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[Music] Silver Spring is part of Montgomery County in the state of Maryland USA it
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has a population of about 70,000 people and is located about a 40-minute drive south of Maryland's largest city
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Baltimore Silver Spring is also only about a 20-minute drive north from the nation's capital Washington DC Silver
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Spring was the home of 19 year-old Keith Warren keith was tall handsome bright sociable and extremely likable it was
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the summer of 1986 keith had just graduated from Kennedy High School and was looking forward to starting college
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in North Carolina he was spending the summer enjoying time with friends and working two jobs Keith made friends
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quickly and easily and in those first few months of the summer he had made friends with some disreputable people
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some of whom were rumored to have involvement with drugs [Music] Keith Warren was born on the 9th of
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April 1967 in Kansas his parents were Mary and Cleo Warren a few months after keeps birth the Warren family moved to
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Durham North Carolina in August to 1977 Mary and Cleo divorced in 79 Mary moved to Silver Spring Maryland with Keith and
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his younger sister Sheri Mary later remarried becoming Mary Kui on the Tuesday the 29th of July 1986 keith was
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at home at 3810 Tremaine Terrace Silver Spring Keith still lived with his sister sherry and his mother Mary Kui
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however he was preparing to move back to Durham to attend the North Carolina Central University
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kake's father Cleo still resided in Dunn where he was a major in the Durham Police Department
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Keith hoped to mend his relations with his father but had suffered since the divorce almost 10 years earlier that
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Tuesday Keith received the phone call after which he left home to hang out with some friends when he hadn't
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returned home the next day Mary started making some calls around 10:00 but she struck out no one had heard from case or
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knew where he was Mary called the Wheaton Glenmont station of the Montgomery County Police she didn't have
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any luck there either they said they couldn't take a report until Keith had been missing for 48 hours on Thursday
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the 31st of July 1986 two days after Keith had gone missing EMTs and paramedics from the Kensington Fire and
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Rescue station responded to a 911 call the call was made by Claudia Lawson who said there had been a suicide in the
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basement of 14 6:55 time week drive Silver Spring this address is only about 320 meters west of Keith's house
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the occupant of 14 655 time week drive was Chip win his girlfriend was the caller claudia lawson and there was a
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second mantel present at the house with them paramedics knocked on the door but it took a while before anyone answered
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chip Claudia and the other male were having a discussion amongst themselves when they did eventually answer
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paramedics requested to be taken down to the victim chip Claudia and the other male said the victim wasn't in the
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basement he was in the woods out the back of the house only a short distance away so paramedics requested to be shown
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where exactly the victim was in the woods but chip and the other male declined they told Claudia to go as
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Claudia escorted the paramedics she explained that she had been walking her dog through the woods and that's when
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she came upon the victim hanging from a tree when they got to the scene they discovered the body of Keith Warren
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there was nothing the paramedics could do him he'd already passed away they stayed back to preserve the scene and
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awaited the arrival of the police officer Luther Leverett from the Wheaton Glenmont station of the Montgomery
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County police arrived on scene not long after arriving he said why would this have to happen on my lunch
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break detective Beasley attended the scene and to the Medical Examiner dr. John Rogers
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was also notified after a quick look at the scene and taking a few photos detective Beasley and officer Leverett
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ruled the death as a suicide the Medical Examiner dr. Rogers agreed the following
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is what Officer Leverett wrote in his report of the incident and on reading his report word for word here
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investigation by the Ryder officer Leverett revealed that the complainant Claudia Lawson while walking her dog
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discovered the victim hanging from a tree the complainant returned home and summoned the police the rider arrived on
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the scene and observed the body of a young black male hanging via rope with his feet on the ground in a sitting
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posture Wheatley investigation was notified along with the County Coroner detective Beasley and dr. Rogers arrived
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on the scene a neighborhood was conducted by the writer and detective Beasley and ID was made by Rodney Lee
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Kendal 38 45 Tremaine Terrace a fellow classmate and attempted to notify the next of kin at the residence was
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negative the next-door neighbor Barbara Nichols 38:12 Tremaine Terrace was shown a
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picture of the victim and ID saying a work number for the mother was obtained into the neighbor Nichols called and
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spoke with the mother and left a message to contact the writer examination of the
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scene by dr. Rogers detective Beasley and to the writer showed no evidence of foul play the victim had in his pants
