Posted on 02/12/2011 6:08:12 AM PST by Gabrial
Edited on 02/12/2011 6:27:56 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
The death of a lobbyist in a Capitol Hill garage fire last month has been ruled accidental by the D.C. medical examiner's office, which said Friday that 37-year-old Ashley Turton died from burns and inhaling "products of combustion."
An autopsy also found that "acute alcohol intoxication" contributed to her death, the office said.
Is there a technical difference between smoke inhalation and inhaling products of combustion?
In front of a church or your own garage, they will find you.
Yes, he certainly has been the invisible man.
My suspicion: The family must have relied on a live-in nanny, and both parents came and went as they pleased. The father had no idea where his wife was. And if the blood alcohol report is correct, she was probably coming home, and passed out in her vehicle.
Yes, it could be the Wookie passing by and letting one rip! The garage pictures prove a Wookie wind tunnel effect.
Gee, I would say that's a....GLARING OMMISSION.
They all say she worked for a senator, and was a lobbyist, but any mention of her most important job???
Nope.
Delauro in this video mentions “a staffer just died” but won't even mention her name? WTF?
She was her former Cheif of Staff for Pete's sake.
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2011/01/10/news/doc4d2b39569f181806963610.txt
I take the DeLauro (and she is an odd, yet fashion trendy, bird) comment to be like ‘trying to absorb’ the news; and perchance her mind racing (oh $hit, what have ‘they’ done) moment. Really, really odd I agree.
In one of the earlier threads, there was a mention of Dan Turton, as Barry Soetaro’s Congressional Liason, being called into Pelosi’s office and read the riot act after Bagdad Bob Gibbs had concurred, during a presser, that the Democrats “expected to lose seats in November.”
Odd (or residual anger/issues) that his wifes position with the same Nancy Pelosi would be omitted from the wife’s obit.
Another oddity.
1) Was she coming or going at 445 am on Monday Jan 10
2) Did she have a ticket on a the flight from DCA that left at 640 to NC
3) who was she with Sunday night.
4) who did she talk too in AZ at the meeting that included republicans.
5) Did she have a book deal pending to publish to raise money for brother who was in accident and had insurance running out.
6) Is husband going to be deposed by any committees in the house.
Manual or automatic transmission? Manual: Depress clutch (now out of gear, can 'roll' forward, but not fast. Otherwise, put it in the wrong gear (more likely to kill the engine than go forward because it will generally be in 2nd).
Automatic: Unlikely to cause significant forward motion: Park-Reverse-neutral-drive...Again, neutral is not likely to create a significant impact.
Now, if someone damaged a fuel rail and tampered with a couple of coil packs they might be able to get some flames...
Look again. The fence iron gets longer as you go toward the street, more than just a perspective thing.
I'd estimate a foot of drop from the garage door to the curb (not the street, which would add another 4 to 6 inches, judging by the tires on the vehicle parked next to it and depending where you were along the curb--It is higher at the alley entrance).
You'd need that much grade for runoff in case of a severe thunderstorm, too, as the whole square footage of the house and the 'yard' would have to drain away from the house or flood the garrage.
Note, too, there are a couple of significant ripples in the alley, really evident at the border between the pavers and the alley.
Here is the article that references the meeting in Az. If Ashley needed money for her brother, was in a cycle accident and broke his neck and had his insurance running out, she could have made a deal at this event. Pure speculation on my part.
(WMR) — Progress Energy lobbyist and ex-chief of staff to Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Ashley Westbrook Turton, opened the door of her BMW suburban utility vehicle a few minutes before 5 am on January 10. The 37-year old mother of three young children, including twin boys, and the wife of Dan Turton, President Obama’s chief liaison to the House of Representatives, was on her way to work. Later that day, an announcement would come from Duke Power that it was buying Progress Energy for $26 billion, creating the largest power utility in the United States.
Ashley Turton would never make it to work that day. Turton’s car was engulfed in flames after she turned the ignition. The Washington Metropolitan Police Department, which can always be counted on to come up with the best fiction any time there is a suspicious death with political implications, surmised that Turton’s car was involved in a “low-speed” crash in her garage with a work bench that triggered a chemical fire. But to top it all off, the police said an “unknown medical condition” was also likely involved in what was described as a “freaky” accident.
