commentary by Patrick H. Moore
We all know about the tried-and-true forms of murder. This includes shootings, beating people to death, stabbings and/or throat-slashings, and now and again 4) death by poison (which is popular with doctors). In the past few months, however, I’ve taken note of three peculiar modes of killing that although probably atypical, seem to be growing in popularity. Specifically, I’m referring to 1) beheadings; 2) people being doused with lighter fluid and lit on fire (the recent horrific death of poor Jessica Chambers of Courtland, Mississippi comes to mind); and 3) very young children being locked in washers or driers and spun until they expire.
The scary thing about Number 4 is that the victim child will not only be killed from heat and from being banged around in the case of a drier, or drowning and being spun to death in the case of a washing machine, but the poor child will also almost undoubtedly experience the most terrifying sense of claustrophobia once it is locked inside its death capsule.
This may be what happened to a 4-year-old Garland, Texas boy named Koda Blocker on Tuesday.
Lydia Warren writes for MailOnline:
A father has been charged with capital murder in the death of his son who died after being inside their washing machine.
Authorities will not comment on whether Joseph Blocker, 28, put his son, Koda Blocker, inside the washing machine or if the boy had climbed inside himself, but they did say it is a front loading machine that must be closed and switched on from the outside before starting a cycle.
So this is a bit peculiar… Joseph Blocker, who based on the available pictures, is rather a stern-looking dude, is charged with capital murder yet the investigators appear to be reluctant to come right out and say that he closed the door of the front-loading machine and ran a wash cycle. The clear implication, though, is that whether or not the victim child climbed in on his own, Mr. Blocker closed the door and turned on the machine.
Koda’s 22-month old sister, who was the third and last person at the house at the time of this tragic event, is probably too young to have been the perpetrator.
At around 3:30 pm on Tuesday, Mr. Blocker called 911 to report that Koda was unconscious at his house. When the authorities arrived, the child was already dