Question about a suicide and news coverage

Saoirse

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In my current WIP, there are four "suicides" (that actually turn out to be murder) and there are Tarot cards left at the scene.

In the beginning, before it's discovered that they are murders, how would the news (TV, papers) go about covering this? I'm assuming they wouldn't say a whole lot, if anything. The thing is, I need my MC to find out about the Tarot cards in some manner. She is psychic, but I have her finding out several key points via her abilities and do not want this to become a situation where her psychic abilities do the work for her.

Also, I read somewhere else that the suicides would be considered homicide unless proved to be suicide? For plot reasons, that can't happen b/c then there wouldn't be anything for my MC to discover. How could I wok this so they are considered suicides until she proves that they are murder?
 

cornflake

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In my current WIP, there are four "suicides" (that actually turn out to be murder) and there are Tarot cards left at the scene.

In the beginning, before it's discovered that they are murders, how would the news (TV, papers) go about covering this? I'm assuming they wouldn't say a whole lot, if anything. The thing is, I need my MC to find out about the Tarot cards in some manner. She is psychic, but I have her finding out several key points via her abilities and do not want this to become a situation where her psychic abilities do the work for her.

Also, I read somewhere else that the suicides would be considered homicide unless proved to be suicide? For plot reasons, that can't happen b/c then there wouldn't be anything for my MC to discover. How could I wok this so they are considered suicides until she proves that they are murder?

If the cops investigate and get it wrong and decide it's suicide, but otherwise...

Every unexplained death is investigated.

As to the cards, that's not really going to happen either. Cops don't release scene info because it's useful for several things, like sorting false confessions, being able to question suspects, etc.,, and there's no point in releasing random details that no one would consider notable.
 

cornflake

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I think I need more details to help -- what does she need to find out about the cards? Does she know the people? Are they notable people for some reason? Does she know a cop?

As to it being declared a suicide, it's not like cops don't make mistakes. Is it staged? Is it just inept cops? I dunno what's going on.
 

Larry M

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I don't know if you'll find this relevant or helpful...

A friend of ours died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound (another friend told us our deceased friend's husband was out of town at the time, and she was believed to be home alone). The police released zero information to news media, and to this day (two years later), we have not found any news stories mentioning her death. No arrest was made, adding to the speculation that it was suicide. The only information we were able to find were online police reports that indicated police performed two welfare checks within a couple of hours, at her home address. The online police report indicates that an hour or so later, officers responded to two 'shots fired' phone calls at our friend's house.

We were told by another friend who is a police officer that this is how suicides are routinely handled - virtually no information released to news media.
 
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Anna Spargo-Ryan

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If they're suspected to be suicides from the beginning (notes left behind, testimony from family, the nature of the death) and aren't famous, the media probably wouldn't cover them at all.

I suspect the most common way to turn a homicide into a "suicide" is to murder a person in some way that's not immediately obvious (like poison or suffocation), then stage a suicide scene and hope no one investigates further. Could your psychic have some connection with a family member who mentions the card? Or what if a loved one wrote something online (a Facebook post? a blog?) about trying to understand why the tarot card might mean, and the psychic found it?
 

frimble3

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Does she know any of the families? Or someone who might bring their suspicions to her? But, yeah, I can't see the police releasing information to all and sundry. Which is why in most cozies the investigator is dating a cop.
Also, there is a stigma around suicide, so if the police aren't investigating a crime, there would be very little mention of it in the media. Unless it was very public - 'hanged himself from the water tower' public.
 

frimble3

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RE: Tarot cards. If the police are investigating, or at least checking things out, they might ask a local shop that carries that sort of thing about the tarot cards - did they sell them, do they carry them, is there something significant about them? Maybe your character shops there as well, and the owner mentions the police interest?
 

autumnleaf

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Sadly, suicide is very common and therefore is unlikely to make the news unless the person is famous or the circumstances are unusual.

