Hanging Chad

Warning: violence with sexual themes.

“Back in the day, a case like this would have been cut-and-dried, wrapped up in a day or two. We would have called it suicide by hanging — end of story. These days, however, everything’s more complicated. In my opinion, what we see here is not a suicide nor is it a murder. However, and because of who the victim is, there will be demands in the department to call it murder.”

Cassie Mulroy was speaking to me, quietly but firmly. She was the lead detective in the police department. She had been serving for more than 20 years and when she thought out loud about any details of a case, everyone paid attention. Respect was due her and I was listening intently. 

My name is Claire and I was relatively new to the police department. I was shadowing Cassie for a couple of weeks to decide whether I wanted to apply for an open detective position. I had no idea exactly where Cassie was heading but I was confident that she would go into more detail when she was so inclined. We were standing in the living room of the luxurious home of Chad Barnes, a well known talk-show host in town. He had been unable to greet us when we rang the doorbell because he was hanging by a rope from the living room chandelier and blood was starting to pool in his legs.

The 911 operator had taken a call earlier in the evening about Barnes from his executive assistant, Benton Marquis. Benton had been unsuccessfully trying to reach Chad's cell for more than an hour which was unusual. Immediately following the 911 call, the sergeant on duty alerted Cassie because of Chad's high profile. He was a controversial local celeb, a talk show host who had received death threats following some of his more provocative, on-air rants. 

This whole case was beginning to look like a pile of oily rags ready to ignite. I could see that Cassie was tense, rotating her gaze around the room and speaking in short sentences. Chad’s violent death had the potential to set off riots in town. This was not the first hot potato she had caught but I could see she was being careful about exactly where and how she dealt with it.

Cassie had picked me up at home on the way over to the Barnes’ mansion, thinking it would be an interesting experience for me. Cassie and I had arranged to met Marquis on the front lawn of Barnes’ home. He was in his 30’s, handsome, and very well dressed. Cassie was giving him the once over and trying to suss out how he fit into the picture. Lover perhaps? Ambitious subordinate on the make? Whatever? She ordered him to stay on the lawn while the two of us entered the house.

***

What we discovered, as mentioned earlier, rocked us back on our heels. Chad Barnes was hanging from the living room chandelier with a hangman’s noose around his neck. His body was tilted forward on the rope with his feet angled up. He was clearly dead. He was also naked from the waist down. The upper part of his body was adorned by a cashmere turtleneck covered by a tight red leather jacket. His left hand was clutching a pink tutu.

“Not a suicide, Cassie? Why?”

“First of all, look how he’s dressed or, more relevant, partly dressed. Women are often naked when they suicide. Men, almost never. Also there’s no note. Most importantly, look at the position of the body. He’s leaning forward into the noose. There is a rope burn and redness only on the front of his neck. If he had intended to hang himself, he probably would have jumped off a chair and his toes would be lifted off the ground, There would also be a 360° rope burn around his neck.”

“Also take a look at that wet spot on the carpet in front of him. We will order a lab test on it but I’m betting that it’s semen. He ejaculated shortly before death.”

“No,” Cassie continued. “I don’t think that we need to look too hard for a murderer. The case is now both simpler and more complicated. I need to think hard about how to proceed.”

I whipped out my cell and, without asking for permission from Cassie, took three quick shots of the hanging body. As it turned out, my lack of experience was beginning to show. 

“Personal pictures are absolutely not permitted in a murder investigation,” Cassie chastised me. “Everything found at a scene must be included in the official file. However, I will let this slide and chalk it off to your inexperience. Keep the photos but tell NO ONE what you’ve got on your cell.” 

“For the cause of death, I’m betting on autoerotic cerebral asphyxia.” Cassie continued. “I believe that this is a case of self-induced hypoxia accompanied by elements of transvestism. By leaning forward on the rope and putting pressure on his carotid arteries, the blood flow to the brain is reduced. The goal, I am told by the aficionado’s, is to increase the intensity of an orgasm by reducing oxygen to the brain.”

“But these guys don’t intend to kill themselves with this setup, do they,” I asked.

“Nope,” she replied. “Things sometimes get a little out of hand. No pun intended. He went into a dreamy orgasm and the partial asphyxia suppressed his normal instinct to save his dumb ass.”

***

Unknown to us and while we were discussing the case, Benton Marquis, who we had cautioned to stay outside, had entered the living room and saw the hanging corpse.

“Holy shit,” he screamed as he viewed Chad’s hanging body. “I had warned him to be careful with this stuff. But no, almost every night he’s into this. But I need to keep a clear head. We need to avoid any repercussions that might harm his talk show reputation and audience. I will save the day by taking over the program tomorrow and will tell the audience that Chad had a medical emergency and would return to the program soon. We’ll see where it goes.”

Benton then turned to Cassie and said aggressively: “I want a complete and total news embargo on all of this. If there is even a whisper of what happened, I will have your badge and your head.”

“That would be SOP,” Cassie replied. “But first, I want you to get yourself the hell out of here. Only police officials are allowed. You should not have even been inside. It’s going to be my ass for not having secured the property and allowing you to see all of this.”

