Death Pictures

Photo of Asa Coon's body taken by Cleveland policeman:
The infamous photo of Asa Coon that was taken after he committed suicide was taken by Cleveland police officer Walter Emerick. He admitted to taking the photo with his cell phone and sending it to other people but claims that he did not post it on the internet. If those other people were outside of the investigation then what did he expect to happen?

Steve Loomis, the Cleveland police union president, said the union does not condone a crime-scene photo being posted on the Internet.

But officers have legitimate reasons to take pictures of crime scenes in order to recall what they saw, he said. Emerick took other images that were not posted.

Which is a legitimate reason but if he was sending it out to people for no legitimate reason Officer Emereick should be disciplined.

Disturbing Asa Coon photo on Internet:
It seems that all the ghouls are out just in time for Halloween.

Someone at the scene of Asa Coon's suicide apparently had taken a picture of his corpse. Of course the internet being what it is the picture of Asa Coon's bloody body is already making its rounds. I haven't even posted this yet and I'm already getting hits from the ghouls look for the picture. Guess what Sunshine. It isn't here. It never will be here. As much as I think that the kid was an idiot for doing what he did I would never in good conscience post the picture of his corpse. All the cretins that are looking for this picture are probably are the same ones who got off on watching the victims of 9/11 fall from the towers and would probably run home crying to mommy if they ever came in a contact with a real dead body. So cream your jeans over your gore porn you sick fucks. One day it might be your bloody corpse that some jackass is getting his lulz from.

Lasting images:
I know this article is way old but I've been waiting for when I had some free time to post it.

This is the exact reason why I think graphic images and videos of actual deaths should be outlawed. Yes I really mean outlawed.

Lesli Catsouras hasn't opened her e-mails in weeks.

Her husband, Christos, dreads having to use the Internet – fearful of what he accidentally may see.

They have banned their daughters – ages 15, 13 and 8 – from going online.

Losing oldest daughter Nikki, 18, in a car crash on Halloween has been hard enough on the Catsouras family.

Now, their heartache is compounded by outrage.

Graphic accident-scene photos, including close-up shots of Nikki, who suffered massive head trauma, have been leaked onto the Internet.

The images have turned up on hundreds of Web sites and in countless chat rooms and e-mails – from Australia to Italy. The photos often are accompanied by debates about the merits of the images, with many viewers even vilifying the dead teen.

"We're still just starting to deal with Nikki's death, and now this," said Christos Catsouras, 43. "People are sick."

The family blames the leak on the California Highway Patrol, the agency that is investigating the crash. The family has filed a claim against the state as a precursor to a civil lawsuit. The CHP is investigating.

As they continue to grieve, members of the Catsouras family also find themselves struggling to restore some dignity to Nikki's memory – and facing seemingly insurmountable odds to establish some decency in the sometimes insidious, unforgiving grip of the Internet.

The photos are so pervasive, Nikki's 15-year-old sister has stopped going to school out of fear of opening her locker and seeing a photo of her dead sister. She now is being home schooled.

A 12-year-old neighbor who accidentally saw the images is seeing a counselor, according to Christos Catsouras.

Some people have anonymously sent cruel, taunting e-mails to Nikki's relatives – including one to her father that read, "From Dead Girl Walking: Woo Hoo Daddy, I'm Alive."

I do see the merit in pictures like this but only in the hand of trained professionals. Criminologists and such. Not the freakin' death mutants who get off on seeing other people's actual suffering.

Free speech has it's limits. This should be one of them.

Link via digg.

Widow says Irwin death tape destroyed:
Terri Irwin, the widow of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has stated that the only remaining copy of the videotape showing her husband's death has been destroyed. The state coroner from Queensland, Michael Barnes, said that the original was returned to Terri Irwin and all copies were destroyed. I hope to God he's right and that some flunky down the line hasn't stashed a copy looking to make a fast buck.

Irwin death film 'will never air':
Steve Irwin's widow Terri has said that the film of Irwin's death will never be aired. If she doesn't have the film destroyed I at least she keeps it under such tight wraps that it doesn't leak out. For her sake and the sake of their children.

You death mutants can suck it.

Thanks to Elessarion for the tip.

The Irwin video: Would you watch it? :
Now it's the BBC's turn to debate the topic. First the pro...

While we might question what kind of person would want to watch such a gruesome spectacle, I suggest there are reasons why we should at least consider making the footage available to the public. Steve Irwin was a well-known public figure, whose popular TV shows regularly drew large audiences.

His death occurred while he was in the process of filming another documentary - hence the existence of the footage in question. The life and death of a public figure are - naturally - of public interest. This is particularly the case when a person is well-known because of the risks he takes.

