RustyEight - RustyEight Media avatar

Weirdest Suicide Ever

posted almost 2 years ago by RustyEight

Just stumbled upon this:

At the 1994 annual awards dinner given by the American Association for Forensic Science, AAFS President Don Harper Mills astounded his audience in San Diego with the legal complications of a strange death. Here is the story:

"On 23 March 1994, the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound of the head. The decedent had jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide (he left a note indicating his dispondency). As he fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooter not the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the eighth floor level to protect some window washers and that Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide anyway because of this.

"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "a person who sets out to commit suicide ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended. That Opus was shot on the way to certain death nine stories below probably would not have changed his mode of death from suicide to homicide. But the fact that his suicidal intent would not have been successful caused the medical examiner to feel that he had homicide on his hands. "The room on the ninth floor whence the shotgun blast emanated was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing and he was threatening her with the shotgun. He was so upset that, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed the wife and the pellets went through the window striking Opus.

"When one intends to kill subject A but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B. When confronted with this charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant that neither knew that the shotgun was loaded. The old man said it was his long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her - therefore, the killing of Opus appeared to be an accident. That is, the gun had been accidently loaded.

"The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple’s son loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the fatal incident. It transpired that the old lady cut off her son’s financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother. The case now, becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus."

There was an exquisite twist. "Further investigation revealed that the son, Ronald Opus, had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother’s murder. This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23, only to be killed by a shotgun blast through a ninth story window.

"The medical examiner closed the case as a suicide."

31 Comments

  1. heavyprints - Nick avatar

    heavyprints said almost 2 years ago

    That can’t possibly be true. It’s far too awesome.

  2. Terror - Ethan Melazzo avatar

    Terror said almost 2 years ago

    i feel like this would make a perfect scene in the new SAW movie. mind boggling...

  3. DCAY - DCAY avatar

    DCAY said almost 2 years ago

    wow

  4. David_M - David Medrano avatar

    David_M said almost 2 years ago

    I dont believe.

  5. Kevin The Crook - Kevin avatar

    Kevin The Crook said almost 2 years ago

    how fucking bizarre

  6. jimiyo - Jimi Benedict avatar

    jimiyo said almost 2 years ago

    saw that episode on Bones

  7. Derisory Designs - Jeremy Lauder avatar

    Derisory Designs said almost 2 years ago

    haven’t any of you ever seen magnolia? That monologue is the opening 10 minutes of the movie

  8. drewg - d avatar

    drewg said almost 2 years ago

    that’s one fucked up family.

  9. 4Sevens - 4Sevens avatar

    4Sevens said almost 2 years ago

  10. cyanide - Cyanide avatar

    cyanide said almost 2 years ago

    still a fun read

  11. Kolby - Kolby avatar

    Kolby said almost 2 years ago

    I think its true.
    I read it in one of the bathroom books a few years ago.

  12. RustyEight - RustyEight Media avatar

    RustyEight said almost 2 years ago

    Kolby said: I think its true. I read it in one of the bathroom books a few years ago.

    Because we all know bathroom books are the authority on suicides lawlawlawl

  13. Kolby - Kolby avatar

    Kolby said almost 2 years ago

    I said I think its true. Not its true because the book said so.

  14. Universitee Apparel - Taylor Smith avatar

    Universitee Apparel said almost 2 years ago

    good twist.

  15. illdthedj - illdthedj avatar

    illdthedj said almost 2 years ago

    Derisory Designs said: haven’t any of you ever seen magnolia? That monologue is the opening 10 minutes of the movie

    yah and they show the whole thing, that was crazy

  16. Geoff May - Geoff May avatar

    Geoff May said almost 2 years ago

    Derisory Designs said: haven’t any of you ever seen magnolia? That monologue is the opening 10 minutes of the movie

    Not exactly, but pretty close.

  17. andrE w. - AndrEw avatar

    andrE w. said almost 2 years ago

    jimiyo said: saw that episode on Bones

    truth

  18. derek - lizzy avatar

    derek said almost 2 years ago

    I work in a forensic toxicology lab and i can tell you some people end up dead in very strange situations.

  19. mitchbones - Mitchell avatar

    mitchbones said almost 2 years ago

    Kolby said: I think its true. I read it in one of the bathroom books a few years ago.

    Even though snopes, a credible source on myths says its fiction. What do you have to back up your belief.

    I’m a skeptic at heart so its hard for me to believe such a tale.

  20. Robmcbride - Robmcbride avatar

    Robmcbride said almost 2 years ago

    So the son was Ronald and he tried to commit suicide but was hit by a shotgun blast from a weapon he loaded. Had he not loaded the weapon, he would of landed in a net and been safe?

    I get confused sometimes, but I think that’s what it said.

  21. corefolio - Andrea avatar

    corefolio said almost 2 years ago

    justgeoff said:
    Derisory Designs said: haven’t any of you ever seen magnolia? That monologue is the opening 10 minutes of the movie

    Not exactly, but pretty close.

    yup.

  22. jeff kardos - Jeff avatar

    jeff kardos said almost 2 years ago

    hahah thats the best thing i have ever heard

  23. 4Sevens - 4Sevens avatar

    4Sevens said almost 2 years ago

    If you go to the snopes link and read what their research reveals, it does say that part of the story was true. That being that there is a Don Harper Mills, and that he did tell this story at a meeting of the AAFS way back in 1987. In an interview ten years later he reveals that the anecdote was a work of fiction for the purpose of entertaining the audience and showing how altering a few small facts can greatly alter legal consequences.
    Snopes.com is the last word on urban legends. It’s a great story and being retold as an event that actually happened has the effect of making it monumentally greater.

  24. designisvoice - Roby Fitzhenry avatar

    designisvoice said almost 2 years ago

    Yeah .. Magnolia is an AWESOME movie.

  25. G-rant - grant tucker avatar

    G-rant said almost 2 years ago

    is it bad that I laughed hysterically out loud in co-op today when I read this?

  26. Derisory Designs - Jeremy Lauder avatar

    Derisory Designs said almost 2 years ago

    designisvoice said: Yeah .. Magnolia is an AWESOME movie.

    word.

  27. Johnny D - John Delsey avatar

    Johnny D said almost 2 years ago

    I remember reading this... haha.. made me laugh again

  28. downrodeo - alanbernard avatar

    downrodeo said almost 2 years ago

    wot a story. nice find, dude.

  29. horsebites - HORSEBITES avatar

    horsebites said almost 2 years ago

    Noodz.

  30. shantyshawn - Shawn Conn avatar

    shantyshawn said almost 2 years ago

    That’s friggin' wild. It reminds me of the guy in NYC back in the mid 80's that killed himself by hitting himself in the head with a hammer 23 times. After 1, I think I’d be thinking sleeping pills and a vodka chaser.

  31. make planes not waste - Craig Earl avatar

    make planes not waste said almost 2 years ago

    Derisory Designs said: haven’t any of you ever seen magnolia? That monologue is the opening 10 minutes of the movie

    Yea I was going to say that

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