I’m sorry, this post title is totally inappropriate. But since it is just between us, no one who knew the victim should be offended. And at this point it remains unclear who the victim truly is.
I’m obliquely referring to the mention I gave a couple of days ago about the “suicide” of Joy, the girlfriend of long time expat “Flanno”. He claims he found her hanging in the bedroom, the family insists she was murdered. The police have since arrested him and are indeed pursuing the case as a homicide.
Well, this is big news in my small town. The internet forums and Facebook are burning up with accusations, speculations, claims and counterclaims. I remain firmly in the camp of “innocent until proven guilty”, but this being the Philippines and the suspect being a foreigner, I doubt it will work that way. Perhaps most disconcerting are some of the photographs the family has posted of the deceased. I’ve commented before that it is apparently culturally appropriate for Filipinos to take pictures of dead family members. I don’t have to like it or agree with it, it is jut the way it is done here. I did have the misfortune to view some of them on Facebook, including ones of Joy’s body at the crime scene. Yuck!
Anyway, the family is arguing that scratches on Joy’s leg are evidence that she was dragged and are not consistent with death by hanging. I don’t know about that. But this photo from a news report made me go “hmm”.
I feel bad for Joy’s three young children, including the six year old that discovered her lifeless body. May she rest in peace and may justice prevail, whatever that may prove to be.
The news of another death on the other side of the world (Maryland, USA) also hit kind of close to home. A woman died of hyperthermia while hiking near Bethesda on a two mile path called the “Billy Goat Trail”. The temperature was apparently in the high 90’s at the time.
Judging by the photograph she wasn’t in very good shape. And it appears that like me, she enjoyed vaping. I’m sure that was unrelated though.
It sounds like she was doing all the right things–drinking plenty of water, taking periodic rest breaks and the like. But still the heat was too much for her body to overcome. Well, damn. It gets hot here too. And I often get shortness of breath when climbing the surrounding mountains. I attribute that to my COPD though. Anyway, I’ve never heard of anyone in these parts dying from the heat so I’m not going to worry about it overmuch. I do try and be prudent by not walking during the hottest parts of the day. So I don’t think I’ll be updating my “top 10 ways I’m likely to die in the Philippines” just yet.
What else? Well, hat’s off to Kevin Kim for his funny photoshop to a picture I took of Monday’s flood at Johansson’s.
Yesterday morning I took a walk down Baloy Beach Road. I was surprised at just what a pigsty it has become:
And that’s all she wrote. Er, well, he wrote. For now anyway.
If that’s the same Billy Goat Trail I’m thinking of, then I’ve done that trail! Great Falls Park? It’s an awesome path, and not nearly as dangerous as one might think. There are some parts where you’re either hand-and-footing your way over craggy rocks, or jumping from rock to rock (hence the trail’s name), but nothing that even an out-of-shape guy like me can’t handle. That said, hyperthermia can come about for any number of reasons; I’m sorry to hear this woman paid for her hike with her life.
Will be curious to learn the outcome of the police investigation into the murder-or-suicide. As you say: innocent until proven guilty.
Yeah, I was thinking you probably knew that trail since it is in your (former) neck of the woods. I think you are right, hyperthermia is probably situational and related to individual’s ability to dissipate heat. Caution and awareness of the symptoms seem to be the wise course.
It’s too late to give advice to this startlingly young woman (32?!?), but for all people considering hiking in the heat, I’d say: know your limits!