The local community was left completely shocked and outraged at the death of 29-year-old Katherine Caraway. The mother was discovered dead in the family bathroom of a Walmart store in Muskogee, Oklahoma after being locked inside for three days.
The shocking discovery raised many questions surrounding who was responsible for this tragedy, with people pointing fingers at the store itself. While there is no one to blame but Caraway herself, her demise represents another issue in our society concerning how disconnected we seem to be from those around us.
When Sand Springs Police arrived at the scene one Monday afternoon, they immediately began searching through CCTV footage for information about what happened to the young mother. They saw that she had entered the private restroom Friday evening at 6 pm and never came out again over the weekend until her body was discovered on Monday afternoon.
Staff had put up an “Out of Order” sign on the door, assuming it wasn’t working since it had been locked for so long and no one responded when they knocked.
Without any signs of foul play or natural causes detected during their initial investigation, many blamed Walmart for not cleaning their bathrooms properly or checking inside them sooner.
Months later when an autopsy finally revealed what had killed Katherine Caraway, police learned that she died due to difluoroethane toxicity which comes from air dusters like those used to clean computer keyboards – multiple empty cans were found in her car leading investigators to believe she was “huffing” these chemicals as a method of getting high.
This practice deprives the body and brain of oxygen as abusers fill their lungs with chemicals rather than air – something that often leads to sudden death syndrome if help isn’t received quickly enough and sadly by then it’s usually too late.
So while this young woman’s death is certainly heartbreaking, there was nothing anyone could have done about it after all these years struggling with addiction issues which brings us back to our original question – why did no one notice she went missing?
As news spread online about Katherine Caraway’s untimely death, some pointed out how unusual it was that nobody seemed aware or concerned that she had gone missing over such an extended period without any contact from friends or family members – even her social media accounts hadn’t been updated in days.
It wasn’t until her family traveled from Texas once more details became available that they were able to identify her body lying alone in a Walmart bathroom floor yet still we don’t know where her son may have been during this time nor do we know why he wasn’t questioned earlier on regarding his mother’s whereabouts before tragedy struck making us wonder if maybe something bigger than just huffing is really going on here.