Turton’s short biography in the funeral service guide reads: “Ashley Westbrook Turton was born in Greensboro, NC; graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh in 1991 and from North Carolina State University in 1997. After working for Gov. James B. Hunt in NC, Ashley came to Washington, DC, in April 2000 to work as director of communications for the Honorable Rosa DeLauro, and later became her chief of staff. Since 2007, she has been manager of Federal Affairs for Progress Energy Service Company.”
Based on the presence of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, and former Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) at Turton’s funeral service on January 14 at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, there is little doubt that Turton and her husband were a “power couple” in the nation’s capital. But there was also a sense from those in attendance, including members of Ashley Turton’s family from North Carolina, that all the information about Ashley’s tragic death was not being brought forward by the police or the fire department.
In her eulogy of her former chief of staff, DeLauro spoke of someone who could exude the mannerisms of the “southern belle” but who was also politically attuned. DeLauro said that Ashley’s two favorite expressions belied her on-the-surface Southern charm: “shit fire” and “rat bastard.” DeLauro said that she had not heard such language “since Rahm Emanuel moved out of Stan’s and my basement.” DeLauro’s reference was to the rent-free use by Emanuel of her and her husband, Democratic lobbyist Stan Greenberg’s, townhouse, while Emanuel was a congressman from the Illinois 5th congressional district from 2003 to 2008.
DeLauro said she last saw Ashley Turton at her and Greenberg’s Christmas Party. DeLauro last communicated with Ashley Turton on January 5, the day the new Congress was sworn in. Ashley Turton was at a political event in Arizona where featured speakers included Democratic pollster and lobbyist James Carville, Greenberg’s business partner, and Karl Rove, the chief political adviser to President George W. Bush. Ashley Turton indicated to DeLauro that while she would probably attend Carville’s session, she probably would not bother with Rove’s.
Ashley Turton’s friends described in Turton a person who had an appetite for possible gossip. In some cases, while discussing a juicy bit of political rumor, Ashley Turton would tell her friends, usually over a glass of wine, that “this conversation needs to go out on the porch.” Ashley Turton confided in a close friend that she wanted to leave Washington and return to North Carolina to raise her family.
Considering Ashley Turton’s job as DeLauro’s chief of staff, legislative aide, and press secretary for a number of years; Emanuel’s use of DeLauro’s townhouse while he was a member of the House and in charge of doling out or withholding Democratic Party funds to candidates around the country; the presence of Greenberg’s partner Carville and Rove at the Arizona political confab attended by Ashley Turton’s just five days before her suspicious death, the question will always remain: What “juicy gossip” might have Ashley Turton taken with her to the grave?
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2011 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
It is pretty certain they killed her instead of him
Vince Foster all over again with a twist
For the record
Considering all the separate police departments that function in DC, there must be more LEOs in that part of Washington than any "news" agency or neighbor with a celcam can get around.
Where is Julian Assange when we need him! Someone must have a photo of the 'distraught' father.
Why was this guy taking pictures of a nondescript garage and back porch? The picture itself isn't even coffee table book quality so what was the motive? I don't see a "for sale" sign out front so that wasn't the motive. Is he the home insurance agent or the tax appraisal dude or a stalker? Or maybe he's a hit guy who gets his jollies from before and after pictures? Something else timeline wise - does hubby normally park his car on the street and move it in later? Did he leave it out to give her room to pull in? Or was it out because he was doing something in the driveway and needed room? Do the kids play on the drive? Was he leaving room to later take out the garbage? Sometime in the 12 hours, his car was pulled into the driveway. If he planned to off his wife, he would have left his car on the street so that might let him off the hook though the insurance would buy him a new one, whatever. Still, I wonder what went on in those 12 hours.
That first online guest book has already closed down or something because it was asking me for $$ to open it. The second only has 5 entries. How many went to her service? Could people in the know be distancing themselves?
Thank you, a great link that shows all of the reaches by so many to explain a mystery. If i could have one question answered it would be was she leaving for work or coming home..
As the photographer asked “what are the odds?”
Slim to none? Why take a picture of the side of a house showing the garage in which a fire would claim someone’s life 12 hrs later?
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