Succinylcholine Chloride = The Perfect Murder?

[Loves Disney]

Okay, first of all I don't want you guys to think I'm promoting a murder or telling you all to go out and murder someone heh, you couldn't get your hands on the drug anyway. That is nearly impossible for even higher authorities.

Okay, now, In my forensic science class we were reading cases. I read one case where this man injected his wife with succinylcholine chloride (the fact that I know how to spell that amazes me still! lol) but anyway, this drug was used in the attempt to stage the perfect murder.

What it does is paralyzes the body while keeping the person conscious. The person injected with the drug can see hear and know what is going on but can't do a single thing...such as talk, move or blink. In fact, the heart beats SO slowly that a pulse is undectable. In fact, the drug itself is undectable. The effects of this drug make it appear as if the person had just had a heart attack. A medical examiner will suspect a heart attack occured and think nothing of the succinylcholine chloride (because of its rareness to people). Unless a specific test and analysis was done, no one would know the drug exsisted in the body.

Edgar Allen Poe wrote a story involving the same drug were a person was injected with it and was considered dead. They began to put the person 6 feet under and the poor person was still conscious and alive. The person knew he/she was being burried and yet couldn't do a single thing to stop it.

Now, what happened with the case I mentioned before, the body passed through an autopsy fine (possibly. I'm not exactly sure if the victim went through a first autopsy), the death certificate was signed, and the murderer got away...or so it seemed. Of course, any good murderer would know better than to involve others...however, he had dealt with his neighbor once before a while ago and she suspected the same thing could have happened. Well, the examiners did another autopsy and this time they tested specifically for the succinylcholine chloride. They found it and the man was found guilty.

The man was in a job that allowed his access to that drug. Not just anyone can get it.

However, had he never had dealings with his neighbor...he would have gotten away.

I don't think I could bear the thought of being injected with this drug, be burried alive, and then have the murderer run around free...so much is wrong with that picture, and yet, how is it that it's realistic?

Also...we know of the murders caught, but how many "perfect" murders do you think take place? I mean...we'd never know considering it's a "perfect" murder...

 

[Daisymae26]

Eck! That sounds perfectly horrible! I would hate to be injected with that and it makes me shiver to think that he could have gotten away with it. Do you know what it's supposed to be used for?

 

[IrishTink]

wow...

 

[Loves Disney]

Eck! That sounds perfectly horrible! I would hate to be injected with that and it makes me shiver to think that he could have gotten away with it. Do you know what it's supposed to be used for?

I believe it's used by anesthesiologists. That was the man's job. He had easy access to the drug so I'm assuming it's used as an alternative for anesthesia. I'm not too sure what the true purpose is.

I also know it's used as euthanisation in dogs.

 

[Babyjustrun]

IMHO that is the perfect murder. One thing I've noticed, is the minute someone else is involved in something, it's set up for failure.

 

[Loves Disney]

IMHO that is the perfect murder. One thing I've noticed, is the minute someone else is involved in something, it's set up for failure.

Exactly.

 

[Daisymae26]

I believe it's used by anesthesiologists. That was the man's job. He had easy access to the drug so I'm assuming it's used as an alternative for anesthesia. I'm not too sure what the true purpose is.

I also know it's used as euthanisation in dogs.

Oh okay, that makes sense. Thanks! It's just a little scary to think that that could happen if you were under that kind of anesthesia.

 

[Babyjustrun]

It's scary to think you can be put in that state. To be concious mentally, but not able to do anything about what was going on.
I've heard of this crime before, in story or something, but I'm not entirely sure where. It really sounds familar. But then again, everything does.

I've been taking an interest in murder cases, or cases in general, reading about how things work in court. Law kind of bores me and interests me in the same time. It's the more technical stuff that makes me snooze.

 

[Loves Disney]

My forensics class is extremely interesting. The cases, the crime scenes, the investigation...it's just so much fun.

We watched a film on how a crazy man (well I thought of him as crazy and I'm sure you will all agree with me) killed two kids. One 13 year old girl and one 14 year old boy. He was about 40 something.

Apparently he had assumed the position of being their friend and after a couple weeks of gaining their trust, he offered to take them for a ride around the countryside at midnight. The kids agreed (dumb mistake) and got in the car with him. He shot the boy twice and fell in "love" with the girl. However, his idea of love doesn't include a kiss or hug...more like decapitation and the removal of her hands...ick!!!!! he also madly stabbed her.

He was found by his criminal record of animal abuse (performing the same act as he did with the girl, to the animals.) Okay this man is gross, insane and crazy. They found a cooler filled with 20 dog heads and later discovered he decapitabed over 30 cats, 30 dogs, and some amount of other animals.

The man was found guilty and sentenced to the death penalty. His final words were, "I'm sorry" and before he entered the death room, he gave the parents of the children a letter begging for forgivenes...uh, how could parents forgive him considering the extent of what he did!? Weird man...

 

[Babyjustrun]

Wow.
That is crazy.
The kids shouldn't have gotten into the car.
I mean, you don't know a guy after two weeks. You just don't, if your parents don't know him or trust him that 's a no-no. I mean, the words 'midnight drive' just spell out a murder case.
It's sickening though, to know a guy would do that. I don't really believe that he's sorry, you don't kill two kids and a bunch of dogs and say you're sorry. It won't cut it.

