Final Coroner's report on the suicide of John Lang released

Back in January, a story hit the news and made it's way here to ATS:

John seemingly predicted his own murder and says Fresno law enforcement is responsible.

Days before his death, he was adamant that Fresno law enforcement would conclude their 7-year-long campaign against him by ending his life.

On Jan. 13, 2016, he shared a brief conversation between him and another person reiterating the reason why Fresno cops were stalking him.

Fresno PD whistleblower, Activist Predicts Death, Says The Cops Killed Him

The original articles called the death "suspicious."

And then it was determined to be suicide:

Thursday, March 31, 2016 08:48AM
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Fresno County Coroner's office said John Lang's death was a suicide. Firefighters found Lang barricaded inside his burning home on Van Ness Avenue in Central Fresno in January. He had some stab wounds and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Coroner's have determined the wounds were self-inflicted.

And now, yesterday, we have this:

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) --
The Fresno County Sheriff-Coroner's office has released the final report on what they are calling the suicide of John Lang.

Source

According to the autopsy, he stabbed himself 3 times with two different knives. He also apparently set his house on fire in order to kill himself by smoke inhalation.

Of the three stab wounds, two penetrated the sternum, one of which punctured his heart, the other scraped the front wall of the heart.

Think about how much force one would need to penetrate the sternum with a knife and then think about trying to do that to yourself, and then set your house on fire. Or he started the fire then stabbed himself, I suppose might work; assuming you believe he actually stabbed himself.

John Lang's Autopsy direct .pdf link

Related links:

John Lang's death ruled a suicide ATS thread

Fresno PD whistleblower, Activist Predicts Death, Says The Cops Killed Him ATS thread

John Lang's YouTube channel

Fresno coroner maintains turning morgue over to sheriff is a mistake Story from 2014 re: coroner no longer to be independent from Fresno sheriff

Thoughts?

It's a murder. Through and through.

Facts don't add up no matter how much reality is stretched.

No one would try to commit suicide by burning their house down in the first place. Even if someone did, you'd either attempt suicide by burning the house down(ridiculous idea) or by knife, yet with a knife I'd imagine you'd go for your wrists or heart or throat, not multiple wounds to your chest/stomach. Of course, downing a bottle of pills or wrapping your car around a pole is much easier. This just makes no sense.

Furthermore, the idea he's send out this message and that his life was in danger, then follow it up my doing this? Asinine on all levels.

What's concerning here is the corruption between the police and the coroner. This is the type of crap which gives cops a bad name and for good reason. It's not a bad apple or two. It's systematic corruption reaching outside their departments.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

I concur with the above post. Nobody would set their house on fire and then try stabbing themselves. People who commit suicide do so in much more effective ways.

He was killed...no way he stabbed himself with 2 different knives through his sternum . ..

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Seems like every department is covering for this too. The coroner concluded it was "suicide"? My rear end it was suicide. I've seen this behavior from law enforcement and their fellow departments before. They lie to the media. They lie to the grand jury. They lie to their union reps. They lie to their fellow officers. Man. Just when you think things can't get any worse in our country.

a reply to: rollanotherone

Yep, back in 2014 the duties of the coroner were passed to the Sheriff's office:

But on January 1st, the morgue becomes a law enforcement operation -- part of the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. It's a move the outgoing coroner, Dr. David Hadden, thinks it's a bad idea.

"It's a whole different attitude. It's not law enforcement, it is medicine," said Hadden.

But a majority of the Board of Supervisors decided to make the change, claiming it's the way most of California's 58 counties do it. But nearly all of the counties who use the old-fashioned sheriff coroner system are much smaller than Fresno. Most larger counties have an independent coroner. The other claim was it could save money. But Supervisor Henry Perea says that's not the case. Under the plan, a captain in the sheriff's department will replace Hadden, who is a medical doctor.

"No question that it's going to cost us more money and I think most importantly it takes away the independence that office had that really brought it to be its own department in 1977," said Perea.

link in OP

And, for the record, I think this was murder.

Suicide commonly only happens two ways,...

Quietly in a room alone or off in the woods or something such, saying "I just cant go on anymore".

Or messy and publically usually someplace to show meaning, saying "look what you made me do".

But stabbing oneself with two different knives in a burning building?, ... no typical and seems to say there was "help" in doing.

Thanks for the updates. The way the area is corrupt to the things they did to the man, still believe that this case is far from suicide. If they are bought and paid for staff yes they will cover up for this.

Story from 2014 re: coroner no longer to be independent from Fresno sheriff

Op source

Fresno coroner maintains turning morgue over to sheriff is a mistake

But on January 1st, the morgue becomes a law enforcement operation -- part of the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. It's a move the outgoing coroner, Dr. David Hadden, thinks it's a bad idea.

"They may not even realize that they are engaging in conflict of interest because they are so focused on getting a conviction or getting the bad guy; where we are not focused on getting the bad guy, we are focused on getting the facts," said Hadden.

Gotta feed the prison industrial complex.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

If it wasn't suicide why didn't he just buy a gun to defend himself? He was supposedly expecting to get murdered and doesn't buy a gun? Was he not allowed to own a gun?

originally posted by: SpecialSauce
a reply to: jadedANDcynical

If it wasn't suicide why didn't he just buy a gun to defend himself? He was supposedly expecting to get murdered and doesn't buy a gun? Was he not allowed to own a gun?