Suicide-prevention groups issue guidelines for responsible reporting of suicide: https://www.samaritans.org/media-ce...e-journalists-suicide-reporting-dos-and-donts However, these guidelines are voluntary and not always adhered to. Additionally, a lot of news these days is disseminated via social media, frequently with distortions along the way.
 

EMaree

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Covering suicides in the news is heavily discouraged by mental health and suicide prevention charities.

Viewing news about people who commit suicide, particular the sort of reporting that's encouraged in the modern day (photos of the victim smiling and happy, accounts from the distraught family, gory details about what happened, how and why) are massively dangerous to other people who may be considering suicide.

News coverage solidly correlates with copycat incidents across all violent acts, including suicide, and when a suicide gets wide media coverage (eg a famous musician dies, or a tabloid rag decides a tragic/gory story is worth the clicks) suicide attempts and successes usually spike upwards.

I know it seems sad that doesn't make the news, but as acknowledged by Autumnleaf's link to the Samaritans guidelines, it's good that it doesn't.
 

autumnleaf

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I know it seems sad that doesn't make the news, but as acknowledged by Autumnleaf's link to the Samaritans guidelines, it's good that it doesn't.

Just to clarify, I meant it was sad that suicide is so common, rather than that it's not covered by the news.
 

Saoirse

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Thank you EMaree, autumnleaf, frimble3, Anna Spargo-Ryan, Larry M, and cornflake for your feedback. Much appreciated. I believe I have a plan of attack now. The MC will be brought unofficially into the investigation — once the police realize that the four suicides are suspicious — b/c of her psychic abilities. That's how she'll learn about the Tarot cards.

As for the suicides themselves, I can't really think of a good way to handle that except that the police don't think they warrant investigating till later. Or they do, and bring in my MC right away. I am on a tight deadline (it's due May 1st) and I can't rewrite the entire thing. This way it's at least more realistic than it was. :D
 

cornflake

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It's your thing, and it's fiction, but just so you know, so you can make decisions -- while I've heard of it in fiction and occasionally on news reports about victim families doing something, I have never heard of cops actually using psychics. Even if they do, they can't just tell them things about investigations that the public is not meant to know, or let them near crime scenes or etc.

As to the 'they don't think they warrant investigating' that just really doesn't happen. Unexplained deaths are investigated.
 

Saoirse

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Cornflake, I totally understand. The story is fantasy, so I think I can take a few liberties with it. And the thing about not warranting investigation... You're right. I will have them investigate it right away. Thank you for your feedback. :)
 

ironmikezero

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In most jurisdictions the cause of death (CoD) in unattended deaths is determined by a designated medical examiner (forensic pathologist). That information will or will not support a further determination of the status of the death that may otherwise be deemed suspicious (e.g., suicide, homicide, accidental, natural, etc.). The M.E.'s findings carry a great deal of weight legally.

Some jurisdictions have a coroner, who may or may not be a duly licensed forensic pathologist (if not, one is typically contracted to perform autopsies). A coroner will render a similar determination (sometimes referred to as a verdict) based upon the post-mortem examination.

Law enforcement agencies typically rely upon such determinations to classify deaths; most would avoid making any sort of premature public statements. There are civil liability concerns and the possibility of compromising an ensuing investigation.

A tarot card found at each scene (nice touch, BTW) would be information withheld from general knowledge (referenced only in classified/restricted reports) for the duration of the investigation. Someone with inside knowledge would have to leak the info.
 

frimble3

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Don't know your victims, your setting, or the circumstance, but: wouldn't four suicides close together would make the police suspicious, just by being a clumping of statistics?

One might be a suicide, but at the very least, if there were four close together (aside from the whole, horrible 'copycat suicide' aspect) wouldn't the police want to find out what triggered it, and if there are other people at risk? I don't imagine that a 'suicide pact' is something that would be unconsidered.
Or, one of the victim's family is considering it, and hires the psychic?
 

