California doctor gets stuck in chimney, dies

[Duer 157099]

Source: Associated Press

Police say a California doctor apparently tried to get into the home of the man she had been dating by sliding down the chimney. Her decomposing body was found there days later.

Police Sgt. Mary DeGeare says investigators do not suspect foul play in the death of Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac.

Authorities say the 49-year-old apparently climbed on the roof Wednesday night, removed the chimney cap and slid feet first down the flue after unsuccessfully trying to get into the house other ways.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/08/31/national/a122909D75.DTL&tsp=1

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Submitted without comment...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. People do weird shit for "love" sometimes...

[superconnected]

19. I'm going to bet alcohol was involved.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. People do even weirder shit when alcohol is involved.

[DrDan]

2. I might be seeking a second opinion about now if I were one of her patients . . . .

[wtmusic]

3. Did she try the front door?

:silly:

[valerief]

4. She was an internist.

Not that it matters. I just wondered if she was a Dr. Laura type of doctor or not.

[oldhippydude]

25. actually

it it was just a bad case of the flue..

[sfwriter]

26. OH MY GOD THAT IS AWFUL

Awfully funny....

[msanthrope]

27. WELCOME TO DU YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!! n/t

[valerief]

33. Bravo!

:rofl:

[surrealAmerican]

36. You got me!

Now I'm laughing. Thanks, dude.

[customerserviceguy]

37. Shame on you

for being so damned funny! That was killer!

[Ter]

5. This was in Gremlins, about the girl's father who died playing Santa

n/t

[superconnected]

20. actually it happens all the time. I've read many stories like this.

Just read one a few weeks ago but I don't remember the site for the link.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

32. Yep. More than a few burglars have met their demise this way.

[Ter]

58. Not in the way described in Gremlins

According to Snopes, no one has ever been killed trying to play Santa.

[whyverne]

6. How does someone get to be an adult without knowing how

small a chimney is? Oh, she was in California.

[Xithras]

7. Lots of people are small enough to slide down a chimney.

The problem is that people tend to forget about the damper at the bottom.

And, for what it's worth, lots of us Californian's use our fireplaces. I probably light mine a half dozen times a year or so :)

[formercia]

31. Smoked Doctor?

nah! lol

[Lightning Count]

8. There needs to be a section on this on the MCAT's. nt

[Roland99]

9. If it was Christmas, maybe.

[mike r]

10. Police: Alcohol may be factor in doctor's death

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x49332680/Police-Alcohol-may-be-factor-in-doctors-death

Alcohol may have played a part in the death of a Bakersfield doctor whose decomposed body was found Saturday in the chimney of her estranged boyfriend's house, Bakersfield police said Tuesday.

It is not known if Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac was drunk Wednesday night when she went to confront a homeowner in the 4300 block of La Mirada Drive, but she had consumed alcohol earlier in the evening at Cafe Med and had a driving service take her home about 8 p.m., Sgt. Mary DeGeare said.

DeGeare did not identify the homeowner but neighbors and property records confirm it is 58-year-old William H. Moodie, the owner of a petroleum engineering company. The house is east of the Four Points Sheraton Hotel.

An autopsy on Kotarac, an internal medicine doctor and a 1991 graduate of UCLA School of Medicine, is scheduled for Tuesday, but typically the blood-alcohol level isn't established for several weeks. The death appears to be the result of Kotarac getting stuck inside the chimney flue where she tried to enter Moodie's home when he was not there, police said. Moodie is not a suspect in her death, police said.


Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac, photographed in 2007.

[superconnected]

22. Pretty lady. Very sad.

Condolences to her family. It sucks losing when the world loses a doctor.

[proReality]

11. Oooookaaaay

I guess a brick through the window wasn't an option.

:shrug:

[jberryhill]

12. "after unsuccessfully trying to get into the house other ways"

How would anyone know that?

Was he inside at the time?

On Edit: "the man whom Kotarac was pursuing had left the home unnoticed to avoid a confrontation."

Ah, okay. Umm... Wow.

Remember gang - when winter rolls around and it's fireplace season, always hire a professional to clean out those dead obsessed girlfriends before starting a fire.

[Lightning Count]

13. Chimchimcharoo indeed. nt

[Mariana]

38. How would anyone know that?

By finding her footprints around the house and her fingerprints on doorknobs and windows, for example. And of course the resident probably heard or saw her trying.

Poor guy. It's terrifying to be the victim of a stalker.

[Faygo Kid]

14. Very sad. Pic of her in better times, for the curious.

I was and admit it.

She snapped, apparently.

[skoalyman]

15. she wasn't that bad looking

sad crazy at the same time.

[Lucky Luciano]

16. If you think about it, you realize how horrific that death must have been. nt

[mike r]

17. And being a doc, she knew the process of death

I'm sure she tried to make noise and get attention. Very sad.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

30. I wonder what did her in? Suffocation?

It appears the owner was back in the house the next evening. She must have been dead by then - ORRRR, he left her to rot in the chimney knowing he was leaving Friday morning for Europe. Now there is an evil thought.

DeGeare provided the following timeline in the case:

Wednesday:

8 p.m. -- Kotarac leaves Cafe Med in her own car, which is driven by a driving service, and goes to her own home.

10:15 p.m. -- Kotarac drives to Moodie's home to confront him about their relationship. He slips out the back door when she arrives and she tries to force her way in the back door with a shovel.

Moodie spends the night elsewhere.

Thursday:

Kotarac does not show up for work at her office on San Dimas Street. Her personal assistant contacts Moodie and they go to his house to look for her. They find her purse and other belongings outside the house, but no other signs of her.

