Police found the bodies of two teens, who had been dating for a while, in a Dripping Springs, Texas, home. Both teens, Sarah Carman, 17, and Cody Strauss, 18, had been in a severe car accident last November that had left Strauss in a coma initially, and recovering from severe brain injuries for the past several months. Strauss' mom has been keeping a blog detailing his recovery, but she's since made that blog private, likely because newspapers and TV stations in the Austin, Texas, area were quoting from it.
A story in the Austin American Statesman can't come out and say it was likely a double suicide, but wording by the police leaves few other options: Police say they aren't looking for any suspects, and the community is not in danger. Police have also released few details of the crash that injured Strauss in the first place.
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SAN MARCOS — Two teens found dead in a Dripping Springs home last year died of gunshot wounds, an autopsy report and Hays County sheriff's officials confirmed.
However, the exact circumstances behind the teens' deaths remain unknown.
Cody Straus, 18, and his girlfriend, Sarah Carman, 17, were found dead in August in the home of Straus' mother, just east of Dripping Springs.
According to an autopsy report on Straus and Carman provided under the Texas Public Information Act on Monday , Straus died of two gunshot wounds to the chest, and Carman died of a self-inflicted single gunshot wound to the head.
Carman's death was ruled a suicide by Satish Chundru, Travis County's deputy chief medical examiner . Straus' manner of death was listed as undetermined.
Hays County sheriff's office spokesman Lt. Leroy Opiela said investigators are not considering the case a murder-suicide because they have been unable to determine who fired the shots and when. Investigators do not know if Straus took his own life, Opiela said.
"It says undetermined" on Straus' autopsy file, Opiela said. "It would have been ruled a homicide if they had proved that (Carman) pulled the trigger."
Investigators have uncovered no new information in the case since it happened, Opiela said.
Hays County sheriff's Deputy Mike Thielen said in August that someone found the bodies and called authorities.
Investigators initially released few details as to how the teens died. They told the public that no suspect was on the loose and that the community was not in danger.
The American-Statesman had been trying to obtain the teens' autopsy reports and case files for several months. But the case had been listed as an open investigation, and the Texas attorney general's office allowed law enforcement officials to withhold the documents. The Hays County assistant district attorney's office released the autopsy reports Monday after an open records request.
A request for copies of police reports and other documents related to the investigation has been denied because the case is open. Neither family could be reached for comment.
Other details about the teens' deaths, including the events that led to the shooting, were not included in the autopsy reports. It is unknown what type of weapon was used in the shooting. The autopsy reports do not list times of death.
Both teens were involved in a debilitating car wreck in 2008. The wreck left Straus with brain and spinal injuries, his mother, Elizabeth Straus, said in her blog. Cody Straus was hospitalized in the intensive care unit at University Medical Center Brackenridge and at TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, the blog said.
The blog details Straus' months of recovery from a coma, including intensive physical and speech therapy. It also says Carman visited Straus in the hospital, often spending the night by his side.
The last entry, written in June, said that Straus was living at a Dripping Springs rehabilitation facility for patients with brain disorders and other illnesses.
According to Carman's blog, she was in the car with Straus when the wreck happened.
The last entry of Carman's blog, dated July 10, included a synopsis of the accident, the months after and her feelings for Straus: "I love Cody with all my heart and soul."
both such good ppl had the aftermath of this accident changed their lives forever and in the end instead of bringing them closer it tore them apart
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