Just then, there was a bustling sound and the Chief of Police rushed into the room. I noticed that Cassie did an eye-roll when she saw him coming. “OH BOY, here we go,” Cassie whispered under her breath. I took that to mean that his appearance at a crime scene was both unusual and unappreciated. She was even more on edge about what might happen next.

As the Chief entered the room, he passed Benton Marquis who was leaving because of Cassie’s order. We both heard the Chief say to him: “Thanks for the heads-up on this, Benton. Let’s keep in touch. We need to discuss how to manage this.”

The Chief then turned to Cassie and said: “What do we have here?”

“I call it an autoerotic asphyxia but we need to do some more canvassing of the property to confirm that,” she said.

“And who is your little friend here?”

“This is Claire. She is relatively new on the force and considering a career as a detective. She’s been shadowing me for a few weeks.”

The Chief then walked up carefully to the body. He quickly, and unexpectedly, yanked on the rope and secured it so that the body was now upright and suspended six inches over the floor. He grabbed Chad’s tutu and handed it to Cassie. 

“Put this in your car and burn it when you get home. Also, find a pair of pants in Chad’s bedroom and put them on him. Also, give me your Leica,” which Cassie then did. He opened it up, removed the memory card, and broke it in half as Cassie looked on in surprise and dismay.

“Cassie, my call is that this is a hanging, or perhaps even a lynching, of Barnes, perhaps by one of his enemies. Record the case as a probable homicide by hanging. And there will be no need for any more lab tests. I will also chat with our pathologist in the morning after the autopsy to make sure that he and I are seeing eye-to-eye on the details of the case. You are done here, Cassie. I'm now in charge.”

The Chief left the room, hunting for other evidence to support his theory of the case. Cassie turned to me and whispered: “Meet me in the Greek diner in fifteen minutes sharp. You know the one I mean. There is no CCTV in that neighborhood so there won’t be a video recording of our meeting. Sit in a back booth and cover your head with a knit cap.

***

As planned, Cassie and I later met in the Greek diner she mentioned. She looked more serious than usual as we sat down in a booth.

“First,” she commenced and without even taking a breath, “you resign from the Department when you get to work this morning at 8:00.”

“But why,” I asked, suddenly very concerned. “I was just a bystander to all this.”

“Wrong place, wrong time for you kid. You’re now very much in the Chief’s crosshairs. He will be moving quickly to redirect attention away from the real cause of death as soon as he gets to work. You need to resign before he can fire you for incompetence which he will do quickly and despite the fact that you were only a passive observer.”

“But what about you?” Claire said.

“He can’t touch me, at least for the present, as long as I go along with his little game. He might find the idea of firing me appealing later. Short term, it would raise suspicions if he were to shitcan a veteran detective like me connected to a fresh and controversial case.”

“Second, hightail it out of town before lunch. Don’t tell anyone where you are going. Not even family. Pay only with cash when you are on the road — no credit card trail.” She slid a brown bag over the counter. “Here's $5,000 in cash, a loan, to help you when you are on the road. Pay me back when you return.”

“Third,” she said as she slid a piece of paper across the formica table top, “here is the phone number of the lead investigative reporter for the local snooze. He’s a good man. Call him from a pay phone on the road. Tell him that you are a good Samaritan in the know about the Barnes case and that you learned about it from a friend. Tell him that you were not at the scene but know exactly what went down.”

“Fourth, go to a local drug store when you are on the road and print two sets of the pictures of the body on your cell. The Chief assumed that I would never allow such pictures to be taken because I always work by the book but I did make an exception for you. Lucky for us — these shots will save our asses.”

“Send one set of the prints to the reporter. Keep the other set as a backup in your pocket. Smash your phone and scatter the parts by the side of the road. Call me in about three months from a pay phone for an update. I will tell you when it’s safe for you to return to town.”

“Fifth, I need to set up a distraction here so that there will be less attention on you being AWOL and also on my role. You’re an unlikely candidate as a suspect in what they will now describe as the murder of Chad Barnes. However, Benton Marquis has both motive and opportunity so he’s a suspect. I am also betting that we will find his fingerprints on the front door knob of the house. Benton’s will be MY primary suspect for the crime. This will cause further confusion.”

“Good luck, kid. Take off. Sorry for all of this.” Cassie then quickly walked out the front door of the diner.

***

On the road, I was following the local newspaper on-line with my new cell phone. Five days later, the front page headline read, Hanging Chad, accompanied by the pictures I had sent to the reporter. The accompanying story said that there had been an official hearing with both the Chief and Cassie deposed. The story also noted that the images provided to the newspaper by an anonymous source were reviewed by experts who ruled out any possibility that they had been photoshopped.

Cassie testified under oath that she had seen the Chief messing around with the evidence and that she had also stipulated that she did not support the finding of murder and possible lynching. At the end of the hearing, the Chief ended up sitting in one of his own jail cells. Cassie was subsequently appointed as interim Chief of Police, a move that the City Council members had wholeheartedly endorsed.

I called Cassie to congratulate her from the cheap motel where I was staying in Arizona after I read the newspaper article. She spoke to me tersely: “Your badge is waiting for you back here. Please return the money I loaned to you but don’t mention it to anybody. It could be perceived as a bribe. I also have you down as the newest detective in the department. This was a helluva job orientation for you. I have some similar tales to tell but I am not in the mood to share them with you right now.”