Unidentified Body Recovered at Ludington Municipal Marina

[XLFD]

Has the dangerous Loomis Street Transient Dock walkway perhaps claimed its first victim?   http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/sunday-at-the-marina?...

 

LUDINGTON, Mich. Ludington Police need your help in identifying the person pulled from the water Saturday morning.

Around 9:30 a.m., Ludington Police were dispatched to the Ludington Municipal Marina Basin on a call regarding a body in the water. Rescue crews were able to locate and recover the victim.

Currently, the victim's identity is unknown and is described as a woman between the ages 20-30, possibly of Asian decent, 5’ 1”, 135 pounds with black shoulder-length hair.

The victim was wearing a gray pinstripe button-up shirt and black stretch-type pants with a gray waistband.

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/nw_mich/body-recovered-from-lu...

[masonco]

Snide,,,

You are right about the workers at many of these places are brought here to "work off their debt" and never manage to do so. Makes one wonder if that is the reason she was brought here. Small town with bumbling detectives who will not have the wisdom solve the crime. I bet they were surprised they even thought of doing an autopsy rather than assume she drowned.

[AQUAMAN]

I agree Masonco. But what does the autopsy show if not drowning? Yes, many china type buffets/restaurants have ONLY family working there. It's been found that they ALL live in the same house, the eldest buying the house, then taking as many family members/relatives from the old country here to the land of opportunity to work for him as possible, and having to work off the costs of relocation and boarding, sometimes taking many years to satisfy the elder's requirements of costs. Yes, they are very clannish, not speaking English nor mixing well with the public in general. But, does any of this apply to this particular case? If so, how and where? Curious in Ludville.

[snide]

Sooo.....if she had no drugs or alcohol and didn't drown . WHAT makes them think it was suicide....? How did she get in the water...? JUST WHAT WAS THE CAUSE OF DEATH....?????  OUR POLICE HAVE ALOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO.....!

[XLFD]

Good questions, Snide, and even though I know you are leaning towards foul play, I think it was accidental.  I posted this over at the LDN, but it may not get past the censors:  "Suicide-- what a cop out.  Why jump into a murky, weed-filled part of the marina to drown yourself on a cold night, when you don't even know that the water is deep enough there to drown you.  Here's an idea:  there is a public walkway along the transient docks that has no safety rail between a drop into the deep water of the marina slip.  Almost invisible boat tie-ups line the edge of this walkway.  Figure out the rest yourself, and figure out why the investigators will not even consider this option, or consider how it could so easily happen again."

[XLFD]

Thanks, John, I hadn't noticed that in the newspaper, it appears in the top right corner on page 3.  It repeats the first paragraph of the E-paper, then it says, before your last paragraph: 

 

"She had schizophrenia," Keen said.  "She had been treated for it in New York and the fact that the screen came back negative indicates she was not likely taking her medication."

 

That's quite a deductive leap, insinuating suicide from the information.  Schizophrenics do have a larger incidence of suicide than the normal population (as do most other people with psychological disorders), but consider this. 

 

Suicide statistics show that 92% of suicides are from these three methods:  Firearms, Hanging/strangulation/suffocation, and poison.  Only 2% are from drowning.  80% of suicide victims are males. 

 

Why would someone looking to kill themselves, jump into the very murky weed-filled waters of that part of the City Marina on a cold night in order to drown, when they wouldn't even know how deep the water is?  Why wouldn't she just hold her head under the warm clear water of a bathtub and get the same result?  How is the Medical Examiner able to devise the intent of the woman to commit suicide, with all the other evidence working against the 'suicide theory'. 

[masonco]

There is something else with schizophrenics.

They hear voices or see things that are not there. So it is possible she thought she saw or heard something that was not there and literally walked into the water...maybe hitting her head on the way? But then again...no one will ever know since the autopsy results were as expected in bumbling Ludville

[XLFD]

The autopsy from what I heard (which isn't much) didn't record any bump on the head or any other sign of foul play, but the point you made about schizophrenics not on their meds hearing voices or seeing things that aren't there does indicate more an accident than a suicide, if that even came into play in this case. 

With all the publicly released information, you almost have to question how an accidental drowning has been ruled out and that this woman chose to dive into cold, murky, weed-filled water of unknown depth in the midst of a public marina in downtown Ludington to end her life. 

But I plan on checking out the investigatory records from the LPD and the County Coroner (because they always love sharing information) and find out more of the story, and see whether more needs to be investigated. 

[In Dulci Jubilo]

I checked into your page tonight specifically to see if you had posted any response to the LDN article, and lo and behold, you have.    Your opinions echo my thoughts precisely.   Once again, either investigative methods and personnel are wildly incompetent, or information is being tightly controlled and not being released.   I cannot understand, with such sketchily presented information, how the coroner can deduce that this individual committed suicide based on results that are NOT present?   How did the coroner come to this conclusion?   Was a suicide note found?    Did she talk of suicide to others?    "Suicide," per se, is not a "cause" of death.     Aspiration is a cause of death.   Asphyxiation is a cause of death.   Pulmonary edema is a cause of death.   Myocardial infarction is a cause of death.   Suicide, in my opinion, would be a "method" of death.   

[XLFD]

Maybe Mason County Medical Examiner Marc Keen should be renamed "Quincy".  That's a good point about the difference between cause and method, In Dulci.

His ruling on this really has me wondering about a previous autopsy he performed which seemed odd at the time, that of the man who killed Chloe Stoudt.  I never was comfortable with the official line that this sick man had stabbed himself twice in the chest to kill himself, after he accidentally killed the little girl after molesting her.  It always seemed the police were protecting someone and hiding something.  But that is mere speculation.

[Willy]

The Coroner should never have put suicide as the "cause" of death. Dulci is correct, suicide is a method not cause. If we have medical examiners grasping at straws as is the case here then how will we ever get the accurate facts regarding any case Ludington has the misfortune to have occur here.

[XLFD]

I sent out FOIAs to the City and County on Saturday about investigation/autopsy records.  If they don't circle the wagons again, we should soon have a better idea of their basis for this "cause" of death.

[AQUAMAN]

Any and all coroners have a duty to be officially objective and precise in medical examination terminologies and observations. Dulci is totally correct in method, not cause. Therefore, the M.E.,(medical examiner) hasn't been objective nor investigative enough to actually make the final autopsy report in medical requirements, but, simply put a statement out that seems to be "formulated and orchestrated by others", imo. Question remains, can he actually get away with this as the final cause of death? What regulatory branches oversee these ME's, (coroners), when their findings do not meet the requirements of their duty? This Keen is no Quincy, more like akin to going along to get along so as to not rock any boats. So, who does he take orders from, the LPD?