Autopsy on woman who died at Phoenix airport inconclusive; toxicology results expected later

An autopsy conducted Tuesday on a woman who died after being handcuffed and detained at the Phoenix airport was inconclusive, and toxicology results needed to determine a cause of death will not be available for a few weeks, a county medical examiner said.

Authorities have said Carol Anne Gotbaum, who was handcuffed and shackled to a bench, may have accidentally strangled herself Friday. David Boyer, the acting director of the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office, would not comment on whether Tuesday's examination supports or refutes that theory.

"The doctor in this case is waiting for all testing to be done before she would rule on the cause and manner" of death, Boyer said. He said it will be a few weeks before toxicology tests are completed on Gotbaum, who was arrested for disorderly conduct after she was kept off a flight at Sky Harbor International Airport.

Gotbaum's family accuses police of manhandling the New York woman when they arrested her Friday. They have hired an attorney to monitor the police investigation into her death, a private investigator who watched the official autopsy and a pathologist who started a second autopsy Tuesday night.

Gotbaum, 45, was on her way to an alcohol treatment program in Tucson when police stopped her. Authorities said she was late for a flight and became angry when a gate crew wouldn't let her on the plane.

Officers handcuffed Gotbaum behind her back, shackled her to a bench, and left her alone in a detention room. Police said she was later found unconscious and not breathing with the chain from the shackle pulled against the front of her neck. It appeared that Gotbaum got tangled as she tried to manipulate the handcuffs from behind her to the front, police said.

Michael Manning, who was hired by the family to monitor the police investigation, said the private investigator who watched Tuesday's autopsy said numerous bruises were scattered across Gotbaum's body.

"The body shows signs of a struggle," Manning said. "There are ligature marks, and some of those ligature marks match the chain that they used to chain her to the bench."

Manning said the pathologist the family hired was "going to prepare his report and get back with us in a week or so."

Police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said officers followed established policy while detaining Gotbaum. The Phoenix Police Department's Professional Standards Bureau is conducting an internal investigation, a standard procedure following an in-custody death.

Gotbaum had started drinking heavily about three years ago, and her family noticed a serious problem with alcoholism about a year ago, Manning said. He said she left her three children with her husband, Noah, and headed to Tucson to get better.

"When she landed in Phoenix, she talked with her husband," Manning said. "She said, 'I want to do this for us. I want to do this for our kids. I'm committed to this. I'm so happy....' Everything was going swimmingly well when she landed."

Manning said he's still interviewing witnesses and the family hasn't decided whether it should sue Phoenix police.

He alleged that the medical examiner's office has been biased in the past when investigating law enforcement officials.

"The relationship between the medical examiner's office and the police is so close. It's professional, it's social. We're concerned about that relationship influencing the integrity of the autopsy," Manning said.

Boyer declined to comment on Manning's claims.

Manning is a prominent Phoenix lawyer who won an $8.25 million wrongful death settlement against the county sheriff in 2000. He claimed that sheriff's deputies suffocated a jail inmate and the coroner covered up evidence of a beating. Sheriff Joe Arpaio denied the allegations and federal authorities later dropped an investigation into Manning's allegations of excessive force, saying there wasn't enough evidence.