Attorneys: Choking during sex may have caused death

By Matt Pordum

Friday, June 24, 2005 | 8:59 a.m.

The attorneys for a man charged with sexually assaulting and strangling two women to death say one of his alleged victims may have been killed accidentally as the result of consensual rough sex that included being choked.

Norman Keith Flowers is charged with two counts of murder and sexual assault in the May 4 deaths of Marilee Coote, 45, and Rena Gonzales, 25, at the Silver Pines complex.

Coote and Gonzales each were found strangled in their own apartments.

In response to a question posed by Deputy Public Defender Joe Abood, Dr. Ronald Knoblock, a medical examiner with the coroner's office, testified there was "no evidence" to suggest Coote died as a result of autoerotic asphyxia.

Autoerotic asphyxia is the reduction or cutting off of oxygen to the brain to achieve a "heightened sexual climax," Abood said.

Knoblock said he "never considered autoerotic asphyxia" as he determined the manner of Coote's death, but did say injuries to her internal sex organs could have been the result of "consensual rough sex."

The medical examiner said a "large marital aid" and pornography were found inside Coote's apartment.

Knoblock said while he has certainly heard of autoerotic asphyxia cases, he had only handled one such case in his career. He said the case involved a prostitute who accidentally killed a man who paid her to choke him during sex.

As for Flowers' alleged second victim, Abood said, "There is absolutely no forensic evidence, no evidence at all to suggest he (Flowers) had anything to with Gonzales' death."

Earlier in the day Metro criminalist Tom Wahl testified that Flowers DNA was found inside Coote and on the carpet where her body was discovered by police.

Wahl, however, said there was no DNA evidence linking Flowers to the death of Gonzales. He said in examining Gonzales he found a "mixture of DNA" that consisted of Gonzales' DNA and a "trace amount of an unidentified male DNA.

Wahl also said the blood found on the phone cord used to strangle Gonzales had the same DNA mixture.

Flowers' ex-girlfriend Mawusi Ragland testified and recalled the day she found out Coote and Gonzales, who were her friends and neighbors at the apartment complex, were dead and how Flowers reacted.

Ragland, a middle school teacher and single mother of a 5-year-old girl, said on the day her two friends were killed Flowers had called her from his sister's house and from his own home.

She also said she found a note from Flowers posted on her door when she arrived at the apartment complex and was told by police officers that Gonzales and Coote were dead.

Ragland said in the note Flowers said he had been at the apartment complex for hours waiting for her. She said she called Flowers and told him, "Oh my God, both my friends are murdered!" He responded in a "nonchalant" manner, she said.

She said asked Flowers to come to her apartment because she "felt secure with him there," but he never showed up.

In a phone call later the same evening Flowers told her, "I didn't kill them or anything." Ragland said she knew Flowers for 13 years but only dated him for roughly 10 months. She during the course of their relationship she had introduced him to Coote and Gonzales.

She said Flowers even helped Coote hook up a DVD player and shared her recollections about an incident that may lend credence to Abood's contention that Flowers and Coote were having a sexual relationship.

Ragland said Flowers, Coote and herself were watching movies together one evening at Coote's apartment and she left to put her daughter to sleep. She said she returned roughly 20 minutes later and knocked on the door and "a few minutes passed" before Coote opened the door.

Ragland said she didn't see Flowers and Coote said he was using the bathroom. Ragland said when Flowers emerged from the bathroom he "looked red in the face."

She said they went back to her apartment because she wasn't feeling well and she was bothered by the fact Flowers said he wanted to go back to Coote's apartment to finishing watching the movie. Although he ultimately stayed with Ragland, she said she felt like something wasn't right with the situation.

Abood asked Ragland is she thought Flowers and Coote had a sexual encounter that night or at another time, and she said, "Anybody is capable of anything." Flowers preliminary hearing is scheduled to resume on July 18 before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo.

Flowers, who has prior felony convictions for arson, burglary and robbery with use of a deadly weapon, remains jailed without bail.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Pam Weckerly said Flowers' case will be sent to the district attorney's office's death penalty review committee to determine whether to seek his execution if he is convicted of murder.