I think documenting the harassment and contacting the press was really his best bet. I think you are underestimating the police's efficiency at falsifying reports. Even if he would have successfully defended himself, he would likely go to prison for the rest of his life on death row for killing a police officer. It isn't that easy to shoot your way through corruption on that level.

Let's be honest, stabbing yourself twice in the heart with two different knives is nearly impossible. And burning the house down at the same time just screams of destroying evidence.

Sounds like the suicidal act was engaging in the political process and asking the hard questions.

It can be a very risky role for activists, bloggers or anyone else challenging the status quo. Things do stink bad in Fresno, but it is not the only place in the world that will get you killed for speaking your mind.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

There is much about this case which seems utterly baffling.

But one thing appears clear as day to me. It is impossible that the victim could have set the fire after receiving the stab wound which pierced his heart. That is a killing blow, and nearly the instant the wound was recieved, blood would have started rapidly filling the space around the heart, not only resulting in the failure of blood to reach the brain, but also compressing the dying beats of his heart. He would, upon the instant of receiving that wound, have been incapacitated.

Therefore, either the wound was received prior to the fire being set, and the fire was set by someone else, or the fire was set and the victim then managed to some how end himself before the fire took hold, using the least likely, and most potentially painful method imaginable. Frankly speaking, I find the idea of this death being anything other than a murder entirely outrageous. If the fire was set, and then the wound delivered, there would be traces of smoke in the victims lungs and airways. I would be interested to hear a full explanation of the entire findings of the autopsy.

I was hoping to see some justice in this case, but we are talking about Fresno & the Fresno PD here so that is extremely unlikely.

I'm not discounting the suspicious nature of the death, but I think many of you are barking up the wrong tree about the fire.

It's not unheard of for somebody to set their house ablaze and then kill themselves. Common? No. But those of you saying nobody does it or nobody would kill themselves like that....it happens.

Even using an accelerant to help the blaze along, one still has time to do "stuff" before being overcome by smoke. Including slashing one's wrists, stabbing one's self, hanging one's self, or murdering others.

This case is certainly an odd one. I just don't think the blaze and stabbing is the smoking gun some of you seem to think it is.

a reply to: Shamrock6

This case is certainly an odd one. I just don't think the blaze and stabbing is the smoking gun some of you seem to think it is.

I'll give you the fire, but stabbing himself through the sternum...twice?

How many other cases of suicide have there been where the victim stabbed themselves through the sternum?

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Exactly. With two different knives?

Entertaining suicide, that would mean he stabbed himself, realized the one knife wouldn't cut it, (no pun intended) then reached for another knife. Which would mean he was lucky enough to have another close by, or had the foresight to know he might need the other one.

IMO the use of two different knives is taking suicide off the table for me.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

I don't disagree with you.

But -

Counterpoint - if they were going to suicide him, why not do it in a more suicide-y way? Gun in the mouth, temple, etc. For that matter, why stab him there to begin with? Just as it's an odd place to stab oneself, it's an odd place to stab somebody when trying to suicide them.

Again, just food for thought. I still think it's an odd case all around and am not trying to say otherwise.

originally posted by: Shamrock6
I'm not discounting the suspicious nature of the death, but I think many of you are barking up the wrong tree about the fire.

It's not unheard of for somebody to set their house ablaze and then kill themselves. Common? No. But those of you saying nobody does it or nobody would kill themselves like that....it happens.

Even using an accelerant to help the blaze along, one still has time to do "stuff" before being overcome by smoke. Including slashing one's wrists, stabbing one's self, hanging one's self, or murdering others.

This case is certainly an odd one. I just don't think the blaze and stabbing is the smoking gun some of you seem to think it is.

I have to agree people are overlooking the possibility of someone saying "they are going to kill me" then making sure it looked like they were killed. Using two different weapons and the fire would help rule out suicide. (not saying this happened)

This way you could get to where you were unable to go with so much against you in life. If he actually did this it would be a shame it failed and ruled suicide anyway.

originally posted by: jadedANDcynical
a reply to: Shamrock6

This case is certainly an odd one. I just don't think the blaze and stabbing is the smoking gun some of you seem to think it is.

I'll give you the fire, but stabbing himself through the sternum...twice?

How many other cases of suicide have there been where the victim stabbed themselves through the sternum?

How many needed it to look like murder? It would have been a brave and terrible thing to do if he did it.

I do think he was murdered but it is not proven unless we could see the angle of the knife wounds and proof.

a reply to: Shamrock6

Counterpoint - if they were going to suicide him, why not do it in a more suicide-y way? Gun in the mouth, temple, etc. For that matter, why stab him there to begin with? Just as it's an odd place to stab oneself, it's an odd place to stab somebody when trying to suicide them.

Counter-counterpoint - they don't care how it looks and want to send the message of, "if you do what this man did, we will do to you what we did to him and get away with it."

They most certainly could have made it look like a legitimate suicide, but then no message would be sent. Hell, it could have been done as a mugging gone wrong, an auto accident, or any number of other ways so as not to arouse suspicion.

But it was done in an overtly bizarre manner specifically to call attention to the fact of it happening.

They're saying that if you look in to police corruption in Fresno, you too will be made an example of.