Autopsy reveal cause of death in veteran-family murder-suicide

Starbulletin.com

Posted on: Thursday, July 3, 2008 4:47 PM HST

Autopsies reveal cause of death in murder-suicide

Star-Bulletin Staff
citydesk@starbulletin.com

Michael Anthony James strangled his wife and drowned his 7-year-old son before hanging himself in the family’s Mililani Mauka home this week, autopsies revealed today.

The city’s medical examiner said Michael Anthony James, Jr., had drowned. Police sources indicated that the father drowned his son in the bathtub and that Grineline D. James, 39, died by strangulation at the hands of her husband.

Both deaths were classified as homicides, the medical examiner said today.

Michael Anthony James, 43, died by asphyxia due to hanging, a suicide. He was pronounced dead at 1:07 p.m. Wednesday.

Police said before he killed himself he placed the bodies of his wife and son on a bed and covered them with a sheet.

The medical examiner’s office withheld information about when each person died, citing an ongoing investigation. Police had said the mother and child died Tuesday night and James died Wednesday morning.

A toxicology report is pending.

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