Latest news with #bluntForceTrauma
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Khandallah murder trial: Victim was bludgeoned, forensic pathologist tells jury
Helen Gregory died at her Khandallah home in January last year. Photo: RNZ / Soumya Bhamidipati The elderly woman found dead in her home in Wellington's suburb of Khandallah last year was bludgeoned, a forensic pathologist has told a jury. Helen Gregory, 79, was killed in January 2024 - her daughter Julia DeLuney is on trial for murder in the High Court at Wellington. She has pleaded not guilty. The Crown says DeLuney attacked her mother, possibly with a vase that has never been found, before staging it to look like she had fallen from the attic. But the defence says someone else caused those injuries in the 90 minutes in which DeLuney went to get help. Julia DeLuney in the High Court. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii On Wednesday, the court heard from forensic pathologist Dr Judy Melinek, who peer-reviewed Gregory's post-mortem. Melinek said she agreed with the post-mortem, which found the 79-year-old had died from complications of blunt force trauma - primarily to the head. She said death would not have been instantaneous, as the swelling of the brain that results from such trauma typically takes several hours. Melinek took pains to describe to the jury the different types of injuries that can result from blunt force trauma - abrasions, contusions, and lacerations - before using the bust of a mannequin to point out the type and location of Gregory's wounds. She said Gregory had a total of "11 planes of injury on the head alone," meaning she had sustained at least 11 separate impacts. She said the impacts were caused by "significant force". "You know, someone taking a heavy object, like a cricket bat or something, or a large hefty object and hitting it with a good amount of force over the head." In response to questions from the prosecution, Melinek said the injuries could have been caused by a vase. "An object like that vase would be a blunt force object and it's hefty and heavy, so it could easily cause the lacerations such as we see on Ms Gregory." Under cross-examination, Melinek said a fall could also cause blunt force injuries, but the pattern tended to be different from being struck by an object. She said a fall from a height of a metre or two could cause one of the smaller head wounds, but a fall couldn't explain a large injury on the back of her head. "I've never seen an injury of that magnitude caused by a fall in someone's residence, even if we're talking from stairs. It's too big and there are too many planes of impact. "You need a bludgeoning to get this many planes of injury." Melinek said it was plausible that multiple and repeated strikes against an entertainment unit could have caused the head wounds, but maintained it was unlikely they were the result of being kicked. She said in total, Gregory had about 75 discrete injuries, including lacerations, contusions, abrasions and fractures. She also said bruising on the soft tissue of her arms was consistent with "grab marks" and defensive injuries on her wrists. She said injuries from a fall tended to be located on boney parts of the body. The defence suggested that the injuries could have been sustained at a different point in time. The trial continues. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Daily Mail
Cause of death revealed for father who took daughter on bucket list hike up Maine's highest mountain
A father's cause of death has been revealed weeks after he and his daughter died while hiking up Maine 's highest mountain. Esther, 28, and Tim Keiderling, 58, of Ulster Park, New York, were found dead on Mount Katahdin earlier this month. A medical examiner revealed Tim died from hypothermia on Thursday, News Center Maine reported. Authorities previously determined Esther died from blunt force trauma, as her body was found beneath a snowy boulder. They believe she slipped off a trail and slid down the icy mountain terrain - crashing into the boulders below. The father-daughter duo embarked on the strenuous journey early on June 1. For the experienced hikers, trekking up the 5,269-foot mountain was a 'bucket list' item - although Esther eerily revealed on her Substack she was 'a little nervous' about the trek. 'If you don't see me back on Substack notes again, that's where I am,' she wrote, referring to the famously difficult Abol Trail. They were last seen on the mountain's Hunt Trail at around 10:15am that day, according to park Baxter State Park officials. After not hearing from Esther and Tim by the following evening, their family grew worried for their safety. Authorities officially declared them missing on June 3, swiftly searching for the pair using helicopters, ground searchers and K9 teams. They made the horrific discovery of Tim's corpse the day they launched the search, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. Esther's body was found the next day, about 1,000 feet from her father's near the summit. Hikers who saw them before their disappearance noted there were extremely harsh weather conditions. The mountain's peak was being hit with 40-mile-per-hour winds, rain, sleet and snow in frigid temperatures. 'They were doing a day hike, a bucket list thing, to climb this amazing mountain,' Tim's brother-in-law Heinrich Arnold wrote on Facebook. 'Both wonderful people, full of life, full of joy.' After Tim's body was found, his brother Joe Keiderling told WMTV: 'No one has had a brother like mine. 'Tim lived exuberantly. He loved life, loved people, loved God. He was a storyteller like no one I've known with a rich sense of humor.' In their joint obituary published in the Daily Freeman, Esther was described as 'a sensitive, deeply-thinking woman who loved reading and writing, with a particular interest in the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Edna St. Vincent Millay.' Tim was said to have an especially close bond with Esther, as she was his oldest child. 'What drew both him and Esther to high places was always the view – the broad expanse of God's handiwork, laid out below them,' the obituary reads. Both Tim and Esther were members of the Bruderhof faith, a Christian community for people living in rural areas. In a statement after their passing, their employer Rifton Equipment said they were 'deeply saddened' by their sudden deaths on the mountain.
