Posted on 06/03/2004 6:20:39 PM PDT by HAL9000
LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock police have essentially closed the case on the mysterious death of a Scotsman who picked up some poisonous snakes at the city airport that were later found abandoned at an intersection.
"We're basically done with it," said Little Rock Police Department spokesman Terry Hastings. "This is not a criminal investigation, it was ruled an accidental death and it's handled the same way as someone falling off the roof of a house."
Garrick Wales, a 48-year-old Scotsman, was found dead in a rented Chevy Blazer near Little Rock's airport May 13. Days later police found a box of four venomous snakes that they believe may have belonged to Wales.
The case has been peppered with hearsay and sensational reports and has drawn immense attention from international media, Hastings said.
"It's more of a tabloid story than a crime and we've just been overwhelmed with calls from the media," he said. "But, since it's not a crime, we don't have the time or the manpower to investigate it. As curious as everybody is about it, we're not investigating it."
Hastings said false reports in the case include a relationship Wales supposedly had with Joanna Jet, a transsexual porn star in Europe, and indications that Wales was bitten by a poisonous snake a year ago and had been receiving regular blood transfusions to dilute the effects of the venom.
Police are awaiting the results of toxicology reports to see if they can determine what killed Wales, whose body was covered in vomit when found by a patrol officer. They expect the results by the end of June or the beginning of July.
During an autopsy, needle marks were discovered in Wales' arm and Hastings said police had found a hypodermic needle in Wales' shirt pocket. He also said a bag containing several more needles was found in the box with the snakes.
The snakes — a 14-inch-long twig snake, a 6-foot-long green mamba, a 4-foot-long black mamba, and a 5-foot-long forest cobra — had been shipped to Little Rock from an Internet snake dealer in Florida.
Police suspect Wales was bitten by one of the mambas and Hastings said that if he had been, bite-marks would not be visible and that Wales would have died within 30 minutes to two hours of being bitten. He also said toxicology reports would not determine if Wales died of a snake bite because snake venom contains enzymes that are absorbed into the body.
"He could have died of a heart attack, which could have been caused by a snake bite," Hastings said. "We don't know."
When police searched Wales' room at the Doubletree Hotel in Little Rock, they found a laptop computer with e-mails to a Florida snake dealer thanking the man for two boomslang snakes that he described as "quite docile" and said they could tolerate being handled.
The e-mails also indicated that Wales planned to take all or some of the snakes he'd just received to a Little Rock resident. Police believe the resident's name is Gillian Hamilton, but are unsure of the last name. Hastings said they have been unable to contact such a person in Little Rock with any knowledge of Wales or the snakes.
The snakes, initially taken to the Little Rock Zoo after being found in the box, have since been sent to a zoo in Texas.
"We still don't have a clue and probably will never know what he was doing with those snakes or why he threw them out of the car," Hastings said.
He said he believes the reason Wales had the snakes shipped to Little Rock is because it is not illegal in Arkansas to possess the snakes.
"The news media and our counterparts over there in Scotland have really blown this out of proportion," Hastings said. "As far as we're concerned in this country, our part here in Little Rock is done."
Just like the Jerry Parks case, eh?
Didn't Bubba buy a home in Scotland?
this Scot, I believe, was the lead cabinet contractor (Construction was outsourced!!) for the clintoon Liebrary? I think that also covers the secured areas? Maybe bill now thinks himself as pharoe and leaving no witness to the internal workings of his tomb behind?
Not suspicious at all. No sirree.
How dumb. This should be investigated more thoroughly.
He had previously taken delivery of other shipments of poisonous snakes. WHERE ARE THE OTHER SNAKES????
One will be bedding down with Mary Matalin, tonight.
Was it his own vomit?
Derek: he died. uh...he choked on..the ac- the official explanation was he choked on vomit.Nigel: It was actually, was actually someone else's vomit. It's not....
David: It's ugly.
Nigel: You know. There's no real....
Derek: You know they can't prove whose vomit it was...they don't have the facilities at Scotland Yard....
David: You can't print, there's no way to print a spectra-photograph
Nigel: You can't really dust for vomit.
Holy moly, this is bizarre...
pong
"He said he believes the reason Wales had the snakes shipped to Little Rock is because it is not illegal in Arkansas to possess the snakes."
All sorts of vipers have come out of Arkansas.
[It is even more bizarre than you know.]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1137236/posts
Today: May 17, 2004 at 11:05:46 PDT
Driver Finds Four Poisonous Snakes in Box ["So I went over and kicked the box!"]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A curious pickup truck driver spotted a box in the grass marked "Live venomous reptile" east of downtown and stopped to take a look.
"When you see something like that, you want to look and see what it is," Paul Mitchell of Little Rock said of his Friday afternoon discovery. "I went over and kicked the box."
The electrician looked inside and found a cloth bag slithering into the form of a cobra ready to strike.
"I was like, 'Hot dog! That thing is big!'" Mitchell said.
Mitchell grabbed up the box, put it in the bed of his truck and took it to the Little Rock Zoo.
"I was just going to take it back to work and kill it, but I figure cobras aren't indigenous to Arkansas," Mitchell said. "I knew the zoo would have a snake handler."
Randal Berry, the zoo's reptile keeper, took the snakes in out of concern for public safety. He said the zoo doesn't usually take in animals.
Berry said the cobra was very aggressive as he pulled it from the sack, repeatedly rearing its hooded head. Also inside the box were a 14-inch-long twig snake; an East African bright green mamba that measured 6 feet long, and a 4-foot black mamba. All are highly venomous and there is no antivenin in Arkansas.
Berry said the snakes were in good condition and estimated that, together, they were worth about $1,000.
No one knows where the snakes came from. The box had no markings other than "Live venomous snakes." Berry said no snakes were missing from the zoo.
Cindy Dawson, assistant city attorney and zoo docent, guessed that the snakes came into the city illegally. Keeping, selling, possessing or maintaining venomous reptiles is illegal, though some exceptions are made for education, research and entertainment.
City officials said they're hopeful all the snakes are accounted for, but that they would remind any animal control workers that calls reporting any exotic snakes could be serious and not pranks.
Zoo officials said they haven't decided what they're going to do with the snakes, including the seething cobra.
"I don't want it here," Berry said with a laugh. "He's not a nice guy."
--
Or elect one.
No, but the dead man was staying at the same hotel where Clinton raped Juanita Broaddrick.
The only town in Arkansas spookier than Little Rock is Pine Bluff.
That was a fascinating thread! Thank you. ;-D
Gin onybody speir at ye
O' then wha cam' awa',
Ye can tell them plain, and plain eneuch,
They sleep in Arkansas.
Wi' a dirrum do, dirrum do, daddy dirrum dey.
This got ARKANCIDE writ all over it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not sure what he died from but whatever it was it was an accident........
Womans last name is known but we aren't sure what it is.
Man and snakes appear to have been taking drugs .........
Man shows up from Scotland to get a shipment of snakes from FL and deliver them to a local resident..........
Right there is NOTHING to see here or look into NOTHING .......
Am I the only one wondering if this is a drug ring that involved smuggling in snake boxes and may or may not involve the local authorities who don't want anything investigated at all ?
Little Rock -- Home of Slick Willie.
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