The suspicious death of Bethany Deaton: Medical examiner decided an autopsy was unnecessary

From The Wichita Eagle:

A year ago, the day before Halloween, Jackson County deputies found a 27-year-old newlywed and committed Christian, Bethany Deaton, dead in the back seat of her van at Longview Lake with a white plastic bag tied loosely over her head.

“I chose this evil thing,” a note on the console said in part. “I did it because I wouldn’t be a real person and what is the point of living if it is too late for that?”

Sheriff’s deputies believed it was a suicide note. At the scene, a medical examiner investigator could put fingers between the tie of the bag and Deaton’s neck. Later, at the medical examiner’s office, Pietak examined the body, took notes and drew blood. He decided an autopsy was unnecessary and released the body to a funeral home.

An hour before the funeral service in Texas, where Deaton’s parents live, a detective called Deaton’s mother with shocking news: The sheriff’s office needed the now-embalmed body back for a homicide investigation. Dazed, Deaton’s parents proceeded with the funeral but awkwardly announced that the burial would be postponed.

As Deaton’s parents later learned, a friend of Deaton’s husband had gone to police and confessed he had been told to kill Deaton. He said he put a bag over her head and “held it there until her body shook,” according to court records.

Jackson County prosecutors filed a murder charge against Micah Moore, who said he and others had sexually assaulted Deaton in the months prior to her death, court records say. Moore, who later recanted, is awaiting trial.

The death continues to be ruled a suicide, according to the death certificate filed in Jefferson City. Dudley declined to discuss the case because of the pending trial.

Prosecutors would not say how they planned to tackle the suicide ruling. Deaton’s relatives did not want to talk either, fearing it could further complicate the case, which possibly lost evidence because of the delayed autopsy.

“We don’t want to harm the integrity of the case,” said Carol Leidlein, Deaton’s mother.

Like steak and a full-bodied red wine, this video, where Mike Bickle explains how the International House of Prayer (IHOP) is not a cult, goes well with this page on IHOP's beliefs. The page, which has been heavily edited since Bethany Deaton's death, clears the air about some of the church's views.

The Bridal Paradigm? It has nothing to do with doing it with Christ or with anyone else. Take this excerpt from one of Bickle's sermons, for instance.

The implication is that Jesus is the Bridegroom God, and you’re a cherished bride. You’re legally married to Him the day you’re born again. What does this mean practically? He desires you. That’s the meaning. He doesn’t just stamp your passport so that you can go to heaven when you die. He desires you. You’re the one He wants.

But not "like that," you dirty heathen.

Also on this page, you can learn about IHOP's take on "spiritual intimacy." Now, the church may use sexual language that mixes Jesus, God and faith into a sweaty orgy of salvation, but listen. The kiss of Jesus is not an actual kiss. It's a simple turn of the phrase, a literary symbol. You know, like that time in freshman English, when you read Great Expectations, which was really boring except for that part with the hollowed-out cake, and the cake was this symbol for the soulless Miss Havisham? I mean, that time in freshman English - if you weren't home-schooled.