CTV News
25-06-2025
- CTV News
2nd-degree murder charge laid in killing of 59-year-old man in central Edmonton
A man has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the killing of 59-year-old Robert Gladue. Gladue was found injured in a home near 95 Street and 106 Avenue on Thursday by officers responding to an assault call, police said. He was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police said 42-year-old Dustin Chisolm, who was found nearby, was initially charged with aggravated assault. The charge was upgraded to second-degree murder after Gladue died in hospital from blunt force trauma injuries on Sunday. Police said the two men knew each other.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cause of Death Revealed for Daughter Who Died During Trail Hike with Her Dad
The Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has reportedly released the cause of death for hiker Esther Keiderling, who died in early June during a Mount Katahdin trail hike The 28-year-old hiker's cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma, per News 10 ABC, WGME CBS 13 and WABI 5 Her dad Tim Keiderling's cause of death has not yet been listedMore details are emerging in the deaths of Tim and Esther Keiderling, the dad and daughter who died on a trail hike in Maine this month. A medical examiner revealed that the cause of death for Esther, 28, was from blunt force trauma, while father's cause of death has not yet been shared, reported News 10 ABC, WGME CBS 13 and WABI 5. Esther may have slid down the terrain with an uncontrollable force as her remains were found in a snow covered boulder field below the Cathedral Cut-off Trail, News Center Maine reported. PEOPLE reached out to the Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on June 14 for additional details, but did not receive an immediate response. News Center Maine added that witnesses told investigators that Tim, 58, and Esther, were continuing their climb when harsh weather conditions, including wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour. A mixture of sleet, rain and snow reportedly also impacted the father and daughter as wind chills dropped into the teens, and hypothermia was a high risk. Investigators also said that the Keiderlings did reach the summit of Saddle Trail but veered off course during their descent, the outlet and Esther, both of Ulster Park, N.Y., were last seen on June 1 at around 10:15 a.m. local time. The duo had set out from the Abol Campground to hike Mount Katahdin, according to a statement from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Days later, on June 3, authorities updated the statement, writing that a Maine Warden Service K9 search team found Tim's body near the summit of the mountain, but his daughter remained missing. The organization updated the statement again the following day on June 4, announcing that searchers had found Esther's body. Tim's brother-in-law Heinrich Arnold posted on the family's New York-based church, that the deaths had been "difficult to fully grasp." He continued, "Both were taken from us far too soon, and we are all left asking: 'Why?' ' Arnold thanked the community for the outpouring of support and shared what was giving the family solace as they mourned the father of six and Esther. "One comfort to the family is knowing that Tim and Esther were doing something they both were passionate about: being near to God, surrounded by expansive views and visions, immersed in nature, in the raw and wild beauty of creation," Arnold said. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife did not respond to PEOPLE's request for further updates on June 14. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cause of Death Revealed for Daughter Who Died During Trail Hike with Her Dad
The Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has reportedly released the cause of death for hiker Esther Keiderling, who died in early June during a Mount Katahdin trail hike The 28-year-old hiker's cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma, per News 10 ABC, WGME CBS 13 and WABI 5 Her dad Tim Keiderling's cause of death has not yet been listedMore details are emerging in the deaths of Tim and Esther Keiderling, the dad and daughter who died on a trail hike in Maine this month. A medical examiner revealed that the cause of death for Esther, 28, was from blunt force trauma, while father's cause of death has not yet been shared, reported News 10 ABC, WGME CBS 13 and WABI 5. Esther may have slid down the terrain with an uncontrollable force as her remains were found in a snow covered boulder field below the Cathedral Cut-off Trail, News Center Maine reported. PEOPLE reached out to the Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on June 14 for additional details, but did not receive an immediate response. News Center Maine added that witnesses told investigators that Tim, 58, and Esther, were continuing their climb when harsh weather conditions, including wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour. A mixture of sleet, rain and snow reportedly also impacted the father and daughter as wind chills dropped into the teens, and hypothermia was a high risk. Investigators also said that the Keiderlings did reach the summit of Saddle Trail but veered off course during their descent, the outlet and Esther, both of Ulster Park, N.Y., were last seen on June 1 at around 10:15 a.m. local time. The duo had set out from the Abol Campground to hike Mount Katahdin, according to a statement from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Days later, on June 3, authorities updated the statement, writing that a Maine Warden Service K9 search team found Tim's body near the summit of the mountain, but his daughter remained missing. The organization updated the statement again the following day on June 4, announcing that searchers had found Esther's body. Tim's brother-in-law Heinrich Arnold posted on the family's New York-based church, that the deaths had been "difficult to fully grasp." He continued, "Both were taken from us far too soon, and we are all left asking: 'Why?' ' Arnold thanked the community for the outpouring of support and shared what was giving the family solace as they mourned the father of six and Esther. "One comfort to the family is knowing that Tim and Esther were doing something they both were passionate about: being near to God, surrounded by expansive views and visions, immersed in nature, in the raw and wild beauty of creation," Arnold said. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife did not respond to PEOPLE's request for further updates on June 14. Read the original article on People
