Why was Amanda Hunsaker's death considered a murder?
In the opening scene of Lethal Weapon, we see Amanda Hunsaker high on drugs jumping off of a balcony to her death.
Her autopsy report states that she had taken pills laced with liquid drain killer and she would have died if she had not have jumped off of the balcony.
BURKE: Got some news on that Hunsaker case.
MURTAUGH: That was quick.
BURKE: So was the autopsy. You ready for this? They're not calling it a suicide.
MURTAUGH: What?
BURKE: Surprise, surprise. First off, found evidence she took barbiturates.
MURTAUGH: Brilliant. There's an open pill bottle on her table
BURKE: Right, right. That's not the surprise. Surprise is someone doctored the pills. Every capsule was loaded with drain cleaner.
MURTAUGH: Jesus...
BURKE: If she hasn't jumped, she would have been dead within fifteen minutes.
Yes. L.A.P.D. definitely rules her death a homicide. Roger Murtaugh informs Amanda's father of the situation:
MICHAEL HUNSAKER: Murder?...but, I thought...
MURTAUGH: Poisoned. Even if she hadn't jumped, she would still be dead.
Why was her death considered a murder? Even though she inadvertently took pills with drain cleaner in them, her death was actually caused by blunt force trauma from her fall. How can they rule her death a murder on what was "going to happen"?
Best Answer
She was poisoned. Stumbling and falling could have been caused by the poison - not by a desire to kill herself.
The cops didn't have any witnesses of the fall. No video. No suicide note. The bed had vestiges of someone else. Her pills were poisoned. Everything points to murder, not suicide. We saw her jumping, but the cops didn't and the evidence points otherwise.
What are the chances she decided to kill herself, minutes away from dying from poisoning? Very slim. The most likely explanation was the poison clouded her judgement, maybe left her disoriented, which lead to her death.
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Lethal Weapon (1987) - Amanda Hunsaker Crime Scene Investigation
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Answer 2
They're saying it's murder because someone deliberately laced the pills with drain cleaner which would have killed her anyway. Perhaps hoping that by the time her body was discovered, any trace of drain killer would be gone and it would have looked like an overdose instead.
Either way, her death was not an accident and it wasn't suicide so had to be murder.
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