 

[Dragonlord11_7]

What was that story called by Poe?

 

[Sparx]

It is the perfect murder. You would have to kill someone that people wouldn't expect to be murdered. As in, no one could know you have a problem with them. You would also have to have a secret access to this chemical, so no one would be able to say "well this could've happened, becuase they can get this stuff". You also would need to leave sometime after the murder, but not so soon that it would cause suspision.

I have the mind of a criminal. I know everyone thinks about it, maybe not as consiously as I think about it, but everyone thinks about it. I also see a bank and plan a bank robbery. When I go into a store, I plan out how to steal things. I have the part of my brain that criminals don't have, I have the little voice saying "no don't do that". But I do have the mind to plan out these things.

 

[Loves Disney]

What was that story called by Poe?

"The Premature Burial". It's classified as horror.

 

[Loves Disney]

It is the perfect murder. You would have to kill someone that people wouldn't expect to be murdered. As in, no one could know you have a problem with them. You would also have to have a secret access to this chemical, so no one would be able to say "well this could've happened, becuase they can get this stuff". You also would need to leave sometime after the murder, but not so soon that it would cause suspision.

I have the mind of a criminal. I know everyone thinks about it, maybe not as consiously as I think about it, but everyone thinks about it. I also see a bank and plan a bank robbery. When I go into a store, I plan out how to steal things. I have the part of my brain that criminals don't have, I have the little voice saying "no don't do that". But I do have the mind to plan out these things.

lol, are we to expect seeing you on the national news station someday with your life in the hands of a jury?! heh.

But to go back his plot...what made it even more perfect was that his wife complained of chest pains to the doctor the night before. They had every reason to believe it was a heart attack. The husband killed his wife and then called for help in a most convincing panic. If ONLY he didn't have a similar experience with his neighbor's husband and gain suspision in her (another story and case, lol).

 

[Dragonlord11_7]

"The Premature Burial". It's classified as horror.

Drat, looks like it doesn't have it. I'll dig up a copy of eventually. Sounds good. Thanks.

 

[Loves Disney]

Drat, looks like it doesn't have it. I'll dig up a copy of eventually. Sounds good. Thanks.

I haven't read it myself, only heard mention of it in the case description. Poe was a great author!! Very disturbed and drunk, but great!!

 

[AlleyKat]

Okay, now, In my forensic science class we were reading cases. I read one case where this man injected his wife with succinylcholine chloride (the fact that I know how to spell that amazes me still! lol) but anyway, this drug was used in the attempt to stage the perfect murder.
Now, what happened with the case I mentioned before, the body passed through an autopsy fine, the death certificate was signed, and the murderer got away...or so it seemed.

The murderer did indeed get away.
The pathologist in charge of the autopsy murdered the woman in question as she would have been been alive until the first incision.

 

[Loves Disney]

The murderer did indeed get away.
The pathologist in charge of the autopsy murdered the woman in question as she would have been been alive until the first incision.

He didn't get away. He was taken four months later into question after the neighbor confessed what happened to her husband.

Four months after the murder had taken place, this man was with another woman. What had happened previously with the neighbor and her husband was this: The neighbor asked the doctor (the murderer) for assistance. He injected the husband with the drug and then strangled him. That was what had happened a while before. He got away with that. Now, the neighbor confessed that happening and suggested the assumption that he did the same to his wife. They considered the assumption and did a second autopsy. They found the drug present in her body and accused him of murder to his wife and the husband of his neighbor. He was found not guilty on the charges of mudering his neighbor's husband, but was found guilty for the murder of his wife.

 

[Mickey1122]

This is a really interesting thread. The drug reminds me of one in the Agatha Christie books: hycosine. The difference is that you actually die, it just looks like heart failure. It does seem like the 'perfect murder.' I am very familiar with the Agatha Christie books and shows like Murder, She Wrote. Murder, She Wrote is designed so that if you pay close enough attention you can figure it out yourself. That's why I like it so much. In each of these series, there was one case that stood above the rest as being close to 'perfect.' They almost got away, but Hercule Poirot and Jessica Fletcher did end up solving the cases.
1. In Agatha Christie's Curtain, the killer uses persuasion. He is really responsible for crimes that others commit. No one, even Poirot, has any proof that he did it. Had it not been for the murder of the murderer, he would have gone free.
2. This one is from Murder, She Wrote. I am extremely proud of myself for coming up with the solution to this one. (It was about the only thing that chemistry class was good for...) Anyway, a man was murdered in his office. All the doors were closed, and it appeared that he died of natural causes. Jessica had reason to believe that he had been murdered. It turned out that because Jessica found a perfume bottle in the wife's bathroom, a gift from the chemist, she was able to put it all together. A chemist would have access to colorless, odorless Nitrogen. They hooked it up through a lamp. Thi sis my favorite episode of the show and the closest to a perfect murder. I love how Jessica exclaims, "They almost got away with it!!!" She always catches the murderer.

These came to mind as I read through this thread, so I thought I'd share. Sorry if I gave too much of the storylines away-it's just that I haven't encountered too many teenagers who would be familiar with these two series.

 

[MuNkY]

...or throw them in an insinerator.