“On the surface. But it gets messy when we take a closer look at the neck anatomy. Do you know the difference between long drop and short drop hangings?”
“Long drops are what you just described. Vic drops from a certain height and the sudden deceleration from the noose breaks the neck. Like the hangings from the medieval times, and the crap they’re still pulling off in Iran. Death comes immediately. Short drops are when the vic slowly lowers himself into a hanging position and eventually dies from traditional strangulation.”
“Impressive, Detective. You’re correct on all counts. A couple other details that are pertinent: In short drop cases, the ligature trauma to the neck is less extensive. The noose slowly tightens and prevents oxygen from getting to the brain. Stay in that position long enough, and the brain stops telling the lungs to breathe. Or, if the noose is tight enough to constrict the trachea it prevents inhalation. Either way, the resultant cause of death is asphyxiation. In long drops, conversely, death comes from severing of the spinal cord. This is especially true if the position of the noose’s knot is under the chin, as it was in Mr. Young’s case. The sudden jolt of the rope running out of slack causes hyperextension of the neck and the consequent anterior displacement of the vertebrae. The problem I’m having with the postmortem in Mr. Young’s case is that he showed signs of both short and long drop hangings.”
The doctor slid another photo across the desk. This one was a close-up of Cameron Young’s neck.
“See here? A band of ecchymosis runs around the neck, above the ligature laceration produced from the long drop, suggesting that the rope had been slowly tightened for some period of time antemortem, or prior to him suffering the long drop trauma. Congestion in the lungs, as well as petechiae of the cheeks and mucosal lining of the mouth, support this conclusion. Subconjunctival hemorrhages paint a textbook picture of a slow oxygen deprivation coupled with increased venous pressure in the head.”
“English, Doc?”
“He was choked to death slowly before someone threw him over the balcony.”
Walt turned his head slightly to the side as he digested the doctor’s words. “He was dead before he went over the balcony?”
“Correct. The long drop trauma came postmortem. This conclusion is supported by the amount of blood produced from the ligature wound. In addition to the vertebra shearing the spinal cord, his left carotid artery was severed. If this had occurred at the time of death, I would expect to find arterial spray from the last few beats of the heart. But the blood pattern and loss were consistent with leakage of residual blood that had pooled in the vessel, rather than propulsion from a vessel under pressure.”
Walt ran the back of his hand over the stubble of his cheek as he considered the doctor’s findings. As he was thinking, Dr. Lockard moved the photo of Cameron Young’s neck to the side and slid another in its place.
“I’ve got a theory about the neck wounds.”
The new photo was of Cameron Young’s backside as he lay facedown on the autopsy table.
“Look here.” Dr. Lockard pointed at the photo. “The lateral side of each buttock showed signs of trauma—thin welt marks. Similar marks were noted on the chest and upper arms. Any guesses what these marks are?”
“I saw those when he was hanging from the balcony. I figured they were made by a whip.”
“You’re impressing me this afternoon, Detective. The marks are from a leather flogger whip. S and M stuff. Pretty brutal, too, from the appearance of the welts. And I believe this finding goes hand in hand with the slow drop trauma to the neck.”
Walt shook his head. “I’m not following you.”
“I suspect Mr. Young was reaching sexual gratification while being choked.”
“Autoerotic asphyxiation gone wrong?”
Dr. Lockard shook his head. “Erotic asphyxiation, yes, but there was nothing auto about it.”
Dr. Lockard pulled another photo from his file and again slid it in front of Walt. It was a tight shot of Cameron Young’s penis. Without moving his head, Walt shifted his gaze from the photo to Doc Lockard and raised his eyebrows.
“Why am I looking at this, Doc?”
“Based on engorged blood vessels in the shaft of the penis and superficial abrasions on the epidermis, Mr. Young had been fellated shortly before he died.”
Walt shook his head. “Someone blew him?”
“Crude language, Detective. But, yes. Just prior to death, someone used oral stimulation to bring Mr. Young to the edge of climax. The corpus cavernosum was swollen, but the vas deferens was free of sperm and the seminal vesicle had not released its collection of semen.”
“Doc, just get to the point,” Walt said, sliding the photo back across the desk.
“My examination suggests that someone performed oral sex on Mr. Young, bringing him to the edge of climax, but before he ejaculated the rope around his neck caused him to stop breathing.”
“Christ. You got all that from an autopsy?”
“Each body tells a story, Detective.”
The Wizard had been busy, Walt thought as he ran a hand through his hair and sat back in his chair.
“From what you see,” Walt asked, “he was a willing participant in whatever the hell went on?”
“Perhaps right up until the end. There were heavy amounts of the victim’s own skin cells under his fingernails, suggesting that he clawed at the rope around his neck before he died. I noted scratch marks on the neck above the ligature wounds.”
“So he panicked at the end and tried to take the pressure off his neck, but was too late.”
“Correct.”
“And no chance this was a suicide, as some defense attorney will surely claim?”
“Definitely not.”