Snake May Have Killed Owner's Wife - Virginia Beach

[wcreptiles]

Snake May Have Killed Owner's Wife

Posted: Oct 23, 2008 12:08 PM EDT

13-foot-long tiger python

A pet snake may be to blame for the death of the owner's wife. He came home around 11:30 Tuesday night to find Amanda Ruth Black, 25, dead in her Maracas Arch home.

Virginia Beach police say Black was found lying in front of a large empty snake cage, in an upstairs bedroom. The medical examiner's reports show the woman died from (suffocation) caused by neck compression. Police believe the snake may have caused that asphyxiation. The woman was reportedly trying to give medication to the 13-foot-long tiger python.

Investigators are still awaiting the final results of the autopsy.

Animal Control Officers say the snake was found in the same room as the deceased female. They say the python was extremely agitated, and required the force of two Animal Control Officers to restrain it. The snake was taken the Bureau of Animal Control where it is currently being held pending the result of the investigation.

http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp?S=9227278&nav=ZolHbyvj

 

[TheFragginDragon]

Great....I don't wish to talk bad about the deceased, but this is just more bad news because of idiocy. You don't handle, let alone try to medicate, an animal that size all by yourself!!

 

[xanaxez]

look at the size of the snake. while if in fact it is as long as they said 10ft and 13ft the news cant make up its mind but the girth of this snake looks very small for that size of a snake and in a small fish tank also? i truely doubt this snake killed this woman. i think the husband did and set the snake up for the blame.

 

[TheFragginDragon]

I didn't look at the source article until you mentioned it. Kinda hard to get a sense of scale in those small photo's. Plausible theory though, it would be interesting to follow this story.

 

[kmurphy]

In one of my old snake books, Kaufeld, Pope ?? I don't know which one, he tells a story of a small constrictor that wrapped around his neck and was constricting and he was lucky to find it head before he passed out. I think he was cautioning about carrying a snake on your shoulders. It would be a freak accident but I guess it could happen.

 

[xanaxez]

yes, around the neck i think it is possible, but i guess i wouldnt understand someone putting a snake on there shoulders or around the neck if trying to give it a shot. wouldnt be in best interest to try it that way i wouldnt think but yes you're right it is possible.

 

[dprince]

I'll be very curious to hear the results of that autopsy.

 

[MikeCurtin]

Here's the video if it hasn't been posted yet:
http://www.yahoo.com/s/975536
I had a feeling there may have been foul play as well...no mention of any bite marks, which doesn't rule anything out, but most snakes that have tried to constrict me have bitten as well. Especially considering the snakes demeanor according to animal control, I would indeed expect a bite or 2. Also, a wife that's cool and knowledgeable enough to be willing to medicate a snake of that size would also be knowledgeable enough to know the potential danger...it just seems far-fetched to me.

As for euthanasia, why is that even an option?!?!

 

[xanaxez]

i truely doubt a retic killed her and didnt bite her lol. i think the examiner is basing his decision on total B.S and is probably one of the people that are trying to have large pythons or any type of captive snakes made illegal.

 

[kmurphy]

The video didn't work for me. I don't agree that a snake needs to bite to constrict. All it needs is a fulcrum. Grabbing a snake behind it's head is enough to allow it to constrict. Anyway, like I said, I didn't see the video so this is just a general statement.

 

[3552thomas3552]

I tell you this much I hate it for anyone who tries to come get my snakes. They are my kids and they will have a fight on their hands. Secondly I never handle my snakes with out another adult present cause I myself have 5 redtail. I agree that snake looks to small to do anything but whom am I to say just a bad accident.

 

[Junkyard]

More on the story and larger photos:

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY.com) -- A young Navy wife is dead, strangled to death by her own pet python.

Police say the woman's husband came home Tuesday night and found his wife, 25-year-old Amanda Black, dead on the floor and the snake, a 10 foot reticulated Tiger Python named Diablo, was missing.

Animal control officers responded to the townhouse off Witchduck Road and found the snake hiding behind another snake pen with a Boa Constrictor in it, only a few feet away from the body of the owner it had just suffocated.

"What I saw first was the victim lying on the floor next to the empty snake pen," said Animal Control Officer Douglas Humphrey.

Police tell us the snake had an infection and Amanda was trying to give him a dose of antibiotics through a syringe, when the snake turned on her.

"I know it's a very strong and very long snake and after a couple of twists around the neck area, it's hard to fight that off," said Officer Humphrey.

An autopsy shows the python crushed Amanda's neck and she died of asphyxiation.

Officer Humphrey, with help from the medical examiner who was on the scene, both wrangled the snake back into its cage.

"The doctor grabbed the tail and I had the mid-section and I was using snake tongs on it. The snake was actually trying to strike at me and once we got him in the cage he tried to strike at the doctor through the aquarium. He was a little upset."

The couple has several other pet snakes, including several more pythons. Police say it's legal to have snakes like that in your house.

Right now Animal Control Officers have custody of the snake, but they say they are not sure yet what they are going to do with it.

"The husband wants nothing to do with the snake, obviously," said Officer Humphrey. So for now, Animal Control Officers say they are keeping the python fed and happy with live rats.

Stay tuned to WAVY.com and WAVY News 10 for the very latest.

http://www.wavy.com/global/story.asp?s=9226755&srvc=leadstory

 

[Mooing Tricycle]

yeah. I dunno about this one....

