OTTAWA – A forensic pathologist says that there’s foul play in the death of a woman that prosecutors claim was drowned by her husband. 52-year-old Kenneth Cusick, a former Ottawa fireman, is accused of drowning his wife in a toilet in 2006. Prosecution witness Dr. Scott Denton took the stand on Friday morning at the LaSalle County Courthouse regarding the second autopsy of Cusick, he performed in 2010. Denton says a coroner would have to rule out all the signs of drowning that were found in Cusick, to say the cause of death was by overdose. Injuries included in Denton’s findings were excess fluid in the lungs, a fractured larynx and bruising to the forehead and neck. The defense argued that the first autopsy done four years earlier cited fewer injuries, specifically none that would infer blunt trauma or signs of struggle.
Tracy’s tolerance to drugs and alcohol remain in question. Toxicology reports show that she had a blood alcohol level of .07 and a Methadone (opioid) level of .401 micro-grams when she died. Denton says the condition of her liver, having fatty tissue surrounded, shows sign that she had been using regularly for a substantial amount of time, thus concluding that she built a tolerance. In his opinion this level of alcohol and methadone combined in a ‘healthy’ person’s system is not fatal.
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