Major Developments Update: Last updated 2/8/08

[Berit]

It was just a transportbox for the flight. It's done that way.

[BBM-Cat]

I just posted about 'the crate' in the News section - I wished I hadn't seen that image this morning. It really made it all so final in realizing Heath is really gone. I know he is not in that crate, but just the image and thinking about his poor family having to deal with that too was hard.

[Delmardeb]

Thanks Sue for the link. I too want to read everything there is to read about our beloved Heath. I am still devastated, and so is his family, us Brokies, and the world.

[jstephens9]

I saw pictures of that...and all I could think was 'He's alone, there's no one there (except the paparazzi of course)'. I know it isn't possible for the family to be there, but I just wish that the removing of his body from his apartment and now this could have been done away from the press, so his family could have been there. It feels like he was on display, and that is no way to tread a very private man like Heath Ledger.

And why was he put in such a huge ugly casket wooden box? Is that because he has to be transported by plane? I don't know....maybe this is the way it's done in New York.

It's just very painful to watch. He deserves better.

*sigh*

I sure do agree with you that Heath deserves better and I keep thinking how terrible it is how they have displayed him with him being such a private person. You know he would have absolutely hated that.

[louisev]

I know tmz.com is just a rumor site but it may be that someone leaked the preliminary Medical Examiner's report which TMZ claims that he may have died of 'natural causes.'  www.tmz.com.  There is also a claim that EMT observation of Heath's body upon their arrival showed rigor mortis consistent with a much earlier time of death, and that the housekeeper could not have heard him snoring - he had to have been dead already, possibly as early as 11 a.m.

[SFEnnisSF]

Does "rigor mortis" set in *that* fast?

[BBM-Cat]

Does "rigor mortis" set in *that* fast?

Not to be morbid, but here is a description of the post-mortem process. Accordingly, it can set in *that* fast or take longer depending on other factors:

What Causes Rigor Mortis?
Chemistry of Muscle Fibers
By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/biochemistry/a/aa061903a.htm

[Katie77]

Not to be morbid, but here is a description of the post-mortem process. Accordingly, it can set in *that* fast or take longer depending on other factors:

What Causes Rigor Mortis?
Chemistry of Muscle Fibers
By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/biochemistry/a/aa061903a.htm

Im sorry.....but do we really need to know.....

[Ellemeno]

Let's remember that we can skip over reading about the aspects of the situation that don't fit for us.  I don't plan to read that article, but I can see that for some people, processing what has happened could include the need to understand that stuff.

[delalluvia]

Not to be morbid, but here is a description of the post-mortem process. Accordingly, it can set in *that* fast or take longer depending on other factors:

What Causes Rigor Mortis?
Chemistry of Muscle Fibers
By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/biochemistry/a/aa061903a.htm

Thanks for the info.  I'm one of those people who like to know this kind of thing, so there are no unanswered questions left in my head.