 

[Wraith]

she had the retic for sale up on the KS classifieds and it was stated to be 10 feet long in the ad. Ad is gone now I can't find it so I guess someone pointed out to them that the person who placed the ad ain't alive anymore. I can't see a snake of that small size able to "crush" human bone.. suffocate yes if the person could not pry the snake off in a timely fashion, but crush bone - hell no. I think the husband or someone killed her and conveniently tried to blame the snake for it. If the snake was trying to bite the animal control officers when they were trying to wrangle the animal to catch it then it would be safe to assume that woman should have had bites on her since she was supposedly trying to wrangle it to give it medication and you can't hold the head securely and give meds in such close quarters easily.. for one person with only two hands to try and control the animal plus attempting to give meds at the same time - it would end up with a few bites involved.

 

[Mooing Tricycle]

she had the retic for sale up on the KS classifieds and it was stated to be 10 feet long in the ad. Ad is gone now I can't find it so I guess someone pointed out to them that the person who placed the ad ain't alive anymore. I can't see a snake of that small size able to "crush" human bone.. suffocate yes if the person could not pry the snake off in a timely fashion, but crush bone - hell no. I think the husband or someone killed her and conveniently tried to blame the snake for it. If the snake was trying to bite the animal control officers when they were trying to wrangle the animal to catch it then it would be safe to assume that woman should have had bites on her since she was supposedly trying to wrangle it to give it medication and you can't hold the head securely and give meds in such close quarters easily.. for one person with only two hands to try and control the animal plus attempting to give meds at the same time - it would end up with a few bites involved.

Agreed, there i have no doubts that a person being strangled would be CLAWING at the snake to get it off of them. I Highly doubt that the snake would not suffer ANY damages if it was only around her neck.

This REEKS of foul play, BIG time.

 

[Mooing Tricycle]

http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp?S=9231125&nav=ZolHbyvj

 

[bill adams]

Unfortunately it is very possible the woman was killed by the Retic. I am 6ft.2inches and weigh 240lbs. I work out with weights and was a Navy Seal. Well, I was once medicating a 10ft. slender bodied African Rock Python for mouth rot in my lap. It got agitated and threw it's coils around my neck. Didn't think much of it at first but then it started to constrict in order to pull away. The power was incredible. I could not holler out or even get my hands underneath it's coils. I could not breath and thought i was a goner. Finally, I released her head and she loosened up right away. You can never take large Constrictors for granted.

 

[Wraith]

Unfortunately it is very possible the woman was killed by the Retic. I am 6ft.2inches and weigh 240lbs. I work out with weights and was a Navy Seal. Well, I was once medicating a 10ft. slender bodied African Rock Python for mouth rot in my lap. It got agitated and threw it's coils around my neck. Didn't think much of it at first but then it started to constrict in order to pull away. The power was incredible. I could not holler out or even get my hands underneath it's coils. I could not breath and thought i was a goner. Finally, I released her head and she loosened up right away. You can never take large Constrictors for granted.

As I said previously... yes it is possible to be suffocated if you weren't strong enough to remove the snake... but not have your bones "crushed" as per according to the autopsy. That sounds more like a human having a hand in the killing of the woman.

 

[wcreptiles]

A little more on this story.

"At about 5 p.m. Friday, the python was humanely euthanized, as the woman's husband wished"

Woman thought killed by snake was experienced with reptiles
Posted to: News Virginia Beach
Close Slideshow

By Shawn Day
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 25, 2008
VIRGINIA BEACH

The woman believed to have been killed by a pet python was an experienced handler and reptile department worker at an animal shop, friends said Friday.

Amanda Ruth Black was found late Tuesday night by her husband, police said. Investigators believe the 25-year-old woman was trying to give medicine to a 13-foot-long tiger reticulated python when it wrapped itself around her neck. She died of asphyxiation, according to a preliminary autopsy.

At about 5 p.m. Friday, the python was humanely euthanized, as the woman's husband wished, said Margie Long, Virginia Beach police spokeswoman.

At Pet Paradise on Kellam Road, where Black worked, manager James Severts said Black's family had asked store employees to refrain from speaking to reporters.

Severts noted, however, that Black worked on Monday and failed to arrive for her shift Tuesday. Her husband, who is in the Navy, was at sea and didn't return home until Tuesday night, Severts said.

"I'm still trying to fathom how it happened," he said. "She knew what she was doing. She was a professional."

Authorities found Black lying in front of the snake's empty container, and an animal control officer who found the snake in the room dragged it back to its container with the help of the medical examiner. The python, named Diablo, was taken to the city's animal control facility.

Black's death remains under investigation, but police said they did not suspect foul play.

In an online forum for VIIPER, a local reptile-lovers group, members posted messages mourning Black and discussing how to care for the several snakes that she and her husband kept in their Witchduck Woods townhome.

According to one message, the snakes included a 10-foot-long Burmese python, a 12-foot-long dwarf reticulated python, a 13-year-old Mexican kingsnake and two green tree pythons.

"It is a sad day for her Hubby and the snake community," wrote Amanda Warren, the group's secretary. "Also for the snake that was involved in this as well."

Black's family has declined to be interviewed, and friends said they had been instructed by the family not to speak to the news media.

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/woman-thought-killed-snake-was-experienced-reptiles