Evening star., 1932-09-23
BOAT DEATH SEEN
DUE TO T0URN|QUET
Most Unusual" Evidence
Found on W0man's Neck.
P. o. Clerk Quizzed.

Indications that Miss Sylvia Rockin,
%. may have been strangled with a
tourniquet made of her bathrobe cord
were discovered today during an autopsy
performed on her body by Deputy Cor
oner C. ]. Murphy.
An indentation one-fourth Of an inch
deep was found on Miss Rockin's neck.
encircnng it without a break, DR.. Muir
ply said after the autopsy at the Dis
trict Morgue.
In most cases Of death by hanging,
the deputy coroner pointed out. the
marks left by the rope disappear at
the point Of suspension. In Miss Rock
in's case, however, he added. the knot
made an even deeper indentation than
the rest of the cord.
The cause of Miss Rockin's death was
given as "asphyxia caused by strangu-
lation" The mark ON the young wom-
ans neck was termed most unusual"
Found Dead by Police.
Miss Rockin, whose home was in
Ozone Park, Long Island, was found
dead in a houseboat in Little River,
near RoSslyn, Va, by seventh precinct
police, responding to a telephone call
from George B. Speidel. 30-year-old
City Post once clerk and amateur
artist
Speidel. who is being held at the
seventh precinct pending a coroners
jury set for l:30 am. Monday, told po-
lice he found Miss Rockin, with the
pajama cord looped around her neck,
hanging from nail in rafter Of the
galley.
Nail Still in Cord.
When he lifted her, he said, she
slumped in his arms, her weight caus-
ing the nail tc drop from the rafter.
Miss Rockin was lying on bed in the
adjoining room when police arrived.
The bathrobe cord, witt. the nail still
in it, was beneath her head.
After the autopsy, Detective Sergt. H.
K Wilson, chief of the Homicide Squad,
said he would take Speidel to police
headquarters later in the day for fur
ther questioning. Miss Rockin under
went an illegal operation short time
ago, and still was suffering from its
effects at the time of her death, accord
ing to DR.. Murphy.
Story Given by Speidel.
Speidel, who is married and has
5-year old son, telephoned seventh pre-
cinct police at 12:48 am. and said he
had discovered Miss Rockin suspended
from a rafter of the kitchen. When
police reached the house boat, they
reported, Miss Rockin was lying on
bed in the adjoining room, with the
bathrobe cord beneath her head. She
was pronounced dead by DR.. j. Thomp-
son, who accompanied an Emergency
Hospital ambulance to the house boat.
Miss Rockin's body was removed to
the morgue and Acting Coroner Mac
Donald ordered Speidel held pending
completion OF an investigation.
Fragments of q note indicating Miss
Rockin might have committed suicide
were found on the floor of the bed room
by Detective Sergt. John c. Dalgish
Pieced together, the note declared
Speidel had nothing to do with the
case, adding: What I have done is
nv own business"
Although the note apparently
matched specimens Of Miss RockinS
handwriting found in the room, De-
tective Sergt. Wilson turned it over to
DR.. Macdonald.
The suicide theory was strengthened
by the fact several books on the philos-
ophy of self-destruction we're found on
table in the room. The table also bore
numerous books on sex and free love.
One of the officers who went to the
houseboat in response to Speideps tele-
phone call reported the nail from
0Continred on Page 2. Column 81