A Body in the Water
A Body in the Water...
By Pravina Sivakumar
Have you heard about any case of a body found in
water? what do you think about that? What is your primary responsibility when
you're sent to a water-related event with a kid or adult? “Drowning” is the
most typical response. A toddler immersed in a bathtub, a sunken car, a female
boater who fell overboard, or a fisher in a river may need help. What do first
responders assume is waiting for them? a near-drowning experience You don't
find any gunshot wounds, stab wounds, or other visible injuries. There is no
discernible cause of death. What is the cause of death assumed to be at the
scene? Drowning. What is the presumed mode of dying following this? Accident.
And this is especially true when you come to find family members bravely trying
to do CPR on their loved ones, who are in dire straits. Once “drowning” and “accident”
are in our thoughts, we'll be unable to evaluate the situation without bias, no
matter how hard we try. We will probably consider the situation and even more
suspect if we're operating under the presumption that the scene is not safe.
However, what do we truly understand? Is drowning
the cause of death? Is drowning definitively diagnosed? Would you think the
pathologist would say yes to the following question: “Hello, doctor, if this
person was found in bed or out in a field, without any history of submersion,
do you think the cause of death would still be drowning?” Most of the time, the
honest response is no. If that is true, the murder should be thoroughly
investigated. There is no recognized universal cause of death diagnosis for
drowning. Drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion with no other identifiable
cause. While drowning victims may have normal-weight lungs, a vast majority
have severely waterlogged lungs. Drowning victims may suffer from waterlogged
lungs and possibly foam cone obstructions. To properly diagnose drowning by
exclusion, law enforcement, and medical examiner investigators must conduct a
thorough investigation and a comprehensive autopsy.
There are several types of homicidal drowning for
which investigators need to be on the alert and they are:
1.
Punishment or
torture by way of water
2.
Negligence
3.
Homicide by
drowning
4.
Neonatal
homicide
5.
Sexual Abuse and
Pedophilia
6.
Aquatic Sexual
Sadism and Aquatic Erotic Asphyxia
7.
Satanic
Sacrifice
The subject I will discuss here is what I have
termed aquatic erotic asphyxia (AEA) and aquatic sexual sadism (ASS).
AEA is described as death during sexual activity
that involves deliberately induced submersion asphyxiation that is intended to
be short and reversible...an unanticipated fatality arises from failing to stop
the submersion before death. This practice can be performed by one person or by
two or more individuals and is referred to as aquatic autoerotic asphyxia or
aquatic erotic asphyxia. The discrepancy is significant since the former died
in an accident, but the latter may be deemed a homicide. As with other sexual
asphyxia fatalities, do not label it auto until you have conducted sufficient
research to show that only the defendant was engaged.
A problem of AEA is that the person cannot develop
self-release techniques, as participants in land-based erotic asphyxia
frequently do to avoid a loss of consciousness from turning deadly. And when
more than one person is involved, the person performing the holding down has no
means of knowing when the breath holder should surface, as cardiac rhythms and
acidotic causes of death induced by prolonged breath holds are generally
absent.
ASS is described as death induced by involuntary
submersion asphyxiation with the intent of inducing fear, agony, struggle, unconsciousness,
and possibly death for the offender. This is a kind of water torture used to
please the sadist sexually. ASS offenders can target both youngsters and
adults. A thorough examination of their past, computer, and DVD collection will
be required. They are indistinguishable from any other desire killer. They just
utilize water as a means of torture. Most importantly this is not a sexually
motivated crime. Thereby, not every victim will be raped as the power and the
rush comes from the drowning. However, there may be a masturbatory element.
ASSes are astute! What they do to their victims is
usually silent and leaves no trace. If you are beaten or stabbed, there will be
visible proof on your body. If your head is being held underwater, your body's
strongest impulse will be to breathe; you will not be able to reach back and
pry someone's fingers off you, nor will you be able to scratch at them. You'll
be too preoccupied with defending your life. Because it leaves no marks, some
parents utilize near-drowning to torture their children. In a domestic setting,
the perpetrator is fortunate to have a secluded space in which to do it, such
as a restroom. They are trapped, they have control, and others reflexively
grant them privacy. Even yet, there is not much else needed to carry out this
sentence. If ASS so desired, he/she could drown you in a bucket of water.
So, why would a baby be discovered dead in a
bathtub? Is it because the child's airway was submerged forcibly or held
beneath a running faucet? Was the child ill and so extra fussy on that
particular day? Or perhaps the babysitter, who was smoking while babysitting,
grew upset when the baby vomited in his pajamas soon after the babysitter had
showered and put him to bed. Consider this: when children do awful things, it
is typical for them to need to be washed. The child or baby may already be
sobbing or may begin to cry as a result of the adult's aggravation. In a small
confined room, what happens to the sound of crying? How does the grownup
achieve immediate silence? Submerge the airway in water. The intention may not
be to murder the child, but it could be a direct or indirect effect. Or perhaps
death is the goal!!!.
Reference
The Drowning Child by
Alex Barclay (2016) Published by HarperCollins.
Body Found in Water
Investigation by Andrea Zaferes (2012) at 40-hour National Death Investigation
Training Program.
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