HI - Lauren Crossan, 18, dies in fall from hotel balcony, Maui, 12 Jan 2004

[cole]

This is on one of the linked pages bluehawaii found

Preliminary testing showed traces of alcohol in Crossan's blood, Faaumu said, but don't show her level of intoxication.

According to this article, the toxicology reports won't be available for another week or two. This will tell the investigators the level of intoxication in the girls' blood. This may, or may not, provide an important clue. It's importance IMV rests upon what her habits are with respect to alcohol. If she's not used to consuming alcohol at all then any amount would make her more than a little tipsy. A large amount, particularly if she isn't a 'drinker', could definitely make her disoriented. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that she leaped off the balcony in a highly intoxicated state if it's shown she's not used to alcoholic beverages. It wouldn't have to be a conscious state of suicide but be an intoxicated state of not knowing what the hell you're doing.

That said, however, I'm suspicious that there may be another or even several others who were in that room that these two guys are not telling about. All 3 of these were underage to buy alcohol. Who supplied it? Was that somebody in the room? Are they protecting that somebody for a reason? Could that somebody really be the key to the mystery of what happened?

 

[CurrerBell]

I'd like some background information on those two fellas. Does either have a record? Has either been involved in any kind of suspicious activity before? They were in Hawaii "on vacation." Where did they get the funding for this trip? How do they know one another; what is their past history together?

 

[Toth]

All good questions, particularly the financial part. Are they on vacation from the violent world of drug dealing or from Seminary School? It makes a difference. From their ages, I assume they are merely from the town of Folsom and not from the prison there.
Most young men in a situation like that would rape the woman who tried to say 'no' to the second man after having said 'yes' to the first one. She may not have understood what was to happen or she may have tried to change her mind. If necessary, some men would have first made her fearful of some real damage to her face, but even with some of that happening, I don't think an 18 year old slightly tipsy girl is going to be unaware that its better to just lie there and stare at the ceiling while she waits for them to be finished taking turns with her. Maybe they tried some "creative persuasion" ie, threatened to drop her off the balcony and things went too far? I doubt such a 'creative persuasion' would have been necessary though. Most girls would know that the only way out of that hotel room without getting hurt would be to say 'yes' to whatever they wanted for as long as they wanted it, but the "hurt" would have been something like a fist to her face and the fear of it being more than just wearing heavy make-up for a few days. I don't think any 18 year old girl is going to realize its either "horizontal on the bed" or "horizontal on the ground floor cement".

 

[nanandjim]

I thought that I read that one of the boys "tagged" along with his father for some kind of work-related convention.

 

[Toth]

I've not seen that, but it sure makes sense. After all, they were in Hawaii. It was a resort hotel. There were parties going on. She met the two guys and phoned from their room, but apparently did not say which room she was in. She apparently intended to leave that room fairly soon and may not have intended any sex or atleast any further(?) sex. She was not alarmed in any way during the phone call and did not seem the least bit apprehensive. So how if that was her view did she get naked voluntarily if she was on her way back to her friends. I think when she tried to leave they decided it was time to 'party' with her and she may have had other views on that point.
However, it appears that there was no bruising indicative of a recent rape.

 

[Toth]

I have an unconfirmed report that her alcohol test was twice the legal limit for driving an automobile in Hawaii. Even if this turns out to be correct, I see no way such a state of inebriation would have made the girl want to go waltzing along a ninth floor railing while naked.
It ofcourse calls into question the state of her ability to consent to the sexual activity and may indicate why there were no signs of forcible rape; she may have been too drunk to resist.

According to early reports the alcohol consumption was prior to entering that room.

 

[Toth]

I can't believe the media inattention to this case and lack of further developments.

 

[Nova]

Most young men in a situation like that would rape the woman who tried to say 'no' to the second man after having said 'yes' to the first one.

(Emphasis added.)

Huh? Most? How do we could we possibly know this?

 

[jat]

Most young men in a situation like that would rape the woman who tried to say 'no' to the second man after having said 'yes' to the first one.

Man, Toth, I'd hate to be your date!

 

[Toth]

Man, Toth, I'd hate to be your date!

Yes, I'm sure you would.
However, what I meant was that most men who are going to do anything improper are going to rape, not murder, her.
Very few men would murder in such a circumstance particularly with hotel cameras all over the place and being in their own room at the time. It just seems strange that they would throw her out the window.

