Suicide Or 'Intentional Homicide'? Woman Who Died Using Sarco Suicide Pod Had 'Strangulation Marks'

The death of a 64-year-old woman who died using the Sarco Suicide Pod in a Swiss woodland has raised several questions about the pod. The investigators claimed to have found strangulation marks on her neck. The incident came after she died inside the capsule set up near a cabin in Merishausen, Switzerland, in September, by supposedly "pushing a button" that "injects nitrogen gas into the chamber, causing fatal hypoxia." Following the investigation, the President of Swiss Sarcho operator The Last Resort, Dr. Florian Willet, was arrested along with several other people at the scene. Willet continues to be in police custody almost five weeks after the death of the woman. He was only present when the woman "pushed" the button in the Sarco.

The authorities have been investigating if the woman was "killed" after chief prosecutor Peter Sticher raised suspicion of "intentional homicide" and told the court that the woman may have been strangled to death, reported Dutch Newspaper de Volkskrant. The forensic doctors suggest that there were serious injuries on the neck of the woman. The woman suffered severe pain because of ' skull base osteomyelitis', which led to an infection of the bone marrow, a report suggested.

A source, as per Dutch media, familiar with The Last Resort shared that the woman’s infection might have caused marks on her neck, which appeared similar to strangulation marks.The woman reportedly had been expressing a desire to end her life for "at least two years" following a "serious illness causing severe pain." Her condition brought on frequent, debilitating headaches, sometimes leaving her unable even to make it to the bathroom.Due to an immune disorder, her doctors were unable to effectively treat her osteomyelitis, The Last Resort disclosed.According to the creator of the euthanasia pod, the woman entered the device and "pressed the button almost immediately" to begin the process. Dr. Philip Nitschke, the pod’s inventor, told Dutch media, “It looked exactly as we anticipated. I believe she lost consciousness within two minutes and passed away after five.” He observed subtle, involuntary muscle movements in her arms, but she was likely already unconscious by that point.The woman’s sons fully supported her decision, according to Volksrant, affirming that she chose to end her life independently.