Crystal_Clear Posted August 18, 2008 Denver cops say bizarre death of Ottawa man an 'isolated incident' SUN MEDIA By KENNETH JACKSON AND JON WILLING The mystery deepens in the case of an Ottawa man found dead in an upscale Denver hotel room -- a pound of highly toxic sodium cyanide in a jar beside him. More than a week ago, Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, told his Somalian family out of the blue that he was leaving to vacation in Denver. On Monday, he was found in a fourth-floor room at the ritzy Burnsley Hotel about four blocks from the Colorado state Capitol. He had been dead for several days. Yesterday in Ottawa, a west-end family was struggling to understand what happened. They said it's a mystery to them how the "very good boy" ended up where he did. U.S. authorities -- including Denver Police, the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force -- were also trying to unravel the mystery. Why Dirie had the substance in the first place is unclear and Denver Police are not calling the death a homicide, suicide or even suspicious. They are conducting a death investigation but have found nothing to suggest foul play. "It's an isolated incident," said Denver Police Det. John White. He said they are still waiting for the coroner's report to determine how to proceed but emphasized "it's still a very active investigation." White said it's still too early to say whether Dirie's death was a suicide. The Denver medical examiner's office won't be able to determine whether cyanide killed Dirie until toxicology reports are done. The FBI has been examining possible security issues, given that a foreign national was found dead with a hazardous substance, just two weeks before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. NO APPARENT CONNECTION FBI Special Agent Kathy Wright said yesterday there was no apparent connection to terrorism. "Because of the suspicious nature of the death and the substance -- it leads to a lot of questions," Wright said. "We can't comment on where the investigation might be leading us." RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Pat Flood confirmed that the Mounties are assisting U.S. authorities with the probe. "The RCMP is aware of the situation," Flood said. The Dirie family came to Ottawa as refugees in the early 1990s and have become Canadian citizens. Yesterday, a neighbour said Dirie was a good man who didn't say much. "No issues with the police or with neighbours. He was quiet," said Jone Shakka, 49, a professional dancer with the Ottawa 67's hockey club. He smiled when he described Dirie's frame as similar to the character Fat Albert. ATTENDED UNIVERSITY A female family member said Dirie was smart and had attended university before dropping out because of diabetes and mental health concerns. Dirie's father died about two years ago of complications from diabetes. She said he kept to himself since leaving school. He spent most of his days reading inside his mother's home. "He was a very good boy," said a family member, while Dirie's mother sat a few feet away surrounded by friends and family. Sodium cyanide is readily commercially available and possession is not illegal. It has a telltale odour of almonds and that's what alerted officials to its presence in the Dirie case. Noticing a container in the room and smelling almonds around Dirie's body, police realized they might have an unusual situation and the coroner smelled almonds during the autopsy. Cyanide can be used to make a chemical weapon. Robert Emery, a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, said a pound of cyanide could be used as a weapon if it's mixed with acid and released as a gas into an enclosed space. In 1995, terrorists attempted that method in the restroom of the Shinjuku subway station in Tokyo. "A pound of (cyanide) salts mixed with acids could make a significant amount of gas and could affect hundreds of people," he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FATAL COMPOUND What is cyanide? -Cyanide is a chemical compound that can take the form of a liquid, gas or solid, as a powder, crystal, salt or briquette. Hydrogen cyanide is a colourless gas with a faint, bitter almond-like odour. Sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide are white powders with a bitter, almond-like odour. Where is it used? -Cyanide is widely used in industry, found in some plants and household products and is produced by the incomplete combustion of wood, paper, plastics and other building materials. It's used in the production of plastics, synthetic fibres and electroplating. How does it kill? - It's inhaled, absorbed through the skin or ingested. Cyanide is quickly released into the bloodstream where it affects the heart and the brain. Depending on the concentration of exposure and how the victim is exposed, a person can be incapacitated within seconds or minutes and without treatment, death can occur within hours. Cyanide as a terrorism risk - Cyanide is used in many industries and is transported via rail and highway, and is therefore plentiful, readily available and can be easily accessed by terrorists via theft or hijacking. The mostly commonly discussed methods of terrorist use of cyanide is releasing hydrogen cyanide gas into an enclosed space, such as an office building, subway or stadium or adding cyanide salts into pharmaceuticals or the food and water supply. Source: Cyanide Poisoning Treatment Coalition http://www.hiiraan.com/news2/2008/Aug/_he_was_a_very_good_boy.aspx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
