8 PMEngineer March 2003

The Verdict Is In

Y ou may recall that last month I provid-ed the basic information in a murdertrial. Did the husband drown his wife

in the water closet, or did she commit suicideby taking a drug overdose? The dimensions ofa water closet became an important factor forthe forensic engineer to consider in evaluat-ing the possibility of a crime.

Another factor that is extremely impor-tant in evaluating a situation is whether asimilar event has occurred in the past. TheInternet is a wonderful tool for doingresearch. For this case, the Internet provideda wealth of information on deaths in andaround a water closet. What may surprisemany is the number of deaths that have beenrecorded in a bathroom.

If you think back to the 1960s, during theera of heavy drug use, there were a number ofdeaths by drug overdose that occurred in abathroom. A person would shoot up andthen die of an overdose. There were recordedcases of people dead, sitting on the watercloset, slumped over against the wall. Manycases found the victim lying alongside thewater closet, dead. Some very old cases wererecorded of drunks falling and hitting theirhead on the vitreous china bowl, and foundlying dead beside the water closet.

There were also accounts of drowning inthe water closet. The most prevalent were ofsmall children or babies drowning in thebowl. This, of course, made sense, since thesize of a small child would allow the entirebody to enter the bowl. Some cases were acci-dental, while others were of children beingmurdered.

Of all of the deaths in the bathroom, therewas not one recorded case of an adult female(or male) being found dead with her/his headstill in the bowl of the water closet. The lawsof gravity work against this possibility bypulling the body away from the bowl andonto the floor.

This was important information thatwould support the testimony of other expertsthat could explain the movements of a

human body. Remember that the husbandhad testified that he found his wife with herhead in the toilet.

Autopsy reports and crime scene reportscan also provide important information tothe forensic engineer. Most autopsy reportsand crime scene reports include photographs.A stack of these photos and reports arrived inmy office from the district attorney. The firstphotograph I looked at was an autopsy photoof the neck of the victim. What was immedi-ately obvious was the bruise on the victim’sneck. But it wasn’t just any bruise; this bruisewas clearly in the shape of the rim of thewater closet bowl. As soon as I looked at thephoto, I could see the rim of the bowl.

The autopsy report indicated no other out-ward signs of damage around the head orneck. There is always the possibility of abruise occurring when someone falls and hitsthe rim of a water closet. However, the place-ment of the bruise was such that the victimwould have had to fall in the exact positiononto the bowl. The bowl opening is also small,as we previously identified—14 inches wide. Ifsomeone fell and received such a bruise, orhad convulsions from taking a drug overdose,you would also expect to see other bruising orbumps on the head. There were none.

Considering the information on the bowldimensions, the size of the human head andshoulders, the research of past deaths in abathroom, and the bruise on the neck, itwould be easy for a forensic engineer to sitback and think that this is enough to provethat someone drowned in the water closet.However, that’s a mistake that cannot bemade in forensic engineering. You never stoplooking and evaluating.

As the trial began, I started to re-review thecrime scene photos and reports. That is whenI had an “Oh my God!” moment. As I lookedat the photo of the water closet, I quickly real-ized what I had missed all along. The photo-graph showed the bowl with vomit still visi-ble—an indication that the water closet hadnot been flushed.

The dimensions of

a water closet are

an important fac-

tor for the forensic

engineer to consid-

er in evaluating the

possibility of a

crime.

Codes

JUL

IUS

BA

LL

AN

CO

Ballanco 3/03 3/3/03 6:33 PM Page 8

10 PMEngineer March 2003

Codes

I looked closer at the bowl and noticed that the water(and possible lack of routine cleaning) had left a distinctivewater level mark. This is a clear indication of where the waterlevel is situated in the bowl. In the photograph, the water lev-el was approximately 1/4 inchbelow the watermark. This meansthat water had been displaced fromthe bowl.

It would be easy to jump to con-clusions and determine that thewater displacement was from thevictim’s head being forced under thewater. But, again, the job of theforensic engineer is to determineevery other possible cause of waterdisplacement. This is where theplumbing code comes into play.

The reason the drainage systemis vented is to protect the trap seal.However, it is still possible to losewater in a trap seal with a properlyvented system. The first possibility would be that the vent sys-tem allowed a pressure fluctuation of 1/4 to 1/2 inch of awater column. This is permitted by every plumbing code. Theproblem with this consideration was that the watermark in

the bowl would not be located at the upper level. If such fluc-tuation occurred, the watermark should be at the lower level.

The other possibility was a strong wind condition that cre-ated a venturi effect, siphoning off a part of the trap seal. For

a venturi effect on most drainagesystem installations, the windwould have to be very strong—inthe neighborhood of 45 to 50mph. Hence, it was important tocheck the weather conditions onthe morning of the murder or sui-cide. The investigating detectiveindicated that there was wind thatmorning, but only about 10 to 15mph. Clearly not strong enoughfor a venturi effect to siphon 1/4inch off the trap seal.

Next, it was important to deter-mine how much water was dis-placed in the bowl. When some-thing is forced into the water spot

of the water closet, the water rises on both sides of the trap.At the weir of the trap, the water flows down the drain whilethe trap seal attempts to equalize. When doing a calculationof the water displacement, it was determined that between 16and 24 oz. of water was displaced. Using the lower value, thatequates to a pint of water. Without saying, imagine howmuch of your face can account for a pint of water.

All of this information was brought out during the trial.The district attorney used this testimony and the testimonyof the other experts to show how the wife could not havepossibly committed suicide. He concluded that the husbandtried to first drug his wife, and then when she went to vomitthe drugs in the water closet, the husband panicked andforced her head under water in the bowl, drowning her.

The jury deliberated for nine hours before returning averdict of guilty of murder one. All of the forensic evidenceassisted the district attorney in proving, beyond a reasonabledoubt, that the husband murdered his wife.

As you can see, the codes and standards play an importantrole in forensic engineering.

Julius Ballanco, P.E., is Editorial Director of PM Engineerand president of J.B. Engineering and Code Consulting P.C. inMunster, IN. He can be reached by e-mail atjbengineer@aol.com.

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Guilty of murder one—

thanks to our

codes and standards.

Ballanco 3/03 3/3/03 6:34 PM Page 10