Katherine Caraway, a 29-year-old mom from Muskogee, Oklahoma, was found dead in a Walmart toilet in Tulsa. Her death shocked the whole country. To make matters worse, the murdered woman’s corpse had been confined in the Sand Springs store’s private family restroom for three days before she was discovered. The public demanded answers right away, with many pointing the finger at Walmart.
While it was first unknown how long the mom had been in the toilet when her death was discovered, it was subsequently determined that Caraway’s body was discovered three days after she stepped inside the shop and into the lavatory where she died.
On Friday at 6 p.m., security video showed the lady entering the store’s private and secure restroom. It did not, however, record her returning to the shop the following Monday before her death was discovered at 3 p.m. As a result, detectives assumed she was indoors the whole weekend. They’re looking through the footage and talking to as many individuals as they can to figure out what happened to her and where she came from, Sand Springs Police Capt. Todd Enzbrenner told immediately after the corpse was discovered.
When the investigation progressed, Sand Springs Police discovered that personnel had placed an “Out of Order” sign on the family restroom after getting perplexed about why it was locked. The personnel felt the lavatory was not operational since it had been locked for many days and they had not received a response when they knocked. They had no clue Caraway was inside; she was alone at the time.
The out-of-order notice stayed on the door throughout the weekend until a maintenance worker opened the toilet on Monday morning, only to find the deceased woman’s corpse on the floor. After the early inquiry revealed no evidence of foul play in the woman’s death, the court of public opinion promptly chastised Walmart, pointing out that the toilet had not been cleaned in three days and that no one had peeked inside to see if anybody needed assistance.
Kaycee Johnson, who recalls wanting to use the family restroom the Sunday before Caraway was discovered, was devastated to find out why it was closed. Johnson recalls, and that was before they put up the out-of-order notice. The woman was in there for that long, and they simply ignored it, she continued. Why did they not go get a key and unlock the door after only banging on it and not receiving a response? They could have assisted her if she had needed assistance.
Captain Enzbrenner suspected a major misunderstanding, and although the finding was odd, it was not unexpected. It’s not exactly startling. Bodies are everywhere, he remarked. They don’t suspect foul play, but they also don’t think it was caused by natural reasons, he said.
While the public expressed their displeasure with Walmart, an autopsy was done, and police investigated Caraway’s vehicle for evidence. Caraway’s death was deemed accidental months later when autopsy findings indicated that she died of an erratic heartbeat caused by difluoroethane poisoning, which makes perfect sense given what was discovered in her automobile.
Difluoroethane is found in air dusters, such as those used to clean computer keyboards, and many empty cans were located in Caraway’s automobile. Authorities suspect she was “huffing,” or inhaling chemicals from cans, to get high. Huffing deprives the body and brain of oxygen by filling the lungs with chemicals rather than air. Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome is the most dangerous adverse effect.
Since the user’s brain has been starved of oxygen for so long, it is often too late by the time this happens. According to DrugRehab.com, first responders seldom rescue the lives of persons whose hearts have stopped due to inhalant usage. Hence, although the young mother’s death was heartbreaking, it was all her responsibility, and there was nothing the Walmart workers could have done to prevent it. But her death raises serious questions that go beyond the negative repercussions of huffing.
While Katherine Caraway was a Texas newcomer to Muskogee with no obvious ties to Sand Springs, Enzbrenner wonders how the lady went missing for three days without anybody noticing. Her relatives reportedly flew from Texas to identify the corpse, but there was no news on where Caraway’s baby was when his mother lay dead on a Walmart toilet floor.
In a society where everyone is always “connected,” no friends or relatives seemed to wonder why the young mother, who plainly had a drug problem, seemed to vanish without a trace for days, with even her social media accounts becoming quiet. It is a much more tragic truth in our culture than whether or not Walmart cleans the toilets every day.
