Was Baxter out of his mind?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Posted: June 15, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Reed Irvine © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com The massive police report on the investigation of the death of Cliff Baxter, the former Enron vice chairman, would have us believe that he killed himself the day before the suicide exemption on his insurance policy expired, costing his estate a cool $5,000,000. If he did, he was out of his mind.
The 900-page report says that there was no evidence that cast any doubt on the suicide finding, but then includes some important evidence that does just that.
Two letters I sent to the Sugar Land chief of police are included in the report. They explained why the police should insist that the level of Ambien, a sleeping tablet, found in Baxter's blood be calculated.
Overdoses of Ambien can produce a hypnotic trance or a light coma. Baxter's prescription called for one tablet a day, but the number missing from the bottle indicates that he may have ingested as many as four in the five hours before he was found dead. If so, he would not have been able to drive, according to a pathologist who is familiar with the drug.
The toxicology report should have given the amount of Ambien found in his blood. Was Baxter drugged out of his mind? The police did not dispute the claim that it was possible, but they failed to demand the analysis that would have answered the question.
The report shows that they weren't interested in evidence that undermined the suicide theory. For example, they knew that it was important that Baxter owned the gun that fired the fatal shot and the type of ammunition that was used. They found that he bought the gun, a Smith and Wesson .357 magnum, in February 2001, together with a box of Winchester .38 cartridges.
But the ammo that killed him was Glaser, which fires a lot of small pellets instead of a lead slug. It is sold in blister-packs of six. Five cartridges, one expended, were found in the gun. The sixth couldn't be found. Officer Mary Herbrig, in thanking the detective who found the Winchester ammo in Baxter's house, said, "I sure wish they had matched what we recovered."
They made a big search for evidence that Baxter had purchased Glaser ammo. With a box of Winchester ammo in his house, he had no reason to do so. If Baxter had no Glaser, he could not have killed himself with it. This is evidence of homicide, something that has to be ruled out before the death can be declared a suicide. The police handled that by simply asserting that there was no evidence of homicide.
Their report says that the gun was found lying in Baxter's lap on top of his hands, both palms up. They say he pulled the trigger with his right hand and steadied the three-inch barrel with his left and that the blood spatter shows he was facing forward when he pulled the trigger. The recoil would have thrown the gun from his hand to his right and his hand would have dropped to his side. Both hands and the gun on his lap is indicative of homicide.
Officer Herbrig pointed out that they had too few samples of Baxter's known handwriting to obtain a conclusive finding that he wrote the printed suicide note. All they got from the expert analyst was that there were "indications" that Baxter wrote the note. The main indications were that it was on his stationery and in an envelope on which his DNA was found.
If he were drugged, his killer could have moistened the flap with Baxter's saliva. The note and its envelope should have been checked for fingerprints. The shards of glass found in Baxter's hair and clothing should have been tested to determine if they came from the car window that was broken by the police to gain entry. If all this was done, the results were not reported, a good indication that findings were negative.
To firm up the case for suicide, the police revised the account given by deputy constable Head of how he found Baxter's body.
On Jan. 25, they said 15 minutes had elapsed between the time he first saw Baxter's parked car and the time he checked it out and found the body. Now they say he saw Baxter driving the car, and only two or three minutes later he found it parked with the body inside.
At least two witnesses, one of them mentioned in the report, claim to have seen Baxter's parked car long before any police arrived.
Earlier postings about Baxter Murder ------
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/641855/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/627021/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/617668/posts
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1 posted on 6/15/02 7:56 AM Pacific by rdavis84 [ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
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If it was a glaser round, it could probably have been fired from any gun - there would be no need for getting hold of Baxter's gun in order to do the deed. There won't be anything left of a glaser for ballistic analysis.
2 posted on 6/15/02 8:05 AM Pacific by Cachelot [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
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Was there any confirmation that he inquired about hiring a bodyguard a few days before this. I find that rather strange, if true.
3 posted on 6/15/02 8:06 AM Pacific by steve50 [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
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I didn't re-read it, but that's the topic of the third link at the end of the article. Might be some pretty good confirmation there.
4 posted on 6/15/02 8:11 AM Pacific by rdavis84 [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
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I'm glad to see that Mark Fuhrman is making a decent living on following up on and writing books about these 'unsolved' crimes.
The recent verdict against the Kennedy Clan proves that these socialists are vulnerable.