The twisted life of Ohio kidnapper Ariel Castro might have come to an equally bizarre end: death by autoerotic asphyxiation, reports the Columbus Dispatch. A report from the state corrections department made repeated references to the fact that the Cleveland man who was serving a life sentence, plus 1,000 years for kidnapping and holding three women prisoner for up to a decade gave no indication that he planned to kill himself before he was found hanging in his cell Sept. 3.
“There appears to be no known, substantiated motivation for the self-inflicted death,” the report said. The investigation of the second high-profile suicide in Ohio prisons in a little more than a month again faulted corrections officers for failing to complete their rounds and falsifying records to show they did. The conclusion that Castro's prison guards neglected their duty echoes results of an earlier probe in the Aug. 4 suicide of Death Row inmate Billy Slagle. Four officers in the two cases are currently suspended with pay pending further disciplinary action. The report suggests “the possibility” that Castro's death resulted from “autoerotic asphyxiation,” a practice in which someone is sexually aroused by shutting of the supply of oxygen to their brain by choking or hanging. Autoerotic asphyxiation sometimes results in unintentional death.