In the wake of the investigation, it was determined that Ruth was a warped individual who had suffered a psychotic break leading to a murderous rampage. As previously established, I believe this to be sheer bull-puckey. To interrogate this interpretation of the events, let us consider the factors that may lead to a person“going insane.”
There are a wide variety of medical conditions that can cause psychotic episodes, and indeed, it is theoretically possible that Ruth suffered one of these. However, very few of these conditions manifest suddenly. Typically these are conditions which develop slowly across months or even years. Well, if Ruth were developing a medical condition such as this… I would’ve known. I hung out with Ruth a lot. At least once a week since 2014, and usually quite a bit more than that. I don’t know many people with whom I can ‘hang out,’ and fewer still who live as conveniently close to me as Ruth does. As my next door neighbor, I would often see her unplanned, passing her in the driveway or yard, oftentimes stopping to say hello, and I frequently walked Sturgis for her when she was not feeling well. If she was teetering on the edge of psychosis, I would’ve perceived some sign.
Given the supreme unlikeliness that Ruth developed a psychological condition that caused her to go from zero to homicidal in the space of a half hour spent in an S-Mart corner, let’s look at the other common cause of violent psychosis; alcohol or drugs, or the lack thereof.
Some drugs can have a profound effect on their user’s psychological state, and some strange designer drugs in recent years such as bath salts or flakka routinely elicit the kind of psychotic violence that Ruth reportedly displayed. So is it possible that Ruth was a druggie? Did she have a drug habit unknown even to me, her neighbor, friend, and oftentime dog-walker? Was Ruth Kowalski on flakka?
No, I don’t think so. Again, I have no proof for this, but I can say that I’ve exhaustively studied the list of side effects, both physiological and circumstantial, that point toward ongoing use of any of the drugs which can cause psychosis, either by their presence or absence. I’ve searched her home thoroughly, and found no sign of drugs; neither the substances themselves nor the paraphernalia or general filth that can frequently be found in the den of a habitual user of drugs.
I did find the peppermint schnapps that she enjoyed adding to her evening tea some nights. I also searched her medicine cabinet, and found an array of medications that, to perserve her privacy, I will not list here. But I painstakingly read through the possible side effects for all of these medications and none included psychosis
There would be no need for speculation if the toxicology screening that was done as part of Ruth’s autopsy had yielded conclusive results. However… the toxicology report, and the entire autopsy, was “lost” in a clerical error at the local coroner’s office. Another strange coincidence… a very convenient one for officialdom, as it opens the door to speculate about all sorts of drugs that Ruth may have been taking. This was explanation enough for most… but not for me.
Absent drug use, there is nothing to explain the sudden outburst of extreme violence. Unless Ruth was somehow “dosed” with something by some unidentified malcontent, logic suggests we may safely discard chemicals from our list of likely causes just as we previously discarded the idea of the undiagnosed medical condition.
But… what if she was “dosed with something?” And… what if she wasn’t the only one?!
Hmmmm… much mystery, such lost.