I need to make a suicide look like an accident

There was a TV procedural where a person committed suicide by putting the handle end of a kitchen knife into a door jamb and slammed the blade into their back. They were attempting to fake a murder so their family could get their life insurance (which is voided by suicide).

I also recall one of those police "gun round-ups" where they'll take weapons in, no questions asked. A woman called about a gun she'd inherited from a relative and set in her closet. The officers who came to get it nearly flipped. It was a military-grade automatic she'd set on a top shelf, without realizing it was loaded, as she didn't know anything about guns. No safety engaged. If it had fallen off the shelf, it could have fired easily, through the door, and through anyone close enough to be in range. They said it was more common than people think, as people who inherit firearms often don't want them, but don't know how to dispose of them, so they try and "store them safely." A set-up like that might be a believable story for accidental shooting.

Thomas Vail said:

No, my post was right, so there's no need to google anything. You didn't pay attention to the post I was responding to. 'Accidentally' shooting yourself while cleaning your gun has as much to do with actually cleaning a firearm as 'eating your gun' has to do with making dinner. It's a euphemism for suicide, and would make a pretty lousy setup for 'oh my god, it wasn't an accident, it was really suicide.'

Not to mention, if you're unfamiliar with how firearms work, you really can't clean a loaded gun. The rounds would get in the way as you're trying to clean the action, chamber, and barrel 1: telling you that you're doing the whole thing very, very incorrectly, 2: you're doing something as safe as cleaning the inside of a lawnmower while the blades are spinning. That's why I gave a 1% chance for lethal stupidity.

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Never cleaned a Glock have you? The first step is removing the magazine, rack the slide to eject the chambered round, then pulling the trigger to release the internal connector for disassembly. Dozens of people every year manage to pull the trigger with a round in the chamber and hit themselves or others. And that's just cleaning a gun, there are plenty more accidents with firearms that can be lethal.

Carelessness applies to everything, distractions are always present and even the pros are not immune to negligent discharges. And deaths from negligent discharges, for 2015, were about 500 in the US. These are classified as such by the law enforcement agencies and medical examiners investigating them. Closer to 10,000 are classified as suicides, as determined again by the authorities investigating them. There wouldn't be a classification to put those 500 deaths into if they were all so obviously suicides.

Not arguing anymore, neither of us are writing this and It's not my task to make someone use this for a faked suicide.

Jeff

Just a thought - making it seem like a murder seems like a horrible idea. The last thing you want is an investigator looking into the death at the level of detail and cross reference a murder investigation entails. Accidental death is definitely the way to go.

tenuki said:

Just a thought - making it seem like a murder seems like a horrible idea. The last thing you want is an investigator looking into the death at the level of detail and cross reference a murder investigation entails. Accidental death is definitely the way to go.

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I never though of that aspect. I automatically thought of making a suicide look like murder being to punish someone where a suicide wouldn't be punishment enough. As in a jilted woman getting back at her lover by both killing herself and framing her lover for the crime.

Dang! Stop giving me ideas for new mystery plots!

Jeff

What about a caffeine overdose? You can buy caffeine powder and the FDA has actually released statements warning people not to buy it in powder form because it's too dangerous. Link Just 1 teaspoon contains 4,706 mg of caffeine. If your character particularly likes coffee or caffeine beverages this could make it look like an accident. Your character would go into cardiac arrest.

At least two deaths have been officially reported from overdosing on caffeine powder when accidentally ingested 2 spoonfuls.

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Some caffeine-related deaths

Caffeine Overdose Documented Cases

Caffeine overdose does happen and has been documented. Here are some of the more recent cases resulting in death or hospitalization;

• 19-year-old James Stone dies after taking 25 to 30 No Doz pills in 2007. (at least 2.5 grams of caffeine)
• 40 Seagulls die from caffeine overdose in Canada this year from eating used coffee grinds.
• 17-year-old Jasmine Willis, a Durham, UK waitress overdosed by drinking 7 double espressos in 2007. She was taken to the hospital but recovered soon after. (that’s roughly 1.078 grams)
• In the late 1990’s an Australian woman, with a heart condition died after consuming a guarana based shot from her local health food store. This product is no longer on the market. (10g/liter, ok that’s just nuts!)
• 2010 a 23-year-old British man from Mansfield, England died after taking to 2 spoonfuls of pure caffeine powder washed down by an energy drink at a party. His death was ruled accidental.
• 2011 Fourteen-year-old Anais Fournier, died after she consumed two 24 ounce Monsters (480mg of caffeine) in a 24 hour period. The cause of death was a heart arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity. There seem to be some conflicting stories as to how much she really consumed and this seems true since 480mg in a 24 hour period isn’t a toxic amount. Update October 2012: Her parents are suing Monster Energy for wrongful death although the girl did have a known pre-existing heart condition.
• 2012 The FDA is investigating Monster Energy since the energy drink has been linked to five deaths over the past year.
• 2013: According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, energy drink-related ER visits have doubled in the last 4 years, however, 42% of these visits involved caffeine in combination with other drugs such as alcohol or other narcotics. src.
• 2013 a New Zealand woman died from cardiac arrhythmia associated with her 10 liter/day Coca-Cola habit. She also smoked 30 cigarettes a day and barely ate. Caffeine was a contributing factor, but the 900-1000mg daily dose wasn’t the only factor. src.
• 2013 A mother is suing Monster Energy for the death of her 19-year-old son, Alex Morris, after he died of cardiac arrest. She claims that he drank two 16 ounce Monsters the day before his death and at least two a day for the 3 years preceding his death. A California Coroner’s office reported that he died from cardiomyopathy and cardiac arrhythmia.
• October 2013: John Jackson from the UK dies after eating a whole tin of HERO Energy Mints. Each tin contains 12 mints, so he consumed 984mg of caffeine. He also had cirrhosis of the liver, which prevented him from processing the caffeine properly allowing it to build up in his bloodstream to lethal levels. (src.)
• March 2014: A 14-year-old boy from Norway was hospitalized with kidney failure after drinking 4 liters of a caffeine-laced energy drink while gaming for 16 hours straight. This would be around 1,280mg of caffeine if he was consuming a “Red Bull” like energy drink. (src.)
• September 2014: A Tennessee man was taken to the hospital after consuming 20 caffeine pills to “test the limits of his body” according to what the man told the paramedics. He ingested 4000 mg of caffeine at once. src.

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Top 10 Caffeine Overdose SymptomsHere are the usual symptoms in order from the first ones to be experienced to the more severe, later stage consequences.

1. Jitters, Restlessness, and Nervousness
2. Increased heartbeat
3. Nausea
4. Anxiety
5. Heart palpitations (cardiac arrhythmia)
6. Insomnia
7. Sweating
8. Dizziness
9. Vomiting
10. Cardiac arrest

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I guess the question is how visceral are you looking to make this? Because any of these suggestions would technically work.

Or you could go a more final destination route for how they set up their dead D: