Schiavo Timeline

Lisa4Catholics · #1 Jun 20, '05, 3:00 pm

TIMELINE IN SCHIAVO CASE PUTS FOCUS ON 'UNUSUAL' EVENTS THAT LED TO 'COLLAPSE'

It will get you every time, the timeline, say cops, and it is the timeline that is now at issue in the still-hot Terri Schiavo case.

Specifically, Florida Governor Jeb Bush wants to know why Michael Schiavo testified in a 1992 medical malpractice trial that he found his wife collapsed at 5 a.m. on February 25, 1990, and he said in a 2003 television interview that he found her about 4:30 a.m. He called 911 at 5:40 a.m. "Between 40 and 70 minutes elapsed before the call was made, and I am aware of no explanation for the delay," wrote the understandably perplexed governor.

No one is stating that there was foul play. There must always be the presumption of innocence, especially when there is a dearth of material evidence. The autopsy of Terri's body showed no overt signs of abuse, at least not in the way of poisoning or broken bones. Indications of bone abnormalities, which many took to be evidence of abuse, apparently were from the weakening or softening of bones over time, a condition akin to osteoporosis.

And Schiavo maintains that his memory has simply varied on the events of that fateful morning.

He says that he called 911 immediately after he found her. Those who believe him claim that had he not called right away, Terri would have died.

But there are others who hold him to the timelines he himself has expressed, and if they are accurate, it is difficult indeed to comprehend what he was doing during that time -- in the critical minutes and tens of minutes, perhaps more than an hour -- before rescuers were alerted. Governor Jeb Bush is courageous, in the face of a hostile press, in seeking final answers.

It was certainly odd.

And there are other facts and claims and allegations that bolster the call for an investigation.

There is testimony, for example, that Terri and Michael had been heatedly arguing the day before the collapse -- and in the days leading up to it, appeared to be on the brink of divorce.

That's not just from family members, but also from one of Terri's closest friends, Jackie Rhodes.

In testimony on January 26, 2000 -- testimony largely ignored by the mainstream media -- Rhodes stated under oath that the last time she spoke to Terri, on February 24, 1990, Terri was "very, very upset" and "sounded like she had been crying. I asked her if she was okay. She said she had a fight with Michael."

So there is also that to consider. Then there are matters of how the body was found, which also ties into the timeline. What we know is that when paramedics arrived at 5:52 a.m., Terri was found face down, her legs in the bathroom and her head in a hallway.

There were no overt signs of violence, and nothing in such disorder as to indicate a fracas, according to the responding officer, Phillip Brewer. But it seemed (in the description of the official case report) "unusual" enough for initial routing to the homicide division.

According to a rendition furnished by her family, Michael phoned Terri's father, Robert Schindler Sr., before a call was made to 911. "It was only after Terri's father instructed Michael Schiavo to immediately call 911 that Michael called for paramedics," asserts a version of events provided to us by the Schindler family.

After Michael alerted him to the situation, Mr. Schindler called his son, Bobby, who lived in the same apartment complex, and Bobby rushed to the scene, arriving seconds before the emergency crew.

The family also asserts that Michael has provided different versions of what he did before Bobby arrived. He has testified that he held Terri, but when Bobby entered, he found his sister as the paramedics did: facedown.

Lisa4Catholics · #2 Jun 20, '05, 3:01 pm

"In a July 1992 deposition, Michael Schiavo testified that after Terri collapsed he was holding Terri in his arms and then 'laid Terri down' so that he could call Bobby Schindler," said the dossier the family has compiled. "This would indicate that if Michael Schiavo was holding Terri, as he states, he would have had to pick Terri up off the ground then, in order to call Terri's brother, lay Teri back down on her face, ostensibly making it very difficult for her to breathe, because as the police and Bobby Schindler state, Terri was found lying face down."

The dossier points out that Michael made an error in saying he had called Bobby; it was Mr. Schindler who called his son. Was this simply the mistake of a man who was frantic? And is the skewed timeline also an honest flaw in memory?

"Now, what -- when you saw her, do you know what time it was?" Michael Schiavo was asked during the 1992 deposition.

"I believe it was almost five a.m.," he said.

"When you saw her, how was she lying -- in other words, on her back or--?"

Schiavo: "On her back."

In a deposition on January 27, 2000, Michael stated that when he found her he "turned her over because she sort of fell on her face, on her stomach and her face."

And so another question: which was it -- her back or her stomach?

"I rolled her over and she was lifeless," Michael claimed on yet another occasion.

These are some of the seeming discrepancies that need to be explained. We look forward to the explanations. Expect to see this dossier play out on television shortly when former detective Mark Fuhrman's book on the case comes out.

A police spokesman told Spirit Daily that a physical exam at the time of the incident detected no trauma to the head or neck, and there were no official records relating to reports of previous abuse, causing detectives to drop the matter. The police saw no signs of a struggle that would indicate that they were dealing with a crime scene. And they argue that they can no longer investigate the case, because the statute of limitations on aggravated battery, if it occurred, would have elapsed.

The medical examiner, Jon Thogmartin, last week ruled out physical abuse saying early medical tests taken shortly after her collapse showed no signs of physical trauma.

There were no broken bones, but what about soft-tissue injuries, which would have faded long ago? Could Terri have been in a choke hold? Or was something put over her face, cutting off her oxygen?

It was a lack of oxygen that led to her condition, but the previous explanations for that lack of oxygen have been knocked down by the autopsy. The medical examiner ruled out the media's (and Michael Schiavo's) favorite rendition: that it was an eating disorder that caused the collapse, a failure of her heart. In fact the examiner found that Terri's heart was remarkably strong, so strong that she could have lived at least another ten years.

The reason for the collapse itself thus remains a mystery.

Lisa4Catholics · #3 Jun 20, '05, 3:02 pm

According to Bobby, Michael was also inaccurate in claiming that he held Terri in his arms until Bobby arrived. When he got there, says her brother, Terri was "lying on top of her arms with her hands up around the neck area, and was making a gurgling sound, struggling to breathe."

Bobby claims that he himself once was the subject of a violent rage by his brother-in-law -- that around 1984, when the family was still living in Philadelphia, they got into an argument. "I remember distinctly that Michael got so upset that he suddenly snapped, and grabbed me by the throat and threw me down on the couch, had one hand around my neck and the other was in the air ready to punch me in the face."

Others, including a former girlfriend, have alleged Michael had a violent streak, and that they feared him. This is something for the attorney general (as opposed to the rumor mills) to sort out.

We do know that within 48 hours of Terri's admission to Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, the attorney for Michael's employer, Daniel Grieco, arrived on the scene and recommended to Terri's parents outside the intensive-care waiting room that they sign documents allowing Michael to handle Terri's medical affairs in order to expedite any necessary procedures. It was this agreement that placed her into the hands of her husband, who has never let go of that control and refused to let her parents care for her for the next 15 years.

Michael Schiavo's account of the time his wife collapsed in 1990 has varied for years, notes one friendly newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times. "He has said it was as early as 4:30 a.m. and as late as 6 a.m. But on one point he has always been consistent: He called 911 right after finding Terri Schiavo unconscious in their St. Petersburg home."

"I have consistently said over the years that I didn't wait but 'ran' to call 911 after Terri collapsed," Michael Schiavo said in a statement released Friday. He said the same thing in 1992, when he stated that "I ran to the phone, called 911 within five seconds and panicked."

Did he indeed call that quickly? And if so, why the discrepancies -- including in testimony just two years after the event, when his memory was still fresh? Was there really, as he maintains, no real tension in their relationship? Or is it true that the family had observed black and blue marks on Terri before the incident?

Again, there should be the presumption of innocence.

But a cloud of suspicion lingers mightily over this case -- as much now as at any time -- and it needs to be investigated forthwith. It is difficult to believe that people like Bobby Schindler, a devout Catholic who in fact teaches science at a Catholic high school, are lying. Governor Bush and other officials would be wise to ignore the criticism of the media, which want this case to go away and believe the autopsy has settled it. As everyone knows, too often the side the media is on is the wrong one.