Jury Reports Wurster Death Self-Inflicted

Jury Reports Wurster Death Self-Inflicted

Coroner’s Group Hears Experts Testify At Manchester

MANCHESTER -- The bizarre torch death of Orville F. Wurster, 34 years old, of Manchester, was officially described by a six-man coroner's jury here last night as "self-inflicted," but Sheriff John L. Osborn said the case is not yet closed as far as he is concerned.

The inquest, which had been in session for half a day March 18, convened at 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon in the village council chambers here, and, with a dinner hour recess, heard testimony until 10:15 last night. The jury was out an hour and a half, bringing in its verdict shortly before midnight. A large audience witnessed the inquest.

Sheriff Osborn said that although the mysterious torch death, second in the village within a year, was officially recorded as suicide, investigation of the case will continue as long as there is any possibility or suggestion that Mr. Wurster may have been slain. Detective Edward Johnston of the Michigan state police, who has been co-operating in the investigation, concurred with Sheriff Osborn's statement.

Experts Testify

Most of the afternoon's testimony was given by expert witnesses, and chief among them was Dr. Robert J. Parsons, University hospital pathologist. He said a postmortem examination he performed March 17, the day Mr. Wurster's burned body was found in a woods a mile east of the village, showed death resulted from asphyxia, or lack of oxygen.

He said Mr. Wurster's oxygen supply could have been cut off by strangulation or by the fire which burned his body, but he could find no evidence, he said, of any marks which would indicate strangulation or blows.

Dr. Parsons told the jury that he found evidence Mr. Wurster was alive when the fire was started, and that other evidence indicated the upper portion of the torso was burned while he was upright.

"By that I mean he was either standing or sitting when the fire was burning," Dr. Parsons explained.

The fact that the hands were less severely burned than the rest of the body was "difficult to explain," Dr. Parsons said. He also told the jury that Mr. Wurster could have been alive but unconscious when the fire was started, and said that a blow in the pit of the stomach will render a person unconscious and "won't necessarily leave a bruise." The region of the abdomen was severely burned and charred, he said.

Tells of Fingerprint

Laurence Stackable, state police fingerprint expert from East Lansing, told how examination of a flashlight and two kerosene cans found at the scene failed to reveal fingerprints, but that a faint outline of a right hand was found on the larger of the two cans, at the side and near the top, indicating, he said, that the can had been held with the nozzle pointing toward the body of the holder.

LeRoy F. Smith, director of the state police identification bureau laboratory, told how fibers of cloth found on the knot of Mr. Wurster's left shoe matched fibers of partially burned pajamas found on his body, indicating the pajamas had been put on while Mr. Wurster's shoes were still on. His feet were bare when the body was found.

Dr. Clarence W. Muehlberger, chemist and toxicologist for the state health department, testified he found enough carbon monoxide in Mr. Wurster's blood to cause a slight headache, but not enough to cause death. He found no trace of poison in any internal organs, he said.

Dr. Peter A. Scheurer, Mr. Wuster's physician, said Mr. Wurster "wasn't a normal fellow" and that he had had no serious illness since childhood and his general health was "fair."

Mr. Wurster's 70-year-old mother, Mrs. Dorthea Wurster, described to the jury how her son's behavior on Sunday, March 15 had been normal. She said that when she returned home from an interrupted visit with her daughter in Saline on Monday after Mr. Wurster's disappearance was noticed, she found his room in the condition he usually left it.

One of the mysterious phases of the case was emphasized in the testimony of Robert Freeman of Ann Arbor, a brother-in-law, who said he gave Mr. Wurster a necktie for Christmas which has been missing from the Wurster home since the disappearance.

There was no necktie found with Mr. Wurster's other attire in a shallow trench 221 paces southeast of his body. One sock is also missing.

Neighbors told the jury they saw a light in the Wurster home as late as 11:30 on the night of March 15.

Members of the coroner's jury were Ronald Weidemeyer, Tosselo Knorpp, Homer Fish, Hollis Farley, Ferdinand Hoover, and Orville Way, foreman. Clayton Parr, Manchester justice of the peace, presided, and questioning was conducted by Prosecutor George Meader.