Up till now we have witnessed Irwin sporting with crocodiles, poisonous snakes and tarantulas, always emerging unscathed and as lively as ever. The footage of Irwin's final film can in itself be regarded as a necessary part of our education: these animals are dangerous, and fooling around with them can be deadly.

And now the con...

Even if his entourage gives the green light and the tape is released - and many believe this last event will inevitably happen - there remains a question of personal morality. Should you, the viewer, watch the footage?

Why watch?

The answer depends on your motives. Are you a marine biologist or ethologist (someone who studies animal behaviour) eager to understand the defensive behaviour of a frightened stingray? Are you a cardiologist or toxicologist interested in aspects of the injury itself?


Before watching the footage, we should ask ourselves: why do I want to watch this? I suspect many people would answer "for entertainment" or "out of curiosity".
Is there not something discomforting about these answers? Do they not reflect a morbid desire to witness a fatal tragedy? Sometimes our instinctive "yuk" response to an event or suggestion is not based on reason but on deep-rooted prejudice or ignorance.

This time, the "yuk" is more firmly grounded. It is a mistake to say that watching the clip in private would harm no one, as the event has already occurred.

It may well harm the watcher, whose humanity and moral sensibility will suffer. Irwin's passion for nature and his exuberance leapt out of the screen. Let that memory remain, and let the footage of his pierced heart disappear with the stingray into the depths of the ocean.

One of the BBC commneters put it best when they said "Irwin is a public figure but not public property".

TOF to Elessarion.

FoxNews.com published an Associated Press article entitled Should Video of 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin's Death Be Released?. Of course my answer is a resounding no but as Kate can attest to the death mutants are already scouring the web looking for the video. For those people let me share some quotes from the article with you...

For its part, Discovery Communications, the network where Irwin became a star, said there was absolutely no truth to rumors that the footage, now in possession of police in Queensland, Australia, might be released.

But that doesn't mean there aren't concerns that someone could attempt to get their hands on it and publicize it for lurid means — or just to show they had it. That, said media analyst Martin Kaplan, would be tantamount to a snuff film.

Irwin's manager and close friend, John Stainton, had the painful experience of watching the videotape where Irwin pulls the stingray barb from his chest. He called it "shocking."

"It's a very hard thing to watch, because you are actually witnessing somebody die, and it's terrible," he told reporters.

Samuel G. Freedman, who teaches a media ethics class at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, says the issue is "whether there is any compelling public interest" in the release of something so shocking as footage of a death. Here, he says, there clearly isn't.

"The lay person is not going into the water trying to have encounters with stingrays," Freedman said. "It would be purely titillation and necrophilia if anyone were to show this."

"Only in the sense that there's a race for the bottom in our culture," Kaplan says. "This will take substantial vigilance on the part of the family."

Do you see that? If you're one of the freaks that like to watch real people dying then you're a necrophiliac at the bottom of our culture. In case you were wondering there is something wrong with you.

With any luck the video will be destroyed or locked away forever.

'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin's Death Caught on Videotape:

SICK 'MURDERABILIA' VULTURES RAKE IT IN:
I know what you're thinking. "Trench, why are these two articles together? They have nothing in common". Au contraire. They have more in common than you think. Let me explain.

When you read the second article you think how reprehensible it is for people to collect things that were made by or belonged to serial killers. Then what would you think of people who collect videos of actual people's deaths? There are a plethora of sites out there that deal in disturbing death videos. The more disturbing the better. What makes it worse is through the wonders of the internet the videos can be duplicated ad infintum and posted just about anywhere. Some of the most sought out of these videos are the decapitation by terrorists of Daniel Pearl, the live on-air suicide of Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer, and now probably the sudden death of Steve Irwin. There are laws like the Son of Sam laws that prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes. There should also be some kind of similar law where no one can profit from the filmed, taped, or photographed death of another.

Now that it's known that Steve Irwin's death has been caught on tape the death merchants are probably eagerly awaiting for it to get leaked so they can post it on their ghoulish websites to try and squeeze a nickel out of somebody else’s corpse.

We used to have a thing in this country called decency but not anymore.

Back when I was researching the "Gore for Porn" story I signed up to the site to see what I could find, which was not much. Anyway now that Gorenographer Chris Wilson is behind bars I received this e-mail...

In case you have not already heard, due to the recent national media attention relating to the war pictures local law enforcement decided to arrest Chris. If you would like to know more please visit (website removed) At this time he is asking for your help in the form of donations towards his legal fund. The minimum donation is $2. Thanks for all of your support and all donations will go a long way in fighting this injustice.

