http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/cause-of-death-undetermined/Content?oid=10214377 Comments On: Cause of Death: “Undetermined” by Brendan Kiley en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Tue, 21 May 2013 06:30:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by Alagnat]]> Sat, 07 Apr 2012 04:17:30 -0700 The Stranger
Posted by Phoenixinthemoon]]> Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:42:47 -0800 The Stranger Posted by stard]]> Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:03:07 -0700 The Stranger Posted by tayjackson]]> Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:35:02 -0700 The Stranger
Brendan, though I am by no means pleased about reading the autopsy information and found the pictures startling and horrific, I understand why you chose to include them. Kudos for having the balls to - I wouldn't have. But that's part of journalism, is it not? I felt your despair and your disgust, your empathy for Sky's friends and family, and it was a well-written article.

Let us remember that what you see above is simply the vessel. I'm sure Sky's friends and family would tell you that what made her extraordinary, what made her human and what made her the love of their lives is no more in that autopsy or in those photographs than a snail shell without a snail.

My thoughts and love go out to her family and friends who will never see their beloved in this life again. My hope is that since they cannot see their beloved, the photos of their beloved's body will serve to bring them peace in the form of answers.
Posted by HolyFool85]]> Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:27:52 -0700 The Stranger Posted by michael kahdushan]]> Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:05:11 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Will Seattle Learn Before It's Too Late?]]> Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:10:54 -0700 The Stranger
Can't say the same for the description of the autopsy. That's the equivalent of a snuff film that does nothing for the story and the staff should be ashamed of themselves.
Posted by Hutch]]> Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:34:38 -0700 The Stranger
Sometimes people just kill themselves for no apparent reason. You never know what's going on in someone's head.
Posted by JrzWrld]]> Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:09:14 -0700 The Stranger
I also loved Eli's work on the Kalebu case. It was detailed, yes, but done in a respectful and reflective way. I don't think the Stranger would have published graphic crime scene photos out of respect to Teresa Butz's partner. So why do it in this case?

I'm really disappointed.
Posted by analemma]]> Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:01:50 -0700 The Stranger He convicted him of murder based on nothing more than a few people thinking he was creepy and that he didn't like the what he said on a 911 call.

I'm sure Brendan has either come home to a girlfriend whom committed suicide or murdered his girlfriend at some point in the past so knows exactly what behavior is appropriate in each case, right?

Brendan needs to go back to being the dope reporter and quit pretending do be a journalist.
Posted by I hope Amanda Knox reads this.]]> Sun, 09 Oct 2011 19:45:21 -0700 The Stranger
Editors,

As a longtime reader, I am writing to voice my disapproval of your decision to publish in its current form Brendan Kiley's recent story on the murder of Sakara Dunlap.

You have published a defense of the piece, saying it was "all the info," and that perhaps if we didn't like it, that was a good, informative thing.

I would refer to Eli Sanders' coverage of the South Park murder. Those articles not only informed, but provoked reflection.The horror of the details Sanders included was a respectful refusal to turn away from the truth. By refusing to gloss over the horrifying sexual violation of the crime, Sanders told the story of all victims of sexual violence.

Kiley's article was the opposite. It presented facts barely related to the story and of little consequence, uniform only in their shocking intimacy. The color of the veins of the victim's heart. The fact that the ME "scalped" her. The fact that she was wearing a menstrual pad.

I applaud your willingness to risk artful reporting. Including details not immediately relevant, and allowing a writer latitude in describing them, can inform in ways the New York Times never will. When technically irrelevant but artfully-described facts begin to outnumber those of material relevance, however, the focus of a work begins to shift toward editorializing. Dictated in a tone of authoritative objectivity, editorializing becomes sensationalism.

Journalists intrude. They expose and in a way they violate. Implicit in all of this is a trust and a promise: that they do so in the service of a greater good. That they will be stewards of those stories with which they are entrusted. That they will leave the privacy and dignity of private citizens intact wherever possible. I do not believe the allowance of public intrusion into Ms. Dunlap's most private aspect - into her body itself, in photos and print - served any such good.

There were four paragraphs artfully describing her internal organs. One sentence would have sufficed: "Except for signs of physical asphyxiation, Sky's autopsy report showed nothing out of the ordinary, yet the ME listed her cause of death as 'undetermined.'"

