Mother raises questions over son's jail-cell death

Vanessa Murray isn't satisfied.

Ten years ago her son, John Lowell, 18, was found dead in a Cape Girardeau police jail cell. Officials called the death a suicide, stating he hanged himself from jail cell bars using his own pants.

She suspects the suicide was simply a cover-up for something far more brutal.

"I think he was roughed up," said Murray, of Sedgewickville, Mo. She believes officers beat up her son and, when he unexpectedly died on them, they staged a hanging. "If the police want to get away with murder, they can do something like this."

That accusation is something the police department flatly denies.

"I'm convinced what she's alleging did not happen," said police Chief Carl Kinnison, who was the department's public information officer in 1996.

Lowell was being held on city charges for failure to appear in court on charges marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession and trespassing.

On Sept. 18, 1996, Lowell and another inmate walked off while at a work-release program at the Cape Girardeau Recycling Center. Less than 15 minutes later, Lowell was recaptured and brought back to the police station, according to police reports.

The other escapee was also arrested, but became combative and was placed into a padded room while Lowell was secured in cell at 12:45 p.m. A jailer escorting an inmate back through the jail at 2:10 p.m. found Lowell hanging by the pant legs of his jail-issued clothing, the report stated.

Murray said her son had no reason to commit suicide.

"I have never believed this," she said. "He was talking about the future."

But Kinnison cited a Texas homicide in which Lowell was implicated.

In November 1996, Benjamin J. Keele and Christopher Jolley, both of Cape Girardeau, were charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a Mineral Wells, Texas, convenience store clerk, the Southeast Missourian reported.

Police told the Missourian that Lowell was involved in the March 30, 1996, slaying.

"I think he realized he was getting ready to face a very serious murder charge and the possibility of the death penalty in Texas," Kinnison said of Lowell's possible reasons to kill himself.

The decade-old death has caught the attention of some professionals.

Ed Friedlander, chairman of the Pathology Department at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, said Lowell's death would be presented to students as a case study.

"I like them to learn pathology with real cases," he said.

Friedlander said he was interested in the death, but declined to comment further on it. The case was mentioned to him by Murray.

The FBI was also reviewing the case to determine whether an investigation should be opened, said local Special Agent Tom Blades.

The case was recently brought to the FBI by Murray, and the bureau would go over several documents such as the police reports. Blades said the case was being reviewed just as any other brought to the FBI's attention.

Murray's suspicions of foul play are furthered aroused since there was no inquest following the death.

"It's like a mini trial of sorts," John Clifton said of inquests, which through the use of witnesses and a jury, determine what caused a death. As coroner for Cape Girardeau County, it is Clifton's decision if an inquest will be held.

The coroner at the time of Lowell's death, the late John Carpenter, did not schedule an inquest, something Clifton said surprised him.

"If there's a custodial death, I think it would behoove the coroner to call an inquest," he said. If in his tenure as coroner there is a jail death, Clifton said he would call an inquest.

Murray was also upset no internal investigation was done.

"There was no indication of employee misconduct" that would prompt such an investigation, according to Kinnison.

Murray cited markings on her son's face and a black eye, but Kinnison suspected the facial injuries may have been caused in his flight from custody.

"He could have received those running through rock and wooded areas in his effort to escape," the chief said.

Dr. Michael Zaricor, the pathologist who performed Lowell's autopsy in Farmington, Mo., said those injuries were superficial and would not have attributed to his death.

Murray also pointed out nearly seven ounces of bloody fluid was noted in the autopsy report. Such fluid could be from a hemorrhage of the throat which is seen in hangings, Zaricor said.

Visible injuries to Lowell's neck were not consistent with research Murray said she has done on hangings.

Zaricor said any inconsistencies of the injuries around the neck could be attributed to his feet, which likely touched the ground, sliding and shifting the weight of his body around.

The suicide determination was partially based on a reported earlier suicide attempt, according to Murray. She recalled a February 1996 incident in which she found her son high on drugs. Not knowing what to do and not suspecting narcotics, she called for an ambulance.

That was experimentation, not a suicide attempt, Murray said.

But Zaricor said that even with Murray's updated version of her son's medical history, his autopsy results remain the same.

"Everything is consistent with suicide," Zaricor said, adding that there were no injuries to indicate someone beat or bound Lowell.

Since Lowell's death, there have been a few changes in the jail, according to Kinnison

"We do have more jailers ... more coverage in the jail for a longer period of time now," he said.

Three jailers are on duty most days between 7 a.m. to about 8 or 10 p.m., he said. The station commander on the midnight shift then makes hourly checks and can also keep tabs on the jail using a new surveillance system that digitally records sound and video.

In 1996, the cameras used in the jail were purely for monitoring and did not record, according to police spokesman Jason Selzer.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127