DarienW

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Great topic! Some interesting info, and great suggestions. Just wanted to add that psychics do work with cops occasionally. There's a true-crime show called Psychic Detectives. From what I've observed watching the show, the psychic may call the cops after having a vision, and in the OP's case, she would probably ask about the tarot cards, giving the cops reason to question her. They may even suspect her being involved.

Best of luck with your story!

:)
 

cornflake

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Don't know your victims, your setting, or the circumstance, but: wouldn't four suicides close together would make the police suspicious, just by being a clumping of statistics?

One might be a suicide, but at the very least, if there were four close together (aside from the whole, horrible 'copycat suicide' aspect) wouldn't the police want to find out what triggered it, and if there are other people at risk? I don't imagine that a 'suicide pact' is something that would be unconsidered.
Or, one of the victim's family is considering it, and hires the psychic?

As the song says, suicide's contagious. There's also certainly the possibility of staging, which does go unnoticed by cops sometimes (sometimes you can't quite believe it did but it happens). Also demographics and everything else play into everything. A bunch of suicides amongst an at-risk population in an economically-depressed town probably wouldn't raise eyebrows.

Great topic! Some interesting info, and great suggestions. Just wanted to add that psychics do work with cops occasionally. There's a true-crime show called Psychic Detectives. From what I've observed watching the show, the psychic may call the cops after having a vision, and in the OP's case, she would probably ask about the tarot cards, giving the cops reason to question her. They may even suspect her being involved.

Best of luck with your story!

:)

Oh, psychics call cops all the time. I've not met a cop or le officer of any stripe who'd do anything but roll his or her eyes at it, same as at the other calls they get from nutters. If someone calls and drops info about a scene that hasn't been released, yeah, no one is thinking, 'wow, this person must really be psychic!' They're thinking the person is a suspect.
 

DarienW

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Oh, psychics call cops all the time. I've not met a cop or le officer of any stripe who'd do anything but roll his or her eyes at it, same as at the other calls they get from nutters. If someone calls and drops info about a scene that hasn't been released, yeah, no one is thinking, 'wow, this person must really be psychic!' They're thinking the person is a suspect.

They do reflect on the show how cops don't really respect psychics. A lot of the shows focus on dead end cases where the cops don't have anything to lose as well. By the end, the cops aren't always convinced, but a lot of bodies and murderers did get found. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the supernatural, LOL! I did mention they would initially see her as a suspect, but an iron clad alibi could fix that.

Anywho, for a fantasy story, I wouldn't question them giving the psychic a shot.

:)
 

WeaselFire

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In the beginning, before it's discovered that they are murders, how would the news (TV, papers) go about covering this? I'm assuming they wouldn't say a whole lot, if anything.

They will sensationalize everything. But they will have whatever facts the police spokesman releases, unless you get a journalist who investigates, and none will in today's fast-paced media.

Also, I read somewhere else that the suicides would be considered homicide unless proved to be suicide?

Suicides are ALWAYS homicides. It's just hard to prosecute the murderer when they're dead.

How could I wok this so they are considered suicides until she proves that they are murder?

Don't leave tarot cards then. That's a dead giveaway to a serial murder. The most inept cop on the planet wouldn't miss that one.

Jeff
 

Twick

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Don't leave tarot cards then. That's a dead giveaway to a serial murder. The most inept cop on the planet wouldn't miss that one.

Jeff

Well, the first card could just be happenstance. There's probably lots of ephemera left from the victim's life at home, or just blowing along the ground if it happens outside.

Second card? Hmm, strange coincidence, the investigator might think, if s/he's the same one who attended the previous death.

Third card - hey, wait a minute, what's going on here...

Fourth card - even if no one's officially connected the cases in the media, I could see an investigator going to someone known to the police as a psychic (even if they don't believe it officially) to ask about what these cards mean, and if they seem to be leaving a message.