cases I follow. Even the mention of suicide as a theory causes some to think the victim is being dishonored in some way.
I really hope the family gets closure soon. Losing someone is hard enough, but it would be hard to find closure without knowing what happened. She seems like a wonderful person.