The death of Timothy Cunningham, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist who was found in Atlanta’s Chattahoochee River, was ruled a suicide, according to officials at the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Chief Medical Examiner Jan Gorniak released the ruling, saying Cunningham committed suicide by drowning, after a month of public speculation on how a man who was so well-known ended up in dead in a river.
However, many may still wonder why it was ruled a suicide and not an accidental drowning.
Kris Sperry, the former chief medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that’s a common misconception.
“In cold water – and this was during February when he went missing – when someone jumps into cold water, the first thing that happens is cold shock,” Sperry told WUSA-TV.
Others on Facebook still argued that Cunningham could have fallen in and gotten swept away.
Source: Medical examiners issue surprising ruling on what killed missing CDC scientist