Lindsey (Good friend of Chris')

Now while I do believe Mr. Wilson was jailed under dubious circumstances I'm giggling like a schoolgirl that he's behind bars. Now I'm trying to think of things I'd rather do with $2 then try and get this death merchant released from jail.

1. Play the Lottery


2. Pay the toll to get into Philly


3. Get a McMuffin


4. Tuck it into a stripper's thong


5. Buy less than a gallon of gas


6. Buy 2/3 of a pack of smokes


7. Exchange it for Canadian quarters


8. Use it as toilet paper

Anybody else have any suggestions on what I should do with my $2?

Arrest raises issues about obscenity, local standards, Web:
Remember the gore for porn website I talked about where servicemen and women serving in Iraq or Afghanistan can get free membership to an amateur porn site in exchange for graphic images of dead terrorists and sometimes even civilians? It turns out the webmaster, Chris Wilson, is in jail on local obscenity charges. I'm torn because while I don't agree with the way local officials charged him I do have to chuckle that this sleazeball is behind bars.

Web site: U.S. troops traded Iraq photos for porn access:
It seems that the mainstream media has picked up on the gore for porn story about US Soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan who trade graphic pictures of dead insurgents and innocents for membership to an amateur porn site. The Army is launching their own investigation into the matter. Col. Joseph Curtin said that this kind of behavior could constitute a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice but there is no criminal investigation.

The webmaster of the site, an assclown from Florida (of course) by the name of Chris Wilson seems prickishly smug over the whole affair...

Wilson, of Lakeland, Florida, said the military hasn't contacted him about the postings or the anonymous posters and he doesn't "suspect they'd have reason to."

"It would be a matter of free speech," he said. "Since I'm not a member of the military, I'm not bound by the laws of the military."

I hate it when scumbags like this wrap themselves in the first amendment. They're entitled to free speech of course but they act like patriots when they're nothing more than death dealers. To me they're a friggin' disgrace to the Constitution.

I hoping the karma train pulls into his station.

TOF to Zappa Crappa.

Beheading video man sent to jail:
A man in Scotland, Subhaan Younis, 23, was having a discussion on the Iraq War with Charlotte McClay last September at a hotel in Glasgow. Younis said he would show her something which would cause her sleepless nights and her reply was 'Aye right'. He then played video of a beheading in Iraq that he downloaded to his cell phone. Miss McClay was so horrified by the event she pressed charges. Now Younis was sentenced to 60 days for breach of the peace. The magistrate presiding over the case had this to say...

"I struggle to understand why you had images on your phone entailing the death and degradation of another human being, regardless of their religion or race."

My sentiments exactly. While this seems like a debatable case on free speech I have to chuckle that one of the death watching mutants got 60 days.

TOF to Elessarion.

War Pornography:
Ok. I've actually been sitting on this story since Friday when Bookhouse Boy sent me the link. Another more left leaning blog has beaten me to the punch though. I'll get to why in a second. This was the story that brought me back from my break. Apparently members of the US Armed Forces stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan are sending in pictures of dead enemy combatants for free membership to an amateur porn site...

At Wilson's Web site, you can see an Arab man's face sliced off and placed in a bowl filled with blood. Another man's head, his face crusted with dried blood and powder burns, lies on a bed of gravel. A man in a leather coat who apparently tried to run a military checkpoint lies slumped in the driver's seat of a car, his head obliterated by gunfire, the flaps of skin from his neck blooming open like rose petals. Six men in beige fatigues, identified as US Marines, laugh and smile for the camera while pointing at a burned, charcoal-black corpse lying at their feet.

The captions that accompany these images, which were apparently written by the soldiers who posted them, laugh and gloat over the bodies. The soldier who posted a picture of a corpse lying in a pool of his own brains and entrails wrote, "What every Iraqi should look like." The photograph of a corpse whose jaw has apparently rotted away, leaving a gaping set of upper teeth, bears the caption "bad day for this dude." One soldier posted three photographs of corpses lying in the street and titled his collection "DIE HAJI DIE." The soldiers take pride, even joy, in displaying the dead.

One of the pictures on Wilson's site depicts a woman whose right leg has been torn off by a land mine, and a medical worker is holding the mangled stump up to the camera. The woman's vagina is visible under the hem of her skirt. The caption for this picture reads: "Nice puss -– bad foot."