Moodie and the personal assistant report Kotarac as a missing person.

Moodie returns to his house Thursday night to prepare for a trip to Europe on Friday. He spends the night at the home.

Friday:

Moodie leaves for his trip.

Police search the house Friday evening and find no evidence of Kotarac.

Saturday:

9 p.m. A woman goes to the house to care for Moodie's fish in a tank and smells a bad odor from the chimney. She sees some fluids in the chimney and notifies police.

Bakersfield firefighters spend five hours Saturday night and early Sunday morning dismantling the chimney to retrieve the body.

Monday:

Police confirm the body is that of Kotarac.

[RaleighNCDUer]

42. Suffocation is what usually does it.

Most people don't seem to realize that chimney's are seldom a straight tube from the roof to the fireplace, but have bends and jogs where someone can get stuck. Once stuck they can't climb back out, and gravity continues to pull them down, and the result is pressure on the chest, unable to expand the lungs to breath, and suffocation.

That timeline does make me wonder, too.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

46. That's what I figured and it's confirmed now down-thread. Mechanical Asphyxiation.

How awful. It was probably like being squeezed by an Anaconda. Every time she exhaled she slipped further down and the chimney's "grip" was increased.:scared:

That said, she may have died within minutes of getting trapped so I really didn't mean to imply he might have "done it"

[RaleighNCDUer]

48. Oh, she certainly did it to herself - I only wonder if he was at home when

she was trying to get in and heard her coming down the chimney, and didn't call the police.

[Orrex]

18. No vaccine for this flue, alas

The way to a man's hearth...

[malaise]

49. Freaking DUzy

I'm trying hard not to laugh at the level of madness that led to her death.

[pattmarty]

21. Watch for this on on or more of the "soap operas".

[XemaSab]

24. Stalking:

Not just for astronauts any more. :P

[JVS]

52. +1

[hlthe2b]

28. Oh, God.. how horrid... Ok, for those angry or obsessed over....

the one who "got away..."

Better to CALL when drunk than FALL when drunk (down the flue).... Noted

[Hassin Bin Sober]

47. The ironic part is she was smart enough to call a driver service to .....

... take her home from the bar in her own car. I never heard of such a thing. I always thought it a good idea but never heard of it.

At least she was against DWI.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

29. I think this is extremely sad

It was a monumentally stupid and crazy thing for her to do and she probably must either have been under the influence of something or had personal issues in order to be so foolish but I can't help feeling sorry for this woman. She was obviously quite beautiful and talented and it's just such a waste of an innocent life

I bet the boyfriend feels a bit guilty now, especially since there is the possibility that he was at home when she died and he just didn't know it. Poor guy

May she rest in peace

[Hawkowl]

53. Very sad.

It is sad for everyone involved. The emotional desperation that drove her to jam herself down a chimney. It is a tragedy.

[mike r]

34. Dr. Jacquelyn Kotorac's Death Ruled Mechanical Asphyxia

http://www.turnto23.com/news/24832021/detail.html

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A doctor who was found in a chimney flue died as a result of mechanical asphyxia and the manner of death is an accident, according to the Kern County Coroner's Office...

Kotarac apparently died in the chimney, but her body was not discovered until a house-sitter noticed a stench and fluids coming from the fireplace Saturday, according to a police statement. The house-sitter and her son investigated with a flashlight and found Kotarac dead, wedged about two feet above the top of the interior fireplace opening...

Kotarac died as a result of mechanical asphyxia and the manner of death was an accident, according to the Kern County Coroner's Office.

Ray Pruitt, PIO with the Kern County Sheriff's Department, said that this means her chest compressed to the point that she was no longer able to breathe.

[Joe Bacon]

35. Sounds like a Darwin Award contender!

:think:

[Codeine]

39. The doctor is in,

like, way in!

[savalez]

40. omg I'm queasy from this. awful, just awful.

[Anakin Skywalker]

41. What the .... ?

[MrsBrady]

43. Ok. So...

No one noticed a ladder? The boyfriend. The police?
No body noticed a ladder up to the house?
Just wondering.

Sad.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

44. Was there a ladder?

It's possible she gained entrance to the roof from a low eve or a deck or a garage roof etc.

I didn't see any mention of a ladder in the article I read.

[MrsBrady]

57. there was a ladder

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20015269-504083.html
http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/09/01/15207531.html

http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/Local-doctor-found-dead-in-southwest-Bakersfield/IKUrZEbkCEmCW2lXjg7gEA.cspx
but this link here is the first one i've read where they mention a permanent ladder

ok - that makes a little more sense if it's true

[Starbucks Anarchist]

45. I'm sure she'd fit by now.

:hide:

[revolution breeze]

50. This reminds me of a story here in town

A homeless man tried to get into an abandoned restaurant through the ductwork. They found his body several months later when a prospective buyer came in and found a stain on the carpeting.

[JVS]

51. Sounds like a fucked up stalker.

[mimitabby]

54. would be burglar

in my town last year a would be burglar got stuck upside down trying to go down a chimney. He survived and also got booked
for attempted burglary...

apparently he was not a slender man.

[Freddie Stubbs]

55. Seems like not giving her a key was a wise move

[SoCalDem]

56. Dr. Santa? n/t

[TK421]

59. Ho,Ho......ho?

[Dorian Gray]

60. I don't know what to say

Entering that way shows a troubled state of mind, and what a horrible way to go.

[Butch350]

61. Man...that guy must swing a mean motor scooter...

to get Doc worked up enough to slide down the chimney for it.