Read Online Needle Work: Battery Acid, Heroin, and Double Murder by Fred Rosen - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Fred Rosen
Tags: General, Family & Relationships, Social Science, True Crime, Murder, Criminology, Dysfunctional families
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one-half-inch-long tear of the scalp was observed in the upper part of the left side of the forehead.
Farther down on the face, Billiter’s nose had been fractured and the skin scraped at various points. There were also extensive scrapes on the left side of the lower face extending into the left side of the chin. Both upper and lower lips were torn extensively, with bruising of the front parts of the upper and lower gums. As for her mouth, there was a large amount of aspirated (thrown up) blood in the upper and lower airways.
Along the extremities, hands, arms and wrists had been bruised extensively and in some places, the skin torn. Her belly had a bruise and the right lower chest area, too. There was dried blood within and around the anus with superficial tearing, indicative of sodomy. That is, sodomy while the victim was alive.
Dead bodies do not bleed. If she had been sodomized after death, there would have been no bleeding. But there was and that’s how Dragovic knew it had happened while she was alive. That didn’t mean, however, that the sodomy did not extend into death. The perpetrator could have penetrated her prior to death and then continued after she died. They wouldn’t know that until, at least, someone was held responsible for the crime.
Moving back across the body, Dragovic discovered fractures of the right seventh through eleventh ribs. Then he noted “sharp force injury.” There was an almost one-inch-deep cut in the “inner aspect of the left thumb.” As for the strange discoloring on her arms that the cops had noted at the scene, Dragovic solved that mystery quickly.
“There are multiple areas of injection sites,” he wrote in his autopsy report, “featuring superficial and deep chemical burns situated in the right and left sides of the neck, upper mid belly area, and mid lower and left belly areas, inner aspect of the right thigh, right lower groin and outside aspect of the right thigh as well as inner aspect of the right lower leg.”
He felt the neck and examined it closely. There was a hemorrhage into the soft tissue on both sides in relation to the puncture wounds. The larynx and trachea contained a large amount of blood.
Using a drill and saw, Dragovic cut through Billiter’s scalp and skull, eventually lifting off the skullcap. He noted “mild cortical swelling” but no fractures.
Cutting into her trunk, Dragovic probed the body cavity. He found blood in the bronchial tubes, caused by the blunt trauma to the face and the resultant bleeding. The liver, biliary tract, spleen, lymph nodes, pancreas, enitourinary system and gastrointestinal tract were all normal. The stomach contained about 200 milliliters of fluid with identifiable pieces of rice and brown beans.
Rice and beans. That had been Nancy Billiter’s last meal before she was murdered.
Back at the scene, Detective Shanlian had not been qualified to comment on “cause of death,” but Dragovic certainly was. Under DIAGNOSIS in his report, he wrote:
1. Asphyxia due to oxygen deprivation
2. Multiple blunt force injuries
3. Multiple acid injection burns
Under OPINION , Dragovic stated:
“This 45-year-old white female, Nancy Billiter, died of asphyxia due to oxygen deprivation brought about by aspiration of blood into the upper and lower airways resulting from blunt force trauma of the face/nose and blockage of the upper airways by gagging.
“The decedent was beaten, bound, gagged and tortured by multiple injections of caustic chemical (acid) into the soft tissues. There was no evidence of pre-existing disease. The decedent was under the influence of cocaine at the time of sustaining the above-described injuries. In consideration of the circumstances surrounding this death, the results of this postmortem examination and the toxicological analysis, the manner of death is homicide.”
Put another way, Nancy Billiter had been smothered to death but not before someone coldly beat and carefully tortured her. Beatings in
Farther down on the face, Billiter’s nose had been fractured and the skin scraped at various points. There were also extensive scrapes on the left side of the lower face extending into the left side of the chin. Both upper and lower lips were torn extensively, with bruising of the front parts of the upper and lower gums. As for her mouth, there was a large amount of aspirated (thrown up) blood in the upper and lower airways.
Along the extremities, hands, arms and wrists had been bruised extensively and in some places, the skin torn. Her belly had a bruise and the right lower chest area, too. There was dried blood within and around the anus with superficial tearing, indicative of sodomy. That is, sodomy while the victim was alive.
Dead bodies do not bleed. If she had been sodomized after death, there would have been no bleeding. But there was and that’s how Dragovic knew it had happened while she was alive. That didn’t mean, however, that the sodomy did not extend into death. The perpetrator could have penetrated her prior to death and then continued after she died. They wouldn’t know that until, at least, someone was held responsible for the crime.
Moving back across the body, Dragovic discovered fractures of the right seventh through eleventh ribs. Then he noted “sharp force injury.” There was an almost one-inch-deep cut in the “inner aspect of the left thumb.” As for the strange discoloring on her arms that the cops had noted at the scene, Dragovic solved that mystery quickly.
“There are multiple areas of injection sites,” he wrote in his autopsy report, “featuring superficial and deep chemical burns situated in the right and left sides of the neck, upper mid belly area, and mid lower and left belly areas, inner aspect of the right thigh, right lower groin and outside aspect of the right thigh as well as inner aspect of the right lower leg.”
He felt the neck and examined it closely. There was a hemorrhage into the soft tissue on both sides in relation to the puncture wounds. The larynx and trachea contained a large amount of blood.
Using a drill and saw, Dragovic cut through Billiter’s scalp and skull, eventually lifting off the skullcap. He noted “mild cortical swelling” but no fractures.
Cutting into her trunk, Dragovic probed the body cavity. He found blood in the bronchial tubes, caused by the blunt trauma to the face and the resultant bleeding. The liver, biliary tract, spleen, lymph nodes, pancreas, enitourinary system and gastrointestinal tract were all normal. The stomach contained about 200 milliliters of fluid with identifiable pieces of rice and brown beans.
Rice and beans. That had been Nancy Billiter’s last meal before she was murdered.
Back at the scene, Detective Shanlian had not been qualified to comment on “cause of death,” but Dragovic certainly was. Under DIAGNOSIS in his report, he wrote:
1. Asphyxia due to oxygen deprivation
2. Multiple blunt force injuries
3. Multiple acid injection burns
Under OPINION , Dragovic stated:
“This 45-year-old white female, Nancy Billiter, died of asphyxia due to oxygen deprivation brought about by aspiration of blood into the upper and lower airways resulting from blunt force trauma of the face/nose and blockage of the upper airways by gagging.
“The decedent was beaten, bound, gagged and tortured by multiple injections of caustic chemical (acid) into the soft tissues. There was no evidence of pre-existing disease. The decedent was under the influence of cocaine at the time of sustaining the above-described injuries. In consideration of the circumstances surrounding this death, the results of this postmortem examination and the toxicological analysis, the manner of death is homicide.”
Put another way, Nancy Billiter had been smothered to death but not before someone coldly beat and carefully tortured her. Beatings in
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