Read Online Coroner's Journal by Louis Cataldie - Free Book Online Page B

by the lack of oxygen and had essentially smothered itself out.
    There was a body wrapped in a bedspread, a blanket, and a sheet. It was totally wrapped—from above the head to below the toes. As I uncovered it, one layer at a time, I could smell alcohol. Indeed, alcohol had saturated much of the bedclothes. Strange, I thought. Maybe this was intended to promote burning. The victim was a young white male, probably in his early twenties. He was not burned. He was face down. He had livor on his back, and upon palpation it did not blanch. Strange!
    When someone dies, the blood settles into the most dependent area of the body. So if you die on your back, gravity causes the blood to settle down into the skin on your back. It causes a reddish discoloration of the skin called “livor,” or “livor mortis.” Of course it is more difficult to see in dark-skinned individuals, but it is there nonetheless. After about eight or twelve hours, that blood becomes fixed in position. Now, once it is fixed, you can put pressure on it and it will not blanch, or turn pale—it is fixed. Also, you turn the body over and the livor will stay right where it is. This man had died at least eight hours before he was put into this position. The victim had died while on his back. Livor had formed on his back and had become fixed. Now he was face down. No policeman or fireman had touched the body. Something was amiss.
    As I continued to examine the body, I noted bruises and abrasions around his neck. Then, to my surprise, I discovered the “meaning” of the crime and the crime scene: all of this guy’s teeth had been knocked or pulled out. He had a mouth full of fractured dental nubs.
    The entire scene had been staged for us. And it had been perpetrated by someone with the most naïve grasp of how we ID bodies. The plan was obvious. Find someone who looks similar to you. Spread the rumor that you are thinking about killing yourself and burning yourself up. Act depressed and crazy for a week or two. Get the chosen victim drunk and/or drugged. Kill him. Take out all his teeth to avoid dental identification. Burn the body up. Presto! You are now officially dead and you can safely disappear.
    Wrong.
    The autopsy revealed that James Page, the nineteen-year-old found in room 227 of the motel on Airline Highway, had been beaten and choked to death before the room was set on fire. If the victim had been alive at the time of the fire, there would have been soot in his nose and trachea. There was none present. He died of asphyxia secondary to strangulation. The police arrested Shawn Thompson of Denham Springs, which is just over the river from Baton Rouge. He was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated arson.
    Shawn Thompson, a confessed drug dealer, pleaded guilty to the murder of the Texas teenager and signed a “Contract for Life” plea agreement that put him away for life without any right to appeal. The victim’s family agreed with the plea in order for them to try and get back to some normalcy without having to go through the ordeal of the trial process. With the signing of the plea, Thompson’s murderous scheme was revealed in district court.
    The motive for the murder was for Thompson to escape arrest for indecent behavior with a fourteen-year-old girl whom he had been accused of having a sexual relationship with. He planned, set the stage for, and then carried out a “fake” suicide.
    As the story unfolded in the courtroom, it was apparent that we were right on target with our reconstruction of the crime. Thompson had told several friends and acquaintances that he was depressed and thinking of killing himself. His “suicide” plan included slitting his wrists and setting himself on fire.
    His next move was to kill his “look-alike.” That was James Page, whom Thompson knew from the motel. He beat James then strangled him. Once this nefarious part of the plan was