My opinions on these kind of pictures are well known. However I've never served in the military. So rather than just post some reactionary knee jerk reaction like my leftist friends, who tastelessy posted some of these graphic and disturbing pictures, I decided to get the opinions of friends of mine who actually served in the military. The opinions basically were that this is grossly inappropriate to say the least but some could understand to an extent since their buddies are over there getting blown up and the terrorists are using these kind of pictures and videos to celebrate the deaths of US soldiers.

I respect my friends' opinions. But now let me give you this civilian's opinion. And let me say that I support the war, and I support our troops, and I'm eternally thankful for the job they do. Having said that let me address those who are taking these pictures of mutilated, burned, and dismembered corpses of terrorists. You represent the United States of America. In my opinion the greatest country on earth. What you are doing is a disservice to your uniform and is a disgrace to all those who have come before you. You do not need to stoop to the depths that the terrorists do. I am not going to sit here and be a hypocrite saying that it's ok because some of these people are terrorists. What you are doing is morally reprehensible and reflects back on the country you serve. If you really love your country you will stop this barbaric practice. When you take these pictures you are no better than the terrorists you are fighting.

And to the assclown that runs that site, porn site owner is about as sleazy as you can get, you give them a bad name by publishing this sick shit.

I would like to hear from soldiers currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan about their opinions on this. I'd also like to hear from civilians. What I don't want is to see this degenerate into a debate about the war. This is not what this is about.

Now get to commenting maggots.

CNN sues over FEMA dead body request:
In response to FEMA's request for news outlets to not photograph the dead bodies left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina by filing a lawsuit. Because of that a federal judge has issued a restraining order against the ban. I guess we can expect to see the pictures of someone's family member found dead in their house after they've been left their for weeks all in the name of the "free flow of information". Check out the arrogance of CNN's Anderson Cooper...

"The government cannot be allowed to hinder the free flow of information," said CNN journalist Anderson Cooper. "That's what we say in the lawsuit."

I guess the media cannot be allowed to have a sense of decency and decorum either. No wonder CNN's ratings have been on the slide for years.

UPDATE: The federal government has dropped the ban in response to the lawsuit. I guess we can look forward to Anderson Cooper's Cadaver Variety Hour now. Believe it or not there are some things the media doesn't need to know.

FEMA censors photos of the dead:
I haven't done one of these entries in a while either. It's like old home week here at CrimeNe.ws. Anyway FEMA has lit the fuse on the media's tampon because FEMA asked the media not to take any pictures of the dead victims of Hurricane Katrina...

But on Tuesday, FEMA refused to take reporters and photographers along on boats seeking victims in flooded areas, saying they would take up valuable space need in the recovery effort and asked them not to take pictures of the dead.

In an e-mail explaining the decision, a FEMA spokeswoman wrote: "The recovery of victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect and we have requested that no photographs of the deceased by made by the media."

Of course the media thinks they're the voice of God and should be entitled to anything they damn well please...

"It's impossible for me to imagine how you report a story whose subject is death without allowing the public to see images of the subject of the story," said Larry Siems of the PEN American Center, an authors' group that defends free expression.

Rebecca Daugherty of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press found this stance inexplicable.

"The notion that, when there's very little information from FEMA, that they would even spend the time to be concerned about whether the reporting effort is up to its standards of taste is simply mind-boggling," Daugherty said. "You cannot report on the disaster and give the public a realistic idea of how horrible it is if you don't see that there are bodies as well."

FEMA's policy of excluding media from recovery expeditions in New Orleans is "an invitation to chaos," according to Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a part of Columbia University's journalism school.

"This is about managing images and not public taste or human dignity," Rosenstiel said. He said FEMA's refusal to take journalists along on recovery missions meant that media workers would go on their own.

So basically the media is telling you that you're too stupid to comprehend how grave the situation is in New Orleans without seeing pictures of decaying, rotting, bloated corpses. Notice how they totally ignore the whole situation with people who are still trying to find missing relatives in the area. I really don't think families who are distraught over missing family members want to find their missing relatives in that way.

The media act like teenagers. Once you tell them they can't do something they think they have a God given right to. And this isn't about "Freedom of the Press"; it's all about money. News Outlet X publishes or shows on TV pictures of the bodies, this in turn generates a controversy, people want to see the controversy, more people buy the publication or watch whatever channel to see the controversy, then News Outlet X rakes in the cash off of the bodies of the dead. So don't take your moral high ground when it's all about getting paid.

Let's also not forget that some of the less scrupulous members of the media (redundant as that sounds) will even go as far as to sell pictures to those websites where their mutant readership gets off at looking at corpses.

So preach your alleged journalistic ethics (oxymoron) to me all you want FEMA is doing the right thing in this instance. Nothing good can come of publishing pictures of the corpses.