# Is there actually a way to kill someone and leave no sign of it being a murder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087 "2016-02-14T03:02:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Shearer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/57b2e6/32.png) [@Shearer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shearer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/82 "2016-02-16T18:13:20Z")
Push them in a Manchester canal when drunk. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/83 "2016-02-16T18:22:33Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > It turns out the lawyer knew that the penalties for drunken vehicular manslaughter were so lax, he staged the murder as a drunk driving accident. I’m not sure why you’d fake a DUI, when you could just claim that you weren’t paying attention and had an “accident.” Especially if the intended victim is on a bicycle - in the US, there are many cases where an inattentive driver hits and kills a cyclist, and doesn’t even get prosecuted for anything. Happened a few years ago a couple of blocks from my office - cyclist (college student) got hit in broad daylight and died, driver admitted she was looking down at her phone, no prosecution. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/84 "2016-02-16T19:26:02Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > … > > - Check out the article “9 Scientific Facts Prove the “Theory of Evolution” is False” from the link of that page. It will you despair for humanity. It will me despair for the English language too! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/85 "2016-02-16T19:27:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So always make sure to call your local coroner and ask what substances he tests for before poisoning anyone. Aye, there’s the rub. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/86 "2016-02-16T20:18:57Z")
Fentanyl. The ME would know the person died of a Fentanyl overdose, but the stuff is killing so many people who aren’t traditional drug abusers that it would be very hard to prove murder. One of the reasons Fentanyl is killing so many is because it is an opioid that is 40 times stronger than Heroin, yet it can be dried and pressed into pill form. Some cartels are importing the stuff disguised as Oxycontin, so innocent people think they’re buying some oxy for the opiod addiction they got after surgery, and they take Fentanyl by accident and it kills them dead. Put an unmarked bottle of Fentanyl pressed into Oxycontin pill form on the person’s bed stand, and no one would have trouble believing that someone might have purchased a bottle of what they thought was Oxycontin on the black market and overdosed themselves. This is common enough that at least it might be enough to insert reasonable doubt into the prosecution’s case if they ever caught you and prosecuted. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/87 "2016-02-16T21:58:12Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I’m not sure why you’d fake a DUI, when you could just claim that you weren’t paying attention and had an “accident.” Especially if the intended victim is on a bicycle - in the US, there are many cases where an inattentive driver hits and kills a cyclist, and doesn’t even get prosecuted for anything. Happened a few years ago a couple of blocks from my office - cyclist (college student) got hit in broad daylight and died, driver admitted she was looking down at her phone, no prosecution. Well, if you’re familiar with the show, Quincy is a self-righteous crusader for social justice–[Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy,_M.E.): > [@](#): > > Later seasons’ episodes began to introduce themes of social responsibility; Quincy would find himself involved with a police investigation that reveals situations such as a disreputable plastic surgeon and the reasons his poor surgeries are not stopped, flaws in drunk driving laws, problems caused by punk rock, airline safety issues, dumping of hazardous waste, the proliferation of handguns, Tourette’s syndrome, orphan drugs and anorexia among others. There would be no moral outrage if it was just an “accident” and Quincy couldn’t get up on his soapbox. P.S.–I wonder what social irresponsibility punk rock was responsible for? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/88 "2016-02-16T22:40:09Z")
I vaguely recall reading that the KGB used to stuff snow or ice down someone’s throat to suffocate them. The residual body heat was enough to melt the ice, leaving no evidence (assuming there were no defensive wounds, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/89 "2016-02-16T22:52:18Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > …P.S.–I wonder what social irresponsibility punk rock was responsible for? Those darn kids these days! I never! Harrumph! 🙂 Quincy’s sponsors thought it was the root of all evils that have befallen civilized life. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/90 "2016-02-16T22:58:11Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [Thread on this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=689954). > > The problem with believing in the CIA’s heart attack gun is that if it worked, it would have been used multiple times over the years. Yet it’s never been seen or mentioned or revealed as a scandal in the past 40 years. We’ve heard of ten zillion other horrible things the CIA has done and is doing. You want me to believe that this one best weapon of all has been completely and successfully hidden since it was publicly revealed? That the CIA has the ability to conduct perfect undetectable murders and nobody outside of the [looniest of CT sites](http://humansarefree.com/2012/04/cia-declassifies-1975-weapon-heart.html)\* ever thinks to mention it? Nah. > > - Check out the article “9 Scientific Facts Prove the “Theory of Evolution” is False” from the link of that page. It will you despair for humanity. In the US autopsies are rare now, happening in about [5%](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/science/autopsies-which-can-reveal-medical-secrets-are-now-rare-in-us-hospitals/2011/05/12/AFJii74G_story.html) of deaths. A death by heart attack in anyone over the age of 50 is probably not considered suspicious. If you want to discount the [Church Committee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee) feel free. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/91 "2016-02-17T01:18:50Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [Thread on this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=689954). > > - Check out the article “9 Scientific Facts Prove the “Theory of Evolution” is False” from the link of that page. It will you despair for humanity. An aside regarding [that link](http://humansarefree.com/2013/12/9-scienctific-facts-prove-theory-of.html)–I couldn’t get past the first few paragraphs of the page without thinking the author fell down the evolutionary intelligence tree backwards, hitting every branch on his way down to the bottom. That was just beyond moronic. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/92 "2016-02-17T02:43:26Z")
I had a chem prof in college that maintained that if you fed someone enough heavy water they would die and a lab would not be able to tell you why. Doesn’t sound practical but hey, if it works. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/93 "2016-02-17T03:12:21Z")
Wiki sez the stuff is biologically toxic, but it’s real impractical to use as a poison on humans. [Heavy water - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water#Effect_on_animals) The problem is you need a lot of it. Easy enough to get in a nuclear plant, but hard to keep the unwitting victim from taking in regular water too & diluting your poison. OTOH, if you totally control the victim’s environment so they’d be drinking pure heavy water for days and days to build up a lethal dose, why not just whack him over the head with a 2x4 and be done with it? This sounds like Evil Overlord mistake #13 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/94 "2016-02-17T04:00:22Z")
**dasmoocher** hit close to the plan that I was going to post. If your victim’s habits allow for it, stage a hit and run. Without witnesses or other evidence, there’s no way to determine it wasn’t just an accident. ---
**Author:** ![bomberswarm2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bomberswarm2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bomberswarm2)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/95 "2016-02-17T04:10:30Z")
Put them in a baby swing and they will die from appedecidis ---
**Author:** ![bomberswarm2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bomberswarm2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bomberswarm2)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/96 "2016-02-17T04:11:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Once again, _Law & Order_, but can’t they sometimes tell by the way they landed if they were pushed vs. fell/jumped? Fingerprints on their back, brusing from being pushed, hitting the ground faster than if they just fell ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/97 "2016-02-17T04:24:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If you can get them to go boating with you they can always fall overboard. Drowning looks exactly like drowning. You may even have the bonus of the body not being recovered at all. > > As long as nobody else knows you both went out together that day and there’s no surveillance video anywhere. And you buddy Christopher Walken doesn’t rat you out. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/98 "2016-02-17T04:28:42Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > **dasmoocher** hit close to the plan that I was going to post. If your victim’s habits allow for it, stage a hit and run. Without witnesses or other evidence, there’s no way to determine it wasn’t just an accident. Unless, Quincy, M.E. decides to investigate! ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/99 "2016-02-17T04:59:38Z")
Seems you have the death certified over the phone and then have him embalmed shortly there after… ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/100 "2016-02-17T06:15:04Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > **dasmoocher** hit close to the plan that I was going to post. If your victim’s habits allow for it, stage a hit and run. Without witnesses or other evidence, there’s no way to determine it wasn’t just an accident. Except hit and run where someone dies is still a serious crime even if it was an accident. If someone is killed in a hit and run the police will make serious effort to find the driver, including things like using any flakes of paint from the car on the victims body to identify the model. And most people don’t regularly walk on the road in places that you can guarantee will have no witnesses, unless they live in the middle of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087/101 "2016-02-17T08:23:35Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Except hit and run where someone dies is still a serious crime even if it was an accident. If someone is killed in a hit and run the police will make serious effort to find the driver, including things like using any flakes of paint from the car on the victims body to identify the model. And most people don’t regularly walk on the road in places that you can guarantee will have no witnesses, unless they live in the middle of nowhere. But the OP is: **Is there actually a way to kill someone and leave no sign of it being a murder?** Serious accident: maybe–yes? Murder? Uncertain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-actually-a-way-to-kill-someone-and-leave-no-sign-of-it-being-a-murder/746087.md?page=6)