January 29, 1996
Web posted at: 3:00 p.m. EST
PONTIAC, Michigan (CNN) -- An attorney for Dr. Jack Kevorkian has admitted Monday that a woman who had been suffering with multiple sclerosis for two decades ended her life earlier in the day in the doctor's presence.
Attorney Geoffrey Fieger identified the woman as Linda Henslee, 48, a former computer engineer from Beloit, Wisconsin . He said the degenerative disease, which attacks the central nervous system, had left her paralyzed.
Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic, the Oakland County Medical Examiner, said following an autopsy that he had ruled Henslee's death a homicide.
"She died by poisioning by carbon monoxide," Dragovic said. "She was suffering from multiple sclerosis but she was not in any terminal stage."
He said Henslee's lung and heart functions were "good."
Henslee died in a method "consistent" with previous suicides, Fieger said. In the past, Kevorkian had counseled patients to use carbon monoxide or his suicide machine, which dispenses heart-stopping drugs.
Henslee's body was left in a Volkswagen van registered to Kevorkian outside the Oakland County medical examiner's office Monday morning, an office investigator who found the body said. He refused to provide his name.
Kevorkian had been counseling Henslee for the past few months, Fieger said. She first contacted Kevorkian, a retired pathologist, through a letter and later sent him her medical records.
Her two daughters drove her from Beloit to Michigan last week to seek further counseling from Kevorkian. According to Fieger, Kevorkian's philosophy -- as always -- was to encourage Henslee to fight her disease as long as possible.
Henslee's two daughters and a close family friend were present at the death, Fieger said.
In addition to her daughters, Henslee is survived by two brothers and two sisters, all of whom agreed with her decision to end her life, the lawyer said. (145K AIFF sound or 145K WAV sound)
Henslee had the "absolute right to end her own life," Fieger said. "No more could she take," he added, referring to her atrophying legs, paralysis and open wounds.
Fieger said the van is just a means to get the body to the morgue, especially for out-of-state residents who cannot receive such help from local facilities. "After you die, unfortunately you die," Fieger said.
The investigator from the medical examiner's office said he found Henslee's body, dressed in a robe, in the vehicle at 5:40 a.m. The body had been there about five to 10 minutes, he said. Kevorkian has left bodies outside the office before.
"I found it. Then, we received a phone call from an unknown male saying, 'You'd better check the parking lot.' But, we already had," the investigator said.
Sheriff's Sergeant M. James Sutton said the van looks like the one Kevorkian has used in the past. Kevorkian has been present during the deaths of at least 26 people since 1990, while pushing his cause of doctor-assisted suicide.
Last year, Kevorkian, who is known as "Dr. Death," attended the deaths of two people whose bodies were found in vans outside the medical examiner's office.
He attended the death of Nicholas John Loving, who died May 12 and whose body was found in a van in the driveway. Loving suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease and died at the age of 27.
On November 8, Patricia Cashman took her life with Kevorkian present. Cashman had been suffering from metastatic breast cancer for three years. Her body also was left in a car outside the office.
Kevorkian faces trial February 12 on assisted-suicide charges in two 1993 deaths.
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