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pocket a picture ID school pass with the name Keith Warren the victim tied the rope to the base of a tree and made
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several loops the other end of the rope was looped around the smaller tree and was thrown between the fork at the top
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into the noose was made the victim apparently used the log to jump off and his body weight completed his intent
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I'll leave officer leverets report there for now they'll read the rest later in the episode next let's hear the account
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of Dulles lip Dallas lip was a firefighter with the Montgomery County and was also trained as an emergency
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medical technician EMT he had previously been a firefighter in the United States
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Air Force he was assigned to medic at Kensington Station on the 31st of July 1986 and was among the first responders
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on scene prior to police arrived the following his Dallas lips account taken directly from his affidavit I was
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assigned to medic 7 at Kensington station 25 and my unit was dispatched to an area in Silver Spring Maryland to
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respond to a call reporting a possible attempted suicide by hanging when we arrived at the address given there was
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no one waiting to guide us to the victim when we knocked on the door there was a
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long pause before anyone answered the occupants two males and a female carried on some discussion among themselves
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about whether any of them had called and to then told us the victim was back in the woods one of them reluctantly
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escorted us to the site as we approached the site we determined from the appearance of the body that it was too
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late to assist the victim as the color of the skin and the facial features indicated that the victim had been dead
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for some time the paramedic went alone to investigate further while the rest of the team stayed back in order not to
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disturb the soil our training as rescue workers taught us to be aware of potential criminal activity and preserve
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the site for police investigation I was standing approximately 20 feet away from
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the body from where I could carefully observe the scene while awaiting the arrival of police my training as an EMT
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included training with respect to attempted hanging it struck me that this was not the typical scene of a suicide
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by hanging first the body was hung from a small tree about four to six inches in
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diameter hardly sufficient to support the weight of the body as the tree had bent over to the point that the victims
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knees were flexed to approximately a 45 degree angle second there was nothing at
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the scene for the victim to stand on or from which he could have jumped finally the Rope was fastened to the tree in an
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unusual manner running from the victim's neck through a fork in the tree that would have been about eight to ten feet
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off the ground had the tree being erect down to the base of the tree where it wrapped around the tree a few times and
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then it went horizontally about one foot off the ground running across to a larger tree approximately 20 feet away
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from the tree that suspended the victim the rope appeared to me to be arranged in a way more conducive to hoisting a
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heavy load than for an attempted suicide in fact my impression at the time was that this looked like a lynching when
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the police arrived the officer in charge of the fire rescue response spoke to the
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police officer explaining what we had found our actions to that point endear unit identifications in case further
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follow-up was required I was surprised that we heard nothing further we will leave Dallas lips affidavit
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there no autopsy or toxicology tests were performed there was no crime scene examination witnesses report that the
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area wasn't even roped off people were milling about and walking directly through the site
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Antti wine coolers were located in the vicinity but they weren't taken as evidence there's no mention of them in
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the police report at all Keith's car was found parked in the carpark of the georgian colony's
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clubhouse Silver Spring where the community center swimming pool and tennis courts are located the walk from
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the clubhouse to the tree is about 500 meters northwest police theorize that keith parked his car at the clubhouse
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then walked to the tree with the 40-foot long rope he's back packed with some cassette tapes and the one where he then
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killed himself in case you're wondering yes there were many closest spots to park his car that's your average
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suburban neighborhood the reason why he decided the park where he did has never been able to be explained
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police organized the Keefe's body to be removed from the scene and sent to Collins Funeral Home in Silver Spring
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their protocol was to send the body to the closest funeral home however the closest funeral home were going to be
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delayed getting to the scene so they contacted Collins which is the next closest case family state that the
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police gave instructions to Colin's funeral home to have Keith's body embalmed immediately this is denied by
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the montgomery police they state they did not order keeps body to be in bond and that the embalming was not done
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until permission was given by Keith's family this is denied by Cates family who state they never gave permission for