 

[Casshew]

We have to know a bit more about the girl too...
I am not trying to blame this girl.. but I want to share a story with you.

We had a "friend of the family" stay here for a month when she was taking a course nearby.. (she is 18) what a Drama Queen she was... and truly a bit of a headcase if you asked me.

She was obsessed with guys... and what they thought of her, she wanted them all to want her, and would not rest if one seemed not interested... she would call and bug and try to do things to make them interested, then when finally they wanted to date her... she would stand them up.

She would come home wailing and throwing tantrums because some guy in her typing class didn't say hi to her at lunch.. she was totally self absorbed changing her clothes several times in the afternoon, evening, primping for any mirror she came across.

She was here for about 6 weeks (LONG weeks) and pretty well had a date every night of the week, (sometimes 2 in the same night!)

She would complain if they didn't buy her gifts, bring her flowers, or call her.. she was constantly on her cell phone - I don't know how she kept them all straight.

If I had heard this story and it was about this girl.(the one who stayed with us) I would be thinking she went up to the room and had sex with the boys and then they told her to get lost and she freaked with a temper tantrum and dramatics... "I will kill myself" drama queen for bring rejected and maybe they were laughing at her... and something happend that she fell.

Maybe she was murdered? Maybe she was drunk and fell... but we need to know more about the girl's character as well as the boys.

 

[Nova]

Sorry - didn't mean to nit-pick. I though you were expressing a dark view of men (unusually dark even for this forum)!

 

[Toth]

Maybe she was murdered? Maybe she was drunk and fell... but we need to know more about the girl's character as well as the boys.

True, but they are the ones who are alive and she is the one who fell 80 feet to cement. I don't think even a drunk girl would go out on a balcony naked and step up onto the railing. Trouble is, I don't think two guys who picked up a slightly tipsy girl in a hotel and took her to their room for sex would throw her off the balcony when she changed her mind. And if they did, I sure can't see them leaving her clothes and pocketbook in plain sight in their room.

 

[turbosleuthing]

Toth I believe you said something along the lines of them joking around with her about if she didn't have sex w/them they would throw her over the balcony.

What if they were goofing around and they accidently did drop her........ Yikes........

 

[Toth]

What if they were goofing around and they accidently did drop her.

She bounces just as high as if they did it intentionally.

 

[Particle_Beam]

just some quick things to throw in.

1) several people have fallen to their deaths at college hotel parties
(see the bans on rail climbing at daytona beach hotels for more info)

2) the darwin awards website has several stories about people who fall while
trying to get freaky on the balcony.

3) most people who plunge to their death cry out, no one in the whole hotel was up partying when this girl fell ? C'MON.

my guess would be this...girl gets drunk, meets a couple guys, they go up to the hotel room, more drinking and then it starts to get crazy. people head outside, checking out the balcony scene, maybe everyone takes thier clothes off and starts flashing the people below, and someone falls.

thats my guess.

 

[Toth]

Seems inconsistent with the phone call she made in which she did not sound plastered and indicated an intent to rejoin her group shortly.

 

[Particle_Beam]

i just searched about ten news sites, and looked at the same article represented across most of them, where do you get the source of that phone call ? any links ? im not seeing it anywhere....

corrected..

Police said Crossan met a male guest at the hotel and ended up in his ninth-floor room Sunday night.

Another guest found Crossan's nude body below the hotel's Lahaina Tower at about 7:45 a.m. Monday — a little more than six hours after the teen had called a chaperon in her group, said acting Lt. Jamie Becraft. Nothing in the phone call indicated there was trouble, he said.



that leaves 6 hours of time, plenty of time for my scenario to have happened.
im going to stick with that. its still horrible, but another interesting point is that both men were arrested after they found inconsistencies in their stories, that is going to help the cops get to the bottom of this.

 

[bluehawaii25]

Here's a new article today.

http://starbulletin.com/breaking/breaking.php?id=2304

 

[Toth]

I know there are forensic techniques to determine with some degree of certainty if she were thrown outward from the balcony or toppled off it, but I imagine that takes time and there is a zone of uncertainty about such things anyway.

It seems the coroner determined that she struck something on the way down and has concluded that since a suicide or murder victim would have cleared the obstructions, that she fell.
Therefore it is likely to be 'death by mis-adventure while intoxicated'.
Accident.