Posted on 08/07/2013 4:22:07 PM PDT by xzins
Preliminary autopsy results on two New Brunswick boys who were killed after an African rock python escaped its enclosure in Campbellton, N.B., show they died from asphyxiation, RCMP say.
The pathologist completed the autopsies on Noah and Connor Barthe on Tuesday.
"At least right now we have a cause of death. Even though we still need some reports from the pathologist to be forwarded, that's going to help the investigation to move forward," RCMP Sgt. Alain Tremblay told CBC News.
Tremblay said in a statement that police are aware the case has "touched the hearts of people across the world" and that people are eager to know how the deaths could have happened.
"Our investigators are looking at all aspects of this tragic incident, and that will take some time," he said of the investigation into the deaths of Noah, 4, and Connor, 6.
The statement from the RCMP said that police have also gleaned some information from the necropsy performed on the python, which had been euthanized.
"It appears the snake was overall in good health, although the final report will take time to come back," the statement said. Boys' python deaths raise questions over exotic animal laws Boys in python case lived life 'to a maximum'
The case is still being treated as a criminal investigation. Tremblay told CBC News that the case is unique, and will involve a learning process for investigators and the pathologists involved in the case.
Police remained at Reptile Ocean in Campbellton, N.B., on Wednesday and officers left carrying two paper bags from inside the cordoned off shop, reported CBC's Michael Dick.
Provincial conservation officers were also on site into the afternoon, with at least two trucks backed up to the shop, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
These boys need to be checked for signs of various kinds of abuse which would be a motive for "death by snake."
"Death by snake" might just be the perfect crime
ping
ping
Death by pit bull makes less global headlines, but even those dogs tend to be fairly predictable. A snake is always a snake.
I still don’t get how the snake managed to kill BOTH of them. Very suspicious.
Even taking them to the farm to get covered with animal smell is suspicious.
When you think about it it would be very difficult if not impossible to prove intent. The only thing that doesn’t quite add up is that the snake was able to constrict two children either at the same time or one at a time without any of them waking up and screaming. Just seems hard to believe.
A snake is always a snake which is precisely why this is so bizarre.
Snakes kill to eat, not for kicks or self defense.
“Asphyxiation” is too general.
There will be internal hemmorhages and possibly damaged bones.
I watch Boas who are nowhere remotely close to that size eat dead rats every week and they hardly bother to constrict and those things look a frightful mess, even after a half-hearted token squeezing.
Puny little Ball pythons “pop” the eyes of live mice every time they constrict them.
Honestly, this just flies in the face of everything I and fellow herpers understand to be normal.
My great concern is that public prejudice is going to let somebody get away with murder.
I hope I’m wrong, whichever way it goes.
On feeding night, I wipe my hands with sanitizer to remove any residual petting the dogs smell and use long forceps to present the thawed rats to my snakes.
When they see me bring in the ratsicles for thawing, they all start “cruising” their homes and hours later when it’s supper time, they’re in full feeding mode.
I don’t dare poke in a rat or dog scented hand.
All snake people know this.
If they were asleep, it would be very possible for the snake to kill both, but I still don’t see it as a likely occurance.
Large snakes don’t eat often, and twice in one day seems far fetched.
I should video one of my Boas grabbing their supper.
It’s not a subtle or gentle thing.
It’s quite noisy, in fact.
Sexual abuse is one of the foremost motives that I can see for killing the boys. Photos of them in their underwear is a disturbing picture.
Was your screen capture about a criminal ever shown to be a different man than the one with the boys and the python?
If the snake fell on them, it's conceivable how it could grip 1 child in its coils, but unless the two boys were sleeping closely together embracing each other, one or the other child would wake up from the disturbance and retreat or at least cry out.
Both getting killed is like falling on your own knife - twice.
“There will be internal hemmorhages and possibly damaged bones.”
I think you are right. You probably know all this, but African rock pythons are supposedly very, very strong, maybe the strongest of the really big snakes. I recall a Steve Irwin episode with him in Africa rolling around with one of these, he said something like the strength of the thing blew the other big snakes away in his experience. I looked up some sites because I wanted to know if I was remembering this right, a few places enthusiasts said that the ‘afrock’ muscle fibers are very, very dense compared with some of the big snakes.
Also they supposedly can be very aggressive, but not sure how that would connect with this strange story. I know some little kids can very sound sleepers, and don’t know if they were sleeping close enough together where the coils would somehow get both at once.
Freegards
I read a story a few years back about a guy who got constricted by a python. He was rescued in the nick of time, but I think he had several broken ribs and the whites of his eyes were no longer white in the photo taken shortly after the attack - it looked like every blood vessel in his eyeballs must have burst.
I don't believe this story for one second.
That is where I just stop cold too : /
I wondered on another thread; and hesitated to continue on til the autopsy results came back : /
I just cannot figure how no one heard 100lbs of snake falling through the ceiling, or how the snake was able to silence BOTH boys!
Sal, as our resident snakie expert :) I hope you can answer some of these niggling questions I have : /
Does the snake have to bite and lock on in order to constrict? If so, I just can’t see anyone silently succumbing to being bitten, let alone two little kids!
Another, if a snake is “startled” or defensive, do they generally bite and run like heck on his little snakie ribs, or just bite and constrict, to make sure?
And finally, IF they defensively bite and constrict, do they GENERALLY go ahead and eat anyway, or do they leave the unwise victim? I guess the shorter version is , do they eat if they are not hungry?
This whole thing just bothers me, and not creepy don’t like snakes kinda bother...more how in the heck did BOTH of these children die so quietly, that no one heard : /
Just can’t imagine that at least one of them, and honestly, both, would have been screaming...
So, so very troubling, and unimaginably sad.
Tatt
I don't get that.
Like others have said, snakes aren't known for killing just for pleasure. Very few animals do.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.