You condescendingly implied that we who objected to these descriptions wanted the truth "glossed over," the icky parts "omitted." That's an ad hominem attack. I write to object not to the inclusion of "too much information," but to inclusion of the wrong information. Without the justification of relevance, all that printing a description of a dead woman's vagina achieves is humiliation.

Sincerely,
Posted by Anonymous Commenter]]> Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:47:39 -0700 The Stranger
That's how long it took me to make it from the first facts in the article, through the implications of guilt, to the four-paragraph description of those autopsy findings.

Four paragraphs of dubious value to the story.

Four paragraphs that could have been summarized in one sentence:

"Except for signs of physical asphyxiation, Sky's autopsy report showed nothing out of the ordinary, yet the ME listed her cause of death as 'undetermined.'"

The piece was bullshit.
Posted by Anonymous Commenter]]> Sun, 09 Oct 2011 14:41:01 -0700 The Stranger This is not about Black Men. This is about an individual.
Posted by Hari Dev Singh]]> Sun, 09 Oct 2011 13:08:16 -0700 The Stranger
I'm sorry this gorgeous young woman is dead, I feel for her family and friends, I am familiar with profound loss; but I'd never presume to play detective and tell them definitively why or how she died.

It's sad that violence against women is so, SO common, so pedestrian, most people are un-phased by the photos or the autopsy description.
Posted by seattlegrrrl]]> Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:35:53 -0700 The Stranger Posted by appalled]]> Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:35:49 -0700 The Stranger Posted by seattlegrrrl]]> Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:29:11 -0700 The Stranger
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT SAKARA'S BOYFRIEND LOOKED LIKE?
FOLLOW THIS LINK!!!!
HE WORKS AT THIS STORE CALLED MASSAI ON CAPITOL HILL!

THERE WILL BE JUSTICE! THERE WILL BE JUSTICE! THERE WILL BE JUSTICE! THERE WILL BE JUSTICE! THERE WILL BE JUSTICE! THERE WILL BE JUSTICE! THERE WILL BE JUSTICE! THERE WILL BE JUSTICE!

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Posted by shiningstar]]> Sun, 09 Oct 2011 02:09:10 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Moira]]> Sat, 08 Oct 2011 21:36:31 -0700 The Stranger The autopsy description was disturbing. Very much so. It made me nauseous. But, that is the reality of what an autopsy is. i took the point to be, partly, that this is what this woman had been reduced to. In fact, this is what we are all reduced to. It is our modern system of death. But it does not, in any way, negate her life.
i think that this was a beautifully written, thoughtful & compassionate article. My only points of contention are that the life of Sky was not given enough...Life. Several pictures of her death, & only one of her alive? And only a few descriptions of her as a living, loving woman. If this were my son that i was reading about, i would be seriously traumatized. Grateful that you are bringing attention to the case, but if strangers are upset reading what you wrote, imagine how the family feels. Of course, if there is ever a trial, they will see & hear much worse.
i would suggest balancing this article with one that celebrates the woman's life. For really, the reality of the autopsy & the photo's take on so much more intensity & depth when they are connected with a living person. And i think that her family would appreciate it.
Posted by forgetmenot]]> Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:18:14 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Bereckera]]> Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:29:53 -0700 The Stranger Regarding the autopsy description, it really felt like fetishization of the gory autopsy process. This is not a crime show, she is a real person.
Posted by australokrista]]> Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:44:50 -0700 The Stranger
Great article and I hope it reaches someone who will question and maybe become obsessed with this tragic death and solve it!
Posted by jarymo]]> Sat, 08 Oct 2011 09:37:27 -0700 The Stranger
Stranger, congratulations! You have probably rid yourself of all those annoying emails imploring you to publicly convict this black-muslim-lying-womanizing-man and in return, however unintentional, you have reinforced the white liberal racism already rampant within seattle.

(which incidentally, I'm not suggesting anything about the boyfriend's character - just the purpose of this article and then the unintended consequences)
Posted by sunchoke]]> Fri, 07 Oct 2011 23:04:19 -0700 The Stranger
Stranger, congratulations! You have probably rid yourself of all those annoying emails imploring you to publicly convict this black-muslim-lying-womanizing-man and in return, however unintentional, you have reinforced the white liberal racism already rampant within seattle.


Posted by sunchoke]]> Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:55:13 -0700 The Stranger