Switzerland Suicide Pod Death: Strangulation Marks' Found on Neck of Victim

New Delhi: In the latest developments in the Sarco suicide pod case, the investigators have claimed that they found the strangulation marks on the ready body of the victim.

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

According to a report published in the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, the investigators have investigating the chances of the woman being killed as the chief prosecutor Peter Sticher raised the suspicion of "intentional homicide" and suggested to the court that the elderly woman might have been strangled to death. Moreover, as per the forensic doctor, there were serious neck injuries on the woman.

The medics also stated that the woman suffered a skull base osteomyelitis which further led to an infection of the bone marrow.

As per media reports, the woman had also been expressing her wish to die for "at least two years" after she suffered a "very serious illness that involves severe pain."

Following the death of the woman, the President of Swiss Sarco operator The Last Resort Dr Florian Willet was arrested with several others over the death of the woman.

The suicide pod's creator, Dr Philip Nitschke, said that she got into the device and "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," he told the Dutch media.

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