Private investigator questions VA doctor’s drowning death

A private investigator is questioning the drowning death of Veterans Affairs hospital surgeon John Marshall, saying he believes the doctor was injured before he went into the Spokane River in January.

“Clearly he suffered a major sternum blow,” private investigator Ted Pulver said Saturday. “Likely the damage was done while he was still alive because he drowned.”

On Feb. 22 the medical examiner ruled Marshall’s death an accidental drowning. Marshall disappeared after going on an early-morning run Jan. 25, and his body was discovered in the river the next day.

“We may never be able to determine for sure what happened,” police spokeswoman Teresa Fuller said Saturday. “But at that point in our investigation we were sure that there was no foul play involved.”

Police are still investigating the death and expect to finish within the next week, she said.

Pulver began investigating Marshall’s death Wednesday at the request of Suzan Marshall, the doctor’s widow. Suzan Marshall said she gave a copy of the full autopsy to Pulver, who owns and operates Pulver Investigations, a private investigation and polygraph service in Post Falls.

According to Pulver, Marshall’s injuries are consistent with a blow to his chest and he had at least one fractured rib. Pulver doesn’t have a clear hypothesis, but he said the information in the autopsy is “very interesting.”

On Saturday, Tim Provost, another private investigator working with Pulver, walked along the Centennial Trail and handed out fliers to runners, bikers and walkers near where Marshall’s body was found, just west of the Monroe Street Bridge.

“It doesn’t seem like some of the theories really fit,” Provost said, looking down the steep embankment to the river below. The fliers describe Marshall and ask anyone who saw him that morning to call Pulver Investigations.

Pulver believes Marshall’s body went into the river by Huntington Park, near City Hall. He thinks it’s likely Marshall went to the park to run the stairs. Marshall’s injuries were not consistent with going over a waterfall, he said.

“I’ve seen a lot of bodies go through water, especially turbulent water, and there is a lot of damage that occurs,” Pulver said. “This guy had an iPod in his pocket. When they found the body the iPod was still in his pocket.”

Suzan Marshall believes her husband was assaulted. She said his fractures were consistent with an assault and not a fall. Her frustration with the police investigation pushed her to hire Pulver.

“They haven’t done anything in at least a month,” she said of the police. “If they don’t expect (to rule it) foul play they need to give a reason why they don’t expect foul play.”