“Yes.”
Fowkkes stood up again.
“Same objection, Y’Honor. This is leading to an area where Detective Bosch is not an expert.”
“Your Honor,” Langwiser said. “It has clearly been established that Detective Bosch is an expert in the investigation of death – that would include all kinds. He has seen this before. He can testify to it.”
There was a note of exasperation in her voice. Bosch thought it was intended for the jury, not Houghton. It was a subliminal way of communicating to the twelve that she wanted to get at the truth, while others wanted to block the way.
“I tend to agree, Mr. Fowkkes,” Houghton said after a slight pause. “Objections to this line of questioning are overruled. Proceed, Ms. Langwiser.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. So then, Detective Bosch, you are familiar with cases of autoerotic asphyxia?”
“Yes, I have worked on three or four. I have also studied the literature on the subject. It is referenced in books on homicide investigation techniques. I have also read summaries of in-depth studies conducted by the FBI and others.”
“Was this before this case occurred?”
“Yes, before.”
“What is autoerotic asphyxia? How does it occur?”
“Ms. Langwiser,” the judge began.
“Sorry, Your Honor. Restating. What is autoerotic asphyxia, Detective Bosch?”
Bosch took a drink of water, using the time to draw his thoughts together. They had gone over these questions during lunch.
“It is an accidental death. It occurs when the victim attempts to increase sexual sensations during masturbation by cutting off or disrupting the flow of arterial blood to the brain. This is usually done with a form of ligature around the neck. The tightening of the ligature results in hypoxia – the diminishing of oxygenation of the brain. It is believed by people who… uh, practice this that hypoxia – the light-headedness that ensues – heightens masturbatory sensations. However, it can lead to accidental death if the victim goes too far, to the point where he damages the carotid arteries and/or passes out with the ligature still tightly in place and asphyxiates.”
“You said ‘he,’ Detective. But in this case the victim is a woman.”
“This case does not involve autoerotic asphyxia. The cases I have seen and investigated involving this form of death all involved male victims.”
“Are you saying that in this case the death was made to look like autoerotic asphyxia?”
“Yes, that was my immediate conclusion. It remains so today.”
Langwiser nodded and paused. Bosch sipped some water. As he brought the cup up to his mouth he glanced at the jury. Everyone in the box seemed to be paying close attention.
“Walk us through it, Detective. What led you to that conclusion?”
“Can I refer to my reports?”
“Please.”
Bosch opened the binder in front of him. The first four pages were the OIR – the original incident report. He turned to the fourth page, which included the lead officer’s summary. The report had actually been typed out by Kiz Rider, though Bosch was the LO on the case. He quickly scanned the summary to refresh his mind, then looked up at the jury.
“Several things contradicted the death being an accident caused by autoerotic asphyxia. First off, I was immediately concerned because statistically it is rare that this occurs with female victims. It is not one hundred percent males but it is close. This knowledge made me pay very close attention to the body and the crime scene.”
“Would it be fair to say you were immediately skeptical of the crime scene?”
“Yes, that would be fair.”
“Okay, go on. What else concerned you?”
“The ligature. In almost all cases involving this that I have been aware of firsthand or through the literature on the subject, the victim uses some sort of padding around the neck to prevent bruising or breaking of the skin. Most often a piece of heavy clothing like a sweater or a towel is wrapped around the neck. The ligature is then wrapped around this padding. It prevents the ligature from making a contusion line running around the neck. In this case there was no padding.”
“And what did that mean to you?”
“Well, it didn’t make sense if you looked at it from the victim’s viewpoint. I mean, if you were to assume that she had engaged in this activity, then the scene didn’t make sense. It would mean that she didn’t use any kind of padding because she didn’t mind having the bruises on her neck. This to me was a contradiction between what we had there at the scene and common sense. Add in that she was an actress – which I knew right away because she had a stack of head shots on the bureau – and the contradiction was even greater. She relied on her physical presence and attributes while seeking acting work. That she would knowingly engage in an activity, sexual or otherwise, that would leave visible bruises on her neck – I just didn’t buy it. That and other things led me to conclude the scene was a setup.”
Bosch looked over at the defense table. Storey still had his head down and was working on the sketch pad as though he were sitting on a bench in a park somewhere. Bosch noticed Fowkkes was writing on a legal tablet. Harry wondered if he had said something in his last answer that could somehow be turned against him. He knew Fowkkes was an expert in taking phrases of testimony and giving them new meaning when taken out of context.
“What other things added to this conclusion?” Langwiser asked him.
Bosch looked at the OIR summary page again.
“The biggest single thing was the indication from postmortem lividity that the body had been moved.”
“In layman’s terms, Detective, what does postmortem lividity mean?”
“When the heart ceases to pump blood through the body, the blood then settles in the lower half of the body, depending on the position of the body. Over time it creates a bruising effect on the skin. If the body is moved, the bruising remains in the original position because the blood has coagulated. Over time the bruising becomes more apparent.”
“What happened in this case?”
“In this case there was clear indication that the blood had settled in the left side of the body, meaning the victim’s body had been lying on the left side at or shortly after the time of death.”
“However, that was not the way the body was found, correct?”
“That is correct. The body was found in the supine position – lying on the back.”
“What did you conclude from this?”
“That the body had been moved after death. That the woman had been positioned on her back as part of the setup to make her death look like an autoerotic asphyxiation.”
“What did you think was the cause of death?”
“At that point I wasn’t sure. I just didn’t think it was as presented. The bruising on the neck beneath the ligature led me to believe we were looking at a strangulation – just not at her own hands.”
“At what point did your partners arrive on the scene?”
“While I was making the initial observations of the body and crime scene.”
“Did they come to the same conclusions as you?”
Fowkkes objected, saying the question called for an answer that would be hearsay. The judge sustained the objection. Bosch knew it was a minor point. If Langwiser wanted the conclusions of Edgar and Rider on the record, she could just call them to testify.
“Did you attend the autopsy of Jody Krementz’s body?”
“Yes, I did.” He flipped through the binder until he found the autopsy protocol. “On October seventeenth. It was conducted by Dr. Teresa Corazon, chief of the medical examiner’s office.”
“Was a cause of death determined by Dr. Corazon during autopsy?”
“Yes, the cause of death was asphyxiation. She was strangled.”
“By ligature?”
“Yes.”
