Lenexa, Kansas, US. Police were dispatched to an apartment complex at the request of a resident, who advised them that he had discovered his roommate on his bed dead, inside his locked bedroom. The deceased was lying unclothed in his bed, with a white plastic “kitchen-type” trash bag over his head.
A portable DVD player was on a nightstand next to the bed with the menu screen of a gay pornographic movie playing. A bottle of Astroglide lubricant and a pink rubber/latex sexual aid were also located on the nightstand next to the bed. Lying on top of the bed, near the subject’s feet, was a white plastic whipped topping dispenser. This dispenser utilizes nitrous oxide cartridges as a propellant to dispense the topping.
Fig.1 This was how the victim presented at the crime scene.
Near the subject’s left leg were two boxes of EZ Whip nitrous oxide cartridges. One of the boxes was opened and contained three unused cartridges. The other box was still sealed and complete, containing a total of 24 cartridges. Discovered scattered on the floor around the bed were 20 used nitrous oxide cartridges. These used cartridges, along with the one still contained in the dispenser and the 3 unused cartridges still in the box, accounted for a complete box of 24 nitrous oxide cartridges.
Investigators learned from the roommate that the victim regularly inhaled cartridges of nitrous oxide, referred to as “Whippits,” by inserting the cartridges into a dispenser one after another and throwing them on the floor until he became high. He would reach a high about 15 min after inhaling half a box and then tilt his head back and start breathing heavily and be out of it for about 20s.
Fig.2 The man had a white plastic trash bag over his head.
He would inhale a minimum of two boxes of Whippit on each occasion and would then pass out for about an hour and a half, with the whipped cream cartridges in his hand or next to his body. The deceased usually did this alone while watching pornography. The case was originally ruled a suicide by an inexperienced pathologist, who told the investigators, “I’ve never heard of them doing it that way ” After educating the pathologist, he ultimately ruled that the death was accidental.
The bag was semitransparent, and you could see that the victim was wearing his glasses under the bag. A portion of the plastic trash bag had been inhaled into the victim’s mouth.
Fig.3 Victim’s underwear is tossed onto the floor along with various empty nitrous oxide cartridges, indicating heavy usage.
Note for scene investigators – A plastic bag placed over the head leads to suffocation by mechanical occlusion of the external airways; the plastic bag will obstruct the passage of air through the nose and mouth. In a scene of suffocation by plastic bag, particular care should be taken to describe and document the type of plastic bag; the position of the bag in relation to the head, mouth, and nose; and if the plastic bag is secured or not at the neck. If a ligature is present to enclose the bag, the type of ligature, with its loops and knots, should be described. Knots on the plastic bags should be documented as well. If the victim is obviously dead, the plastic bag should not be removed from the head before proper photographic documentation.
It is important to be aware that without proper scene information, the diagnosis of suffocation by smothering with a plastic bag over the head is most likely to be missed by the pathologist.
Fig.4 Dispenser used to inhale the nitrous oxide found lying next to the deceased on the bed.
Autoerotic death refers to the accidental death of individuals of either sex due to failure of devices, or unexpected effects of materials, that were being used to enhance the sexual experience. Although asphyxia from hanging has been described most frequently, a wide variety of other lethal situations have been reported. As there is great variability in the number and types of sexual aids that may be used by individuals, careful death scene examination is essential in helping to exclude suicide and more rarely homicide. The clandestine nature of this paraphilia may, however, make subsequent identification and diagnosis difficult unless the death scene features are typical. This is particularly so in the rare cases involving women.
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