Coroner Rules That Kayak Death On Hudson Was Homicide

We have been following the case of Angelika Graswald who is accused of murdering her fiancé Vincent Viafore by sabotaging his kayak on a river outing on the Hudson. Indeed, we previously heard that she had confessed and said “it felt good” to see Viafore die. Now there is a report that Graswald confessed , saying “All right, I’ll give you a f–king statement . . . I wanted him dead and now he’s gone . . . And I’m OK with it.” It is a bad defense case getting worse but I am still surprised by the report of the New York medical examiner that she determined the death to be homicide from an examination of the body.

The examiner said that death was caused by a homicide by the “kayak drain plug [being] intentionally removed by other.” How does one exactly tell that as a coroner? What is the medical evidence of a plug being pulled from a kayak. The report only noted a 2-inch abrasion on Viafore’s torso and bruising to his chest and arms — injuries that are easily explained by drowning in the Hudson.

Clearly examiners look at things beyond the body, but this seems quite speculative and prejudicial as evidence that would go to a jury. I am more comfortable with more descriptive analysis like the cause of death was “drowning.”

What do you think?