how does one accidentally drown in a bathtub?

Question

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/17/cop.wife.ap/index.html
(link stolen off tgibby, hope you don't mind)

The first time they concluded that it wasn't suicide, and wasn't murder....this time, they say that it was definately murder and not "accidental"

How did they decide that it was accidental the first time? How do you accidentally drown yourself?

Maybe I'm just not thinking outside the box, could someone enlighten me?

oh, and also tell me if your opinion on this, was this a case of obvious incompitence or an easy mistake to have made the first time round?

Answer 1

Incredibly, people drowning in the tub happens-but not on purpose. That's because the body has an involuntary reaction that disallows us from drowning ourselves in small amounts of water on purpose.

There are two scenarios for an accident, however: a person is in the tub and has a heart or diabetic attack or stroke, looses consciousness and sinks into the water, where he/she drowns, OR, a person slips while entering/exiting the tub, strikes their head on something unforgiving, looses consciousness, and slides into the water, drowning.

I knew a spastic paraplegic who did precisely the latter when bathing in a tub at a homeless shelter where I was employed.
Tragically, he drowned before anybody realized he had been in the bathroom for a long period of time.

Please remember that as a policemen, he was exploiting the popular prejudice that as such, he was above murder and therefore above immediate suspicion.

Grisly stuff. As Lacy Peterson's mother said about her murderous son-in-law: "There's always divorce."

Men can be really dumb when they want to be, can't they.

Answer 2

How does one accidently drown in bathtub?
1-falling asleep in tub
2-passing out drunk or under influence
3-slipping in the shower tub, getting a concusion and falling below the water line
4-having some sort of seizure, heart attack, blot clot which causes you to drown in the water.

Why it could have been deemed an accident?
1-No forced struggle, in other words water not splashed around all over the floor
2-Holding down marks on body, in other words they might not have found any nails dug into skin or marks upon the neck
3-No motives for murder
4-found some sort of drugs, alcohol, substance in her system.

Answer 3

I think heads are going to roll when the new autospy comes out. I think her murder got swept under the table and marked accidental death, even though she had written a letter to prosecuters telling of her fear of Drew Peterson.

What gets me is everyone in Stacy's family and friends circle is coming forward saying how scared she was of her husband. Why didn't anyone help her get out of there safely?

Why didn't anyone question the demise of his 3rd wife? What the hell is going on in Bolingbrook? And do they really pay cops that much that he could afford such a nice big house there?

Answer 4

My Cousin drowned in a bathtub. He was overcome by fumes from a heater, became unconscious and drowned

Answer 5

I hope that everyone that was involved in that investigation is talked to again. They could have been some dirty police work here.

Answer 6

by slipping in it banging your head on the side,losing consiousness,slipping under the water.