IN IN - Tanner Barton, 19, Kokomo, 22 April 2012

leighEg

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I'm not sure if this is the correct forum, as this case isn't technically a cold case, it's been 5 years and it still has not been solved. Was wondering if I could get any thoughts from anyone on this:

Tanner Barton, 19, went to a friend's house in Kokomo, Indiana. They hung out in the family basement. Tanner fell down, passed out, and died. His blood alcohol was .06 and he had no drugs in his system aside traces of marijuana. Detectives are calling it a highly suspicious case. His friends claim Tanner simply just died and they have no explanation. Others have alleged that one of his friends reportedly got ketamine from his veterinarian father and dropped it in Tanner's drink (not confirmed). The coroner never tested for ketamine despite the mother pleading for it.

Here is a great story that explains the situation in detail:

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/bad-medicine

Thank you all!
 
Thanks, Leigh. That is a very detailed article that sums up the case well.

It appears after review of the article that there is no chance of further toxicological testing now for Ketamine. The reason I conclude this is found in the excerpt below from the article:
"The only way to positively confirm whether or not Tanner had ingested the drug would have been to test the expectorate voided from his body and Jeff Lindskoog had made sure no traces of that were left."

http://kokomoperspective.com/kp/mot...cle_9b0453a4-7124-11e5-ba7d-0b7d1fd0137e.html


Because the original toxicology testing panel was not comprehensive enough to include a screen for Ketamine, that is a dead end. From what I read in this article, it seems highly likely that Tanner succumbed to the effects of Ketamine. How it was administered to him, by injection, or in tablet form, perhaps crushed and added to a drink without his knowledge, would be impossible to determine now. There is also the possibility that the drug was self-administered.

At a minimum, these "host" parents absolutely should have been charged with contributing to Tanner's death by their failure to act immediately in dealing with a medical emergency. They should have called 911 ASAP when Tanner was in distress, but (according to the article) didn't want to implicate themselves. Now, it is probably too late for that as well due to statute of limitations.

In my opinion, all of the circumstances surrounding Tanner's death are highly suspicious, with evidence of cover-ups and collusion.
 
Thanks, Leigh. That is a very detailed article that sums up the case well.

It appears after review of the article that there is no chance of further toxicological testing now for Ketamine. The reason I conclude this is found in the excerpt below from the article:



Because the original toxicology testing panel was not comprehensive enough to include a screen for Ketamine, that is a dead end. From what I read in this article, it seems highly likely that Tanner succumbed to the effects of Ketamine. How it was administered to him, by injection, or in tablet form, perhaps crushed and added to a drink without his knowledge, would be impossible to determine now. There is also the possibility that the drug was self-administered.

At a minimum, these "host" parents absolutely should have been charged with contributing to Tanner's death by their failure to act immediately in dealing with a medical emergency. They should have called 911 ASAP when Tanner was in distress, but (according to the article) didn't want to implicate themselves. Now, it is probably too late for that as well due to statute of limitations.

In my opinion, all of the circumstances surrounding Tanner's death are highly suspicious, with evidence of cover-ups and collusion.

Thank you! That is what I thought as well. We are looking into this, but I appreciate any and all input. This is a tough one.
 
Thank you! That is what I thought as well. We are looking into this, but I appreciate any and all input. This is a tough one.

I listened to the podcast with you and Nancy Grace, and guests. You could have covered the whole case yourself (minus the guests), in my opinion, because you know it backwards and forwards. So they are thinking that, if there are any blood samples that remain that were collected at the time of his death, they are going to test NOW for the presence of ketamine. This should have been done when Tanner's mom first asked -- a point made during the show! (Let's hurry and close the barn door after the horse is out!) It amazes me how long the "process" is from idea to completion. Will it take months, now, to get the word as to whether there are any blood samples to be found in this case that can be tested. Then, what would the chances be of any samples being viable for testing now to produce results?

The question is, how long after the ketamine was administered or ingested did Tanner survive before he succumbed to its toxic effects? Apparently, from your referenced articles, ketamine is detectable in the body for only four hours after administration. That's why it would have been important to have collected the "expectorate voided" (vomit he expelled) at the scene. That is the material that was cleaned up so thoroughly that none could be collected at the scene. This, among other factors, including length of time passing, will not make it easy to get a resolution. I hate to be a pessimist, but I'm not telling you anything when I say that time is not on our side in these cases.

On another note, Tanner's mom seems to be handling this remarkably well. I was glad that Nancy could cheer her up. She seemed to get such a kick out of Nancy! Hopefully, she can use her connections to get to the bottom of this one, as she did with Chase Massner. Glad you're on the case, Leigh!
 
One thing I’ve noticed about this case is a lot of the major media outlets have deleted their videos/podcasts about this case. Dr. Oz, she was on the show and I could find one small clip from a news channel that reported him interviewing the mother but not the episode. Nancy Grace apparently did multiple episodes on her podcast (based on other media reporting it) but I can’t find it anywhere. A lot of the links are broken or have been removed.
 

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