Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 23, 1994                   TAG: 9409230137
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HANGING WAS SUICIDE, POLICE SAY

Several young children discovered the body of Joseph Douglas Wilson about 5:30 p.m. while riding their bicycles through the lot of a vacant commercial building at U.S. 220 and Branch Road, police said. The finding prompted a one-day investigation, with officers examining both homicide and suicide as possibilities.

A report issued by the medical examiner's office Thursday stated that Wilson died because the blood flow to his brain was cut off by the pressure of the rope.

When officers approached Wilson's body Wednesday evening, they saw that his hands had been tied behind his back, raising questions about whether he had resisted the hanging. After reconstructing the event and examining the placement of the rope around Wilson's wrists, however, investigators determined that Wilson restrained his own hands.

The rope was tied in two slip knots so that Wilson's hands were secured some distance apart, as if in handcuffs, said Sgt. K.G. Nester of the Henry County Sheriff's Department. This differs from the usual pattern of restraint, in which the victim's hands are roped tightly and close together, he explained.

Keywords:
FATALITY