'Strangulation marks' found on neck of woman who died in Sarco suicide pod: Investigators

The investigators have claimed that the dead body of the woman who gave up her life with the Sarco suicide pod was found with strangulation marks on her neck.

The 64-year-old woman from the United States died inside the capsule in Merishausen, Switzerland on September 23 after she decided to push a button which filled the sealed chamber with nitrogen gas and caused fatal hypoxia.

President of Swiss Sarco operator The Last Resort Dr Florian Willet was among the many people who were arrested over the death of the woman.

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He is still in police custody almost five weeks after the death of the woman. Willet was the one who was only present when the woman died in the Sarco.

According to a report published in the Dutch newspaperde Volkskrant, the investigators have been looking into the chances of the woman getting killed as the chief prosecutor Peter Sticher raised the suspicion of "intentional homicide" and suggested to the court that the 64-year-old may have been strangled to death.

As per the forensic doctor, there were serious neck injuries on the woman.

Woman suffered severe pain because of 'skull base osteomyelitis'

It was reported that the woman suffered skull base osteomyelitis which had led to an infection of the bone marrow. According to a person close to The Last Resort, the infection may have appeared as marks on her neck which looked like strangulation marks.

The woman had been expressing her wish to die for "at least two years" after she suffered a "very serious illness that involves severe pain".

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The woman had spoken about the severe headaches she suffered on some days because of which she was not even able to go to the bathroom.

Because of an immune disorder, the doctors were not able to treat the woman's osteomyelitis properly, according to The Last Resort.

The suicide pod's creator said that she got into the deviceand "almost immediately pressed the button" to die.

"It looked exactly as we expected it to look. My guess is that she lost consciousness within two minutes and that she died after five minutes," Dr Philip Nitschke, who is the inventor of the pod, said to the Dutchmedia.

"We saw sudden, small contractions and movements of the muscles in her arms, but she was probably already unconscious by then," he added.

Meanwhile, the sons of the woman have "completely agreed" that the woman had herself decided to die, as per Volksrant.

(With inputs from agencies)

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