# Fall River public pool (now with human corpse!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 1, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545 "2011-07-01T19:30:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/1 "2011-07-01T19:30:31Z")
I searched for a thread on this with no luck—mods please move / close if I missed something obvious. The highlights of this story: - A nine-year-old reported a woman missing at the public pool, but officials ignored him. - People continued to use the pool with body slowly decomposing beneath them for a couple of days. - Pool inspectors noticed the cloudy water, but failed to note the body. And of course the permit had expired some time ago. - It was only discovered by a group of teens who’d broken in for an illicit night swim. Wow. [Boston Globe story.](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/01/inspectors_failed_to_see_body __in_fall_river__ pool/) ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/2 "2011-07-01T19:36:26Z")
I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that _nobody_ noticed…😕 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/3 "2011-07-01T20:03:09Z")
DCR procedure require that the pools be skimmed/cleaned every day after closing (7 PM). There is NO way that anyone doing this job properly could miss a body in such a pool. Componding this-the DCR (state agency that runs the pools) closed all of the “deep water” (i.e. non-wading pools) for two days. I believe this is because there are a lot of politically connected people who have “no show” “jobs” at these pools-and they want make sure these people “sign in” before they allow the records to be made public. ---
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/4 "2011-07-01T20:14:15Z")
Makes peeing in the pool pale by comparison… ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/5 "2011-07-01T20:21:25Z")
They need to add that stuff that turns the water red when there’s a body decomposing in it for several days. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/6 "2011-07-01T20:23:34Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > They need to add that stuff that turns the water red when there’s a body decomposing in it for several days. Blood? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/7 "2011-07-01T20:24:12Z")
> [@SylverOne](#): > > Makes peeing in the pool pale by comparison… If it’s _not_ pale by comparison, then you’re dehydrated and need to consume more fluids. ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/8 "2011-07-01T20:25:42Z")
Wait…so the pool was so murky that you couldn’t see the bottom of 12 ft and people _got in_? That is really nasty all by itself without the body. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/9 "2011-07-01T20:28:33Z")
I think I’ll wait for the coroner’s report. The evidence that she downed Sunday seems to be hearsay. The evidence that she drowned Sunday is based on a statement from a nine year old boy. I find it more plausible that she drowned Tuesday rather than Sunday and people swam in the pool for days without noticing a dead body. I could be wrong, but Occam’s razor applies here until we have more evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/10 "2011-07-01T20:31:59Z")
I just can’t believe that nobody saw her no matter when she died. What about those kids who swim down and sit on the bottom of the pool? ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/11 "2011-07-01T20:36:39Z")
> [@Caveat\_lector\_1](#): > > Wait…so the pool was so murky that you couldn’t see the bottom of 12 ft and people _got in_? That’s the part that made me :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/12 "2011-07-01T20:40:06Z")
The pool didn’t even have a permit. Maybe it’s poorly maintained and people were used to it being cloudy? ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/13 "2011-07-01T21:06:55Z")
I find these two parts very odd too: > [@](#): > > Veronica Reis, 21, a friend of Joseph’s, told a reporter that the 9-year-old boy who preceded Joseph down the slide tried to alert lifeguards, but said they ignored him. He then tried to rescue her, but could not. > [@](#): > > Joseph went to the pool Sunday afternoon with two other adults and six children from their Fall River neighborhood, said Reis, her downstairs neighbor, who dropped them off. > > At 5 p.m., when the pool was closing, Reis went to pick them up. But no one in the group knew where Joseph was, and, after waiting a while, they went home. > > “We thought she probably came back home,’’ Reis said. If the 9 year old knew enough to tell the lifeguards and try to rescue her himself, WHY wouldn’t the 9 year old tell anyone else in the group that she was on the bottom of the pool? Did he just stand there and not say anything while everyone else in the group was wondering where she was? Less importantly, why would someone who allegedly doesn’t know how to swim go on a water slide? This is a really, really weird story. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/14 "2011-07-01T21:10:00Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > The pool didn’t even have a permit. Maybe it’s poorly maintained and people were used to it being cloudy? On the news, they said it was a state run pool with a permit that expired in December. They showed pictures of the pool and it looked nice, not at all like a place that would make you think “I could hide a body in there for days and no one would notice”. ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/15 "2011-07-01T21:11:00Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I think I’ll wait for the coroner’s report. The evidence that she downed Sunday seems to be hearsay. The evidence that she drowned Sunday is based on a statement from a nine year old boy. I find it more plausible that she drowned Tuesday rather than Sunday and people swam in the pool for days without noticing a dead body. > > I could be wrong, but Occam’s razor applies here until we have more evidence. I’ll also wait for the coroner’s report. Until we have any proof that she drowned at all it could be a body dumping. That said, I know a couple people who work at city-run public pools here in NYC and there is no way a body could go undiscovered for even a day. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/16 "2011-07-01T21:17:24Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > If the 9 year old knew enough to tell the lifeguards and try to rescue her himself, WHY wouldn’t the 9 year old tell anyone else in the group that she was on the bottom of the pool? Did he just stand there and not say anything while everyone else in the group was wondering where she was? I got the impression that he was a random person at the pool, not part of their group. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/17 "2011-07-01T22:03:20Z")
This statement is interesting: > [@](#): > > Friends and family were used to Joseph, who was from Haiti, being away for days at a time, often with little notice, Miliote said. They knew her as a free spirit who met new friends easily and would often go on spur-of-the-moment excursions. [http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/01/inspectors\_failed\_to\_see\_body\_\_in\_fall\_river\_\_pool/?page=2](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/01/inspectors_failed_to_see_body __in_fall_river__ pool/?page=2) At least it explains why no one called the police after she had been missing for three days. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/18 "2011-07-01T22:19:53Z")
I’ve swam in motel pools all over the U.S. and a few city pools. The water has always been clear enough to see the bottom. It has to be. You can’t dive into murky water. You might land on top of someone swimming in there. The pump/filter must have been broke to have water murky enough to hide a body. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/19 "2011-07-01T22:25:15Z")
The second page of the article says that Ms. Joseph _did_ know the nine-year-old, and also that her group included six children, though it’s not stated definitively that the boy was in that group. The group was dropped off and then picked up together on Sunday, and Joseph was not with them when picked up. Their driver and Joseph’s adult son (not at the pool) didn’t know where she was Sunday evening or Monday. It really does sound like she drowned on Sunday and went unnoticed on the bottom. It’s completely bizarre, but it seems the alternative requires a conspiracy of lies among at least four other adults (presumably the police talked to the other two in the group, as well as the driver and the son) and one or more children–and to what end? Why attract all this extra attention by staging an incredible scenario? “Lifeguards and swimmers who were at the pool Monday and Tuesday” confirm that the water _was_ murky. “Free spirit” or not, it would be a rather incredible coincidence for somebody to disappear from a swimming group on Sunday (but _not_ by drowning), then have the water cloud up, and _then_ have that same person return to the pool to drown on Tuesday. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545/20 "2011-07-01T23:20:32Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > This is a really, really weird story. Fall River was the birthplace of Lizzie Borden and Emeril Lagasse. I think they’re pretty used to weird by now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fall-river-public-pool-now-with-human-corpse/587545.md?page=2)