Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Naked Dead Guy Hanging

I had to laugh, sadly, when I heard that actor David Carridine, who had been find hanging in his hotel closet, was also naked. The suicide possibility flew immediately out the window. Naked dead guy hanging means auto erotic asphyxiation almost 100 percent of the time. Even if one doesn't find pornography nearby or other weird red flags like bondage apparatus (hands tied, gags, freaky sex toys, genitals "adorned" with item intending to increase stimulation, etc), the fact the guy is naked points to a private sex act gone bad. People rarely commit suicide naked (although it has happened) and almost never when hanging themselves.

For those of you who can't fathom how one hangs themselves during a sex act, here is the basic scoop. The man (almost always male) ties a rope or a belt to the rod in a closet, loops it around his neck, and bends his knees. When he does this, blood flow is shut off and oxygen doesn't reach the brain. This causes a euphoric feeling and enhances orgasm. The trick is having the orgasm during the time when this feeling has reached its peak and then standing up straight again before one passes out. The pressure then comes off the constricted blood vessels and oxygen flows back to the brain. If one screws up and passes out, he will be found hanging with his knees bent, naked in that closet.

The practitioners of autoerotic sex always think they will be able to orgasm and stand up in time. The think they will know if they are "taking too long" and need to give up the attempt. Unfortunately, in the midst of all the fun, they lose track of time and push the envelope. Often when one finds someone dead of autoerotic sex it is after they have practiced this art for a while and, like all things in time, their fantasies get a bit dull and their ability to be sexually excited slows down. Sometimes alcohol can also be a factor in delayed orgasm. Bottom line: get off or end up dead.

Some will wonder why David Carridine didn't just go buy some sex in Thailand considering the country has the world's most deviant sex trade. After all, according to Carridine's fourth wife, Marina, he did practice perverted sex along with the another kind of deviant sex act that was "dangerous."

My answer? Who knows? Sex acts are very personal to the practitioner. Each human being enjoys sex in his or her own way, sometimes in a number of ways. Deviant sexual behavior is often addictive and the need for bizarreness escalates. Sometimes sex with another human being actually frustrates the practitioner because the partner "doesn't do it right." Reality can screw up a good fantasy.

I don't know why David Carridine felt a need that evening to truss himself up and take the risk of death just for a moment of sexual satisfaction, but he did. We have all lost a great actor and his family has lost someone they love. Worse, the last memories of the man are an embarrassment to all.

If anything good can come out of this sad ending of Carridine's life, may it be that men out there. especially young men, come to understand just how dangerous auto erotic sex is and refrain from involving themselves in such acts. The supposed added kick is simply not worth it.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown