Upper Darby Police Probe Apparent Asphixiation Death Of Man In Scuba Gear
UPPER DARBY, Pa. (CBS) - Authorities in Upper Darby are taking a closer look at the death of a Drexel Hill, Pa. businessman last month, given the circumstances surrounding it -- among them the man's girlfriend, who first discovered the body.
Toxicology reports are pending on 49-year-old Peter Stelzenmuller, whose body was found in an attic by girlfriend Edythe Maa, whose history as a dominatrix has led to previous run-ins with police.
One, in 2008, ended in a murder-suicide in New York, after the woman known online as "Jade Vixen" was kidnapped for four hours.
Upper Darby police superintendent Michael Chitwood isn't ready to jump to conclusions in this case, although he notes that Maa admitted changing Stelzenmuller's clothing before police arrived.
"She'd cut off the scuba-type suit that he was wearing and also removed the mask, and then put shorts on him," Chitwood says.
And Chitwood suggests this might have been what he calls an "autoerotic death" but was considering all options. He says Maa will be questioned again, as will a New York man she was with on the day of Stelzenmuller's death.
Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio 1060