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abundant Keith's family hadn't even been notified of his death at this point they
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had no idea what it happened they weren't notified until hours later embalming is the art of preserving human
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remains by treating them with chemicals to prevent decomposition Mary cuy was at
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work and she did receive a call from the neighbor who officer Leverett spoke to Barbara Nichols Mary worked as a
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pathologist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center Barbara was upset on the phone but
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wouldn't tell Mary why all she would say is that Mary had to contact officer Leverett Mary made the call however she
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was told Leverett was busy on another job and wouldn't be available for at least two hours there was two hours
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later now about five hours in total since Keith's body was found that Officer Leverett visited Mary at work he
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informed her Keith had committed suicide and asked if there were any reasons why
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he would want to end his life Mary was distraught she couldn't think of any reason for Keith to commit
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suicide he had never displayed any signs of suicidal behavior he had never harmed their attempted to
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harm himself had never even threatened to harm himself he didn't suffer from depression he was a happy teenager
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looking forward to college in her distraught State Mary tried the search for a reason and thought back to any
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disagreements they may have been officer Leverett placed this information in his
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report which all read the rest of nia again misses word for word dr. Rogers released the body to Collins funeral
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home address 500 University Boulevard Silver Spring no autopsy was ordered all evidence indicated suicide on July 29th
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86 the father called and told the son that he would be in Maryland on July 31st to take the car back that was the
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last day anyone in the family saw or heard from the son the victim felt that his father showed no love towards him
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and that his father was very demanding while visiting his father nearing one year ago the son had a nervous breakdown
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and spent four days in the hospital the mother went to North Carolina and picked
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up her son and brought him back to Maryland shortly thereafter the father bought the son a Corvette which the
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mother fears gave the son a new temptation in life friends girls etc the son lost his job on the 21st of this
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month the car insurance was due in nine days that's the end of officer leverets report Keith's family spoke to his
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employer Keith hadn't been fired he voluntarily left because he had secured another job
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it's unknown where Leverett got the information that Keith had been fired from as he was leaving Leverett handed
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Mary a business card from Colin's funeral home and told her to contact them after 9:00 a.m. the next day Mary
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called her brother who lived in North Carolina he immediately made the trip to Silver Spring and arrived at the funeral
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home about 1:00 a.m. they denied him entry hey Mary made two more attempts to get in and see Keith
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however they continued to be denied access a note in the police file from detective Beasley states that he called
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the funeral home at 10:00 a.m. the next day the 1st of August when he was informed the body had been processed
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Mary and Keith's uncle weren't allowed in to see Keith until later that afternoon the first of August the
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embalming of Keith's body had already been completed by then Mary requested Kate's clothes
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however the funeral home informed her they had destroyed the clothes he was wearing at the time of his death as
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Kate's body was severely decomposed and had deteriorated his clothes Keith's uncle then met with officer
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levar Leverett handed him a brown bag containing the 40-foot long rope although the police kept the noose as
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evidence he also gave him the empty wine coolers a pair of brown boots that Leverett said keith was wearing
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he's jacket and a backpack containing some of his favorite cassette tapes Kate's shirt pants and underwear were
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not handed over the police confirming what the funeral home had said they had to be thrown out due to being destroyed
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by severe decomposition dr. John Rogers the county medical examiner also completed a report about Keith's death
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he listed the time of death as 2:05 p.m. on the 30th of July the day before Kate
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was found the report says he was first notified by police communications at 2:10 p.m. the 31st of July and keith was
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pronounced dead by officer Leverett at 3 p.m. the 31st of July cause of death asphyxiation as a consequence of hanging
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the body of his report states and misses work forward the deceased was depressed
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last year this spring he graduated from high school he sister stated she hadn't seen him for about one week this
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afternoon he was found by a person walking through the woods hanging by the neck with a half sisal rope from a tree
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police and I were notified and responded he had a lot of green glow flyers around
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him but only a few small maggots in the mouth and probably had been dead since the last p.m. that was the full and
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complete report of the County Medical Examiner dr. John Rogers Keith sanely sister Sheri was not contacted by dr.
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Rogers and did not speak to the police at the time and she was only a minor plus she was out of the state when Keith
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thought Cheri later inquired how dr. Rogers was able to write in his report that she said she hadn't seen Keith for
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about one week when she in fact hadn't spoken to anyone Cheri was told that this information came from an
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undocumented third party Leverett had written in his report that Keith had been hospitalized the previous year and
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dr. Rogers touched on it very briefly in his report mentioning Keith was depressed last year the incident they
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were referring to occurred in July 1995 one year prior to Kate's death keith was
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hospitalized at Duke University Medical Center he had returned to North Carolina
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to visit his father they became involved in an argument over issues relating to the family breakdown which left Keith
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extremely distraught stressed and struggling to cope with the family issues so he was hospitalized for a few
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days nowhere in his hospital discharge papers does it mention the word depression or
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suicidal the treating doctor wrote that he had treated Keith through adjustment disorder resulting from severe family
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discord involving his near divorced biological parents Keith didn't leave a suicide note he had
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never talked about suicide or made a previous attempt his friends and family said he was happy in the time leading up
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to his death that he loved life and was looking forward to college crime scene was not examined and no
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autopsy was conducted so it was this previous incident at the hospital the fact Keith had just lost his job and a
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$2,000 car insurance payment was looming which he couldn't pay and the factor Kate's father was threatening to take
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his car off him that police and the medical examiner used to justify their ruling of suicide the fact Keith lost
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his job is in dispute by his family the police didn't receive this information until they had already ruled the death
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of suicide and sent Keith's body to the funeral home although in officer leverets notes that Keith's family
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obtained from the police file years later there is the following handwritten note made at the scene by Leverett
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Beasley knew of mental problems from one year ago at scene no mention is the source of info on mental background at
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scene it's unknown how Detective Beasley knew this information or where he got it
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from as Keith's family were told that neither Leverett nor Beasley had any prior interaction with Keith this
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information didn't make leverets report the police told Mary Kui Kate's death was an open-and-shut case he had hung
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himself one month after Kate's death his auntie and grandmother wished to be taken to
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the site of Keith's suicide in order to pray Rodney Kendall knew the site well he'd gone to school with Keith and you
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heard his name mentioned in leverets report earlier as making identification of Keith's body he actually went to the
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site while keith was still in the tree to make that ID so he took Kate's auntie and grandmother to the site so they
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could pray only when they arrived Rodney found that the tree was no longer there Mary Cooley immediately contacted
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the police and spoke with detective Beasley he told her we cut the tree down we are holding it for evidence Mary
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wanted to know why the tree had been cut down for evidence if the case was an open-and-shut suicide and was now closed
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she wasn't given an answer other than that was evidence detective Beasley confirmed that case was closed and would
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not be reopened he told Mary she needed to start worrying about raising the only
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child she had left Mary always had a hard time believing Keith had killed himself in the
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following years she raised her concerns repeatedly to Montgomery County police in particular
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detective Beasley they refused to reopen or to re-examine the case Mary was told
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if you had been a better mother this wouldn't have happened another comment made about Mary was she
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is an emotionally distraught mother who cannot come to terms with her son's death Mary wasn't alone though Dallas
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lit the EMT who was one of the first on scene said in his affidavit that he was convinced that wasn't a suicide the
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scene just didn't look right to him photos had been taken of the scene but no one was allowed to see them as they
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were classified to the Montgomery County Police photo archives eventually Mary reluctantly accepted capes death was a
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suicide and tried to move on as best she could six years later on what would have been
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Kate's 25th birthday the 9th of April 1992 Mary arrived home from work there was a manila envelope addressed to her
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on the front porch there was no return address Mary opened the folder and was shocked to find five crime-scene photos
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showing Keith hanging from the tree after getting over the initial trauma of seeing the pictures Mary noticed several
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things that unsettled her one she didn't recognize any of the clothes keith was wearing she had never seen him wearing
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them before and she had never come across them while doing his washing - keith was not wearing the brown boots
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officer Leverett had given to Kate's uncle at the station after his death he was wearing white running shoes 3 Mary
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had not spoken to Dallas lip at this point and only had Leverett account but it looked like keith had jumped off a
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log and his body weight completed his intent as stated in leverets report Mary was surprised to see Chiefs feet
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touching the ground almost in a sitting position with the tree bent under the complicated rope set up
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she formed the same view as Dallas lit it looked like he had been hoisted when Mary went to the police with the photos
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that was shocked to see them that was supposed to be classified they weren't the original photos that were copies but
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they couldn't explain how or why they were delivered to Mary's porch the Montgomery County police refused to
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reopen the investigation against stating it was an open-and-shut case however the photos convinced Mary
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something wasn't right she requested to see the trees taken from the scene that police took as evidence she was told
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that wouldn't be possible several reasons have been given over the years one was that the tree was destroyed in a
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fire the other was that it had been lost however detective Beasley denoise the tree was even cut down he told The
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Washington Post years later quote I cut down the notch on the tree where the rope had been thrown over I kept it for
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two years and disposed of it Rodney Kendall and Keith's family are adamant the entire tree was cut down within one
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month of Kate's death we can't tell today it's a completely different sight houses have been built
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up when the trees once were the photos weren't the only thing delivered to Mary that day there was also a note to go
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with them the note said that mark Finley and Laurent Berman would be next Mary recognized these names they were
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friends of Keith Mark Findlay found out about the threatening note he contacted Mary and left a message on
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her answering machine he said I'll be by to see you I need to unload rumors were
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circulating that Mark had allegedly been bragging that he had put Kate's body up
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on the tree mark never did get around to see Mary and four months after the photos and note appeared on Mary's porch
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mark Findlay was dead killed him what was called a freak bike accident his bicycle hit the curb and he
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fell off and died it occurred in the early hours of the morning no one else involved no one at fault no witnesses
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Perry White a paramedic called to the scene of mark's accident is of the opinion that the injuries suffered by
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Marc enter the damage to his bike were much too great for him to have simply fallen off bus there were no rash burns
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on his hands common from people who fall off a bike as they try to break their fall perry was of the opinion that Marc
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had been hit by a car but the death was officially ruled a freak accident and no
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autopsy was performed by order of the state's chief medical examiner's office Ultimo Maryland after receiving the
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photos in 1992 Mary continued to lobby the Montgomery County police various elected officials and even the FBI to
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reopen the investigation indicates death every time her requests were denied the
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FBI referred her back to the County Police as there were no violations of federal law
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local media took a renewed interest in the case and it was even featured on the television show unsolved mysteries but
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head of the Montgomery County Major Crimes Division Lieutenant FEMEN said to the media we have seen nothing that
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indicates that death was anything other than a suicide if mrs. Kui brings us some new evidence
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we would gladly look at it he went on to say that Montgomery police had conducted
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three internal reviews of the case each review determined to Kate's death to be a suicide
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they found a no evidence case had been hoisted instated that cater wouldn't have needed to jump off anything as the
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manner in which someone can kill themselves by hanging is limitless Mary Kui responded saying they never treated
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my son's death as a crime scene they treated it as a sideshow after seeing the photos left on Mary's
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porch Kate's father Cleo a police officer of 21 years at the time in Durham North Carolina offered a $5,000
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reward for any information about Keith's death the office of the state's chief medical examiner is in Baltimore and dr.
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John smiley was now performing the role although he wasn't in the role at the time of Kate's death he confirmed with
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the media that Maryland law gives the state medical examiner discretion in deciding when an autopsy should be
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performed however since he had taken over he had decided that autopsies are now required in all cases of suicides
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involving teenagers and young adults regarding case specific case doctor smilax said an autopsy would not have
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eliminated all questions in this case but it would have at least eliminated the criticisms about one not having been
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done a spokesman for Montgomery police said the department was conducting an internal review as to how the photos
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came to be placed on Mary's porch he said it was a puzzle and a mystery and admitted the photo lab had sloppy
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record-keeping convinced something was seriously wrong with her son's case Mary Cooley sought the assistance of a
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social group they became interested in Kate's case and helped raise money to have Keith's body exhumed from his North
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Carolina grave they hired an independent pathologist to conduct an autopsy that independent pathologist was dr. Asador
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of metal arcus the autopsy was conducted on the 26th of May 1994 eight years after Kate's death at Lehigh Valley
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Hospital Center in Allentown Pennsylvania dr. Michael arcus had been the medical examiner for Warren County
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Pennsylvania for eight years at that point he would go on to remain in that role for another 17 years he testified
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at a number of high-profile cases including that of serial killer Charles Cullen he was known by his colleagues as
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extremely knowledgeable and a very thorough his findings were as follows and this is
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taken directly from parts of his report the autopsy findings on an anatomic basis showed a body hanging from a tree
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limb with feet touching the ground and the knees bent there is nothing in the autopsy findings which will distinguish
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whether he was alive or dead when the hanging occurred the clinical history is in contention between the investigators
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and the family the scene investigation into the handling of the body immediately afterward was inappropriate
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and not in accordance with accepted standards of a good medical legal investigation system subsequent
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toxicological findings after exclamation and complete autopsy of the body as well
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as preliminary literature review indicate the presence of substances which would not expect it to be found in
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a body that has been buried even taking into consideration that eight years that
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it was interred such substances are not normal constituents of embalming fluids or decompositional affect the substance
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that most stands out is trichloroethane also found was dot chloro ethane ethylene zine xylene and toluene
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trichloroethane is commonly found in degreases dry cleaning agents glue into paint removers ethyl benzene xylene and
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toluene are often found together in gasoline the level of trichloroethane found in keeps blood and liver were at a
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fatal level the level of dichloroethane was at a toxic level based on the levels
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noted I do not believe he would have had the ability to hang himself and for that
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matter he would in all likelihood not even have the ability to make a decision about hanging himself it is even
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possible that he may have been dead and subsequently hung by others to make it look like a suicide he may also have
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been near death unconscious and hung by others if he did it to himself then I would think that the utensils
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used in terms of canisters rags etc would have been noted by the investigators when they arrived at the
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scene by this scenario one would presuppose that he put the noose about his neck in
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the manner in which he was found and then used the suspect substances until he passed there at which point they're
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hanging would cause his death under the circumstances in a good medical legal investigation system a case such as
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Keith Warren's must be considered and investigated as a homicide until proven otherwise
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the funeral director handling the case was queried by representatives of the family and deniers having infused the
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body with anything other than embalming fluid the substances recovered from ether found in various solvents paints
00:31:27
lacquers thinners and similar substances the possibility of groundwater contamination was entertained by this
00:31:34
pathologist however so far as we know there is no such in termination of the cemetery the volton casket was sealed
00:31:42
and personally I do not believe that the distribution levels would have been as found on Keith
00:31:48
unfortunately the casket broke in the process of their excavation and keith was placed in a new casket and
00:31:54
transported to allen tear neck there are no fractures or dislocations or hemorrhages the tongue larynx laryngeal
00:32:03
cartilages hyoid bone and soft tissues of the neck as well as the cervical vertebral column visually are without
00:32:10
note there are no undue hemorrhages in the region of the ligature groove no hemorrhages are noted about the neck
00:32:17
cause of death is undetermined in spite of decedent found hanging from tree limb with feet touching the ground
00:32:24
and knees bent it is undetermined because toxicological findings are incompatible with the autopsy findings
00:32:31
and in fact do not support a hanging diagnosis we will leave the autopsy report there so the substances found in
00:32:42
Keith's body bothered dr. May helices further investigation was conducted by him to ascertain if those chemicals
00:32:49
could have come from the embalming fluids dr. Mason the toxicologist informed the doctor metal arcus these
00:32:56
chemicals were highly unlikely to be found in embalming fluid he had never encountered them before
00:33:02
from embalming fluids during his career as a preliminary checked three embalming
00:33:08
chemical companies were canvassed Arlington Chemical Company Dodge Chemical Company and the goal to bond
00:33:15
the company each said no those chemicals found in Keith don't form part of embalming food and even if they did it
00:33:23
would be very remote they were getting to the blood and liver Keith was embalmed at Collins funeral home
00:33:30
enquiries with them revealed that in 1986 they were using embalming fluids produced by Pierce royal bond company
00:33:37
and Dodge chemical company both companies provided affidavits declaring their embalming fluids do not contain
00:33:44
any of the substances found in Keith's body dr. Mason also confirmed that higher
00:33:49
levels of trichloroethylene were found in Keith's brain at levels three times higher than found in his liver and blood
00:33:56
as the trichloroethane was widely distributed through Keith's body his brain liver and blood
00:34:02
dr. Mason is of the belief the chemicals were in his body before Kate's death a quote from dr. metal arcus the presence
00:34:11
of these substances they have no business being there they are not products of decomposition and are
00:34:16
thoroughly distributed throughout the body the possibility exists that this young man was incapable of hanging
00:34:22
himself you need to put the district attorney on notice of these things after the results of the autopsy were released
00:34:30
Mary cuy told the Montgomery Journal I always wondered how he got on the tree and why he was wearing someone else's
00:34:37
clothes I would hope that this case would be looked at again but Montgomery County police chief Clarence Edwards
00:34:44
said a new investigation would not be granted however he did say he would pass the full autopsy report on to the Major
00:34:50
Crimes Division for review a spokeswoman for the department told The Morning Call
00:34:56
newspaper that a copy of the autopsy report would also be sent to the state medical examiner's office for review dr.
00:35:03
smile ech and if he felt there was some discrepancy between the autopsy and the outcome of the police investigation then
00:35:10
the case would be reopened dr. smile akka did review the autopsy report at the state medical examiner's
00:35:16
office in Baltimore in January 1995 he released his findings Keith Warren committed suicide contradicting the
00:35:26
findings of dr. Michael Argus dr. smile act ruled that the chemicals were injected into Keith's body after his
00:35:32
death he said in his report quote it is my opinion that the toxicological findings are consistent with the effects
00:35:39
of the embalming and body preparation process the absence of any physical injury on the body supports the
00:35:45
conclusion that Keith Warren's hanging was a self-inflicted act dr. smilax specifically mentioned sanfino a solvent
00:35:53
that is applied to the skin to decontaminate bodies as being the source of the chemicals although Mary cuy said
00:36:00
a representative from savino told her that their product does not end it never has contained the chemicals found in
00:36:07
capes body Mary didn't believe Kate's death was necessarily a homicide she accepted it was possible he could have
00:36:15
accidentally overdosed with other teens who then panicked and staged a suicide to avoid any trouble with the law Mary
00:36:22
hired an attorney to file a civil action lawsuit against Montgomery County citing
00:36:27
police negligence and violations of both hers and Keith's civil rights unfortunately the attorney she had filed
00:36:34
the suit three months after the statute of limitations on civil rights violations had passed so the lawsuit was
00:36:40
dismissed in 1999 Mary petition to the Montgomery County State's Attorney Douglas Ganz law to look into the case
00:36:49
after spending two years going over the case documents and tracking down old witnesses Gensler agreed to reopen the
00:36:56
case obeah it was left as inactive so it wasn't being looked at but if further information came to life then it would
00:37:04
be investigated Gaines law said it seemed to me there were a lot of open ends loose ends
00:37:10
regarding the investigation clearly circumstances surrounding keeps death had not been fully investigated we still
00:37:17
don't know definitively what happened on that day in February 2003 Gaines was sent a letter in response to a request
00:37:25
for an update on Keith's case I'll read from that letter now in coordination with the Sheriff's Office for Montgomery
00:37:34
County Maryland a very thorough investigation was conducted it remains unsolved precisely how Keith Warren died
00:37:42
on July 31 1986 as we previously discussed many witnesses were put before the grand jury in regards to mr.
00:37:50
Warren's death given the confidential nature of grand jury proceedings we are not able to share specific details with
00:37:57
you however I want to reassure you that the case remains open albeit in an inactive status and if any new leads
00:38:04
materialized we will pursue them silent Douglas gancelot Montgomery County State's Attorney the grand jury was news
00:38:14
to keeps family they weren't aware that had been one never notified they weren't
00:38:19
called to attend or give evidence at the grand jury as the letter says the proceedings of a grand jury are
00:38:26
confidential so we have no idea who was called and what evidence was given in a media interview
00:38:32
gansler said we reopen to the case we use the grand jury we examined all the leads we talked to all possible
00:38:40
witnesses and came to a conclusion of in conclusiveness there are very strong arguments having looked at everything in
00:38:47
this case that Keith Warren died of suicide but there are equally strong arguments to suggest that he did not die
00:38:54
of suicide that he was killed or died accidentally and then was put on the tree afterwards then he was asked if it
00:39:02
was his opinion that police botched the case he replied under today's guidelines
00:39:07
and procedures this would have been botched still the Montgomery County Police maintained they were happy with
00:39:14
their investigation and to their determination that Keith's death was a suicide Kate's family requested that the cause
00:39:21
of Kate's death on his certificate at least be changed to undetermined however the state medical examiner's office
00:39:28
refused doctor smile AK was no longer the state's chief medical examiner he died of a heart attack in 2001 Keith's
00:39:38
family continued their fight in February 2012 dr. Muhammad Ali ala Bayati a toxicologist and pathologist conducted
00:39:47
an investigation into Keith Warren's death he has over 25 years experience in both fields and has served as an expert
00:39:55
witness in many medical legal cases he has published over 50 articles in medical and scientific journals after
00:40:03
completing a thorough investigation of all of the evidence he wrote in his report the following Keith had a lethal
00:40:10
level of trichloroethane and a toxic level of chloromethane in his blood brain liver kidney and
00:40:17
muscles the concentrations and the pattern of the chemical distribution in tissues
00:40:22
indicate Keith received these chemicals about 1 to 2 hours prior to his death via ingestion and they were likely mixed
00:40:30
with alcoholic drinks the ingestion of high doses of these chemicals led to vomiting diarrhea central nervous system
00:40:38
depression and aspiration pneumonia anthe wine cooler bottles were found in the densely wooded area where keepers
00:40:45
found hanging from a tree alcohol increases the absorption of trichloroethane and dichloromethane from
00:40:52
the gastrointestinal tract which explains the presence of high concentrations of these chemicals in
00:40:57
cakes tissues both chemicals are very soluble in alcohol autopsy studies of suicide hanging cases have shown
00:41:06
injuries to the neck soft tissues bones and organs in the majority of cases and bleeding in the soft tissues of the neck
00:41:13
in all cases the autopsy showed no hemorrhages soft tissue injury dislocation or fractures in Kate's neck
00:41:21
the lack of bleeding and injury in Kate's neck can be explained by the following medical evidence Keith died as
00:41:29
a result of ingesting a lethal dose of chemicals Keith's body was lifted and put in a hanging position a few hours
00:41:35
after his death when the muscles of the neck became stiff due to rigor mortis in
00:41:41
1992 Kate's mother received five crime-scene photos showing Keith who was hanging from a tree she noticed that
00:41:48
keith was not wearing his own clothing which indicates that key information for the investigation was missed it is
00:41:55
likely that Keith's body was washed after death and these clothes were changed because they became dirty with
00:42:00
vomit and possibly with fecal materials due to the lethal doses of chemicals mixed with alcohol that keith ingested
00:42:08
embalming Keith's body also interfered with the collection of important medical evidence the police and the County
00:42:15
Medical Examiner missed the cause of death in cage case because they did not conduct the required standard medical
00:42:21
legal investigation in his case we will end the doctor's report there despite these findings nothing has changed the
00:42:32
state medical examiner's office still refused to change the cause of death on caged certificate Montgomery County
00:42:37
police are still happy with their investigation and determination of suicide and will not reinvestigate
00:42:43
officer Leverett retired from the montgomery county police in March 2000 after pleading guilty to assaulting his
00:42:50
girlfriend second-degree assault beat her choked her and banged her head against the wall during an argument as
00:42:56
reported by The Washington Post he was subsequently charged with violating a protective order he was immediately
00:43:03
suspended by montgomery county police before retiring chip Winn is dead from a drug overdose he was the boyfriend of
00:43:11
Claudia Lawson who made the normal monk call chief lived in the house keith was found behind claudia lawson and the
00:43:19
second male present in the house that day are still alive Lawrence Berman the other male named
00:43:25
along with mark Finley in the note delivered with keeps crime-scene photos - Mary is still alive the noose was
00:43:32
never given to Kate's family Montgomery police actually admit that has been lost
00:43:37
possibly throwing up Mary Kui passed away in 2009 currently Mary's daughter Shari Warren is still trying to have the
00:43:47
cause of death changed on Kate's death certificate she'll be happy to be met halfway and had the cause of death
00:43:53
changed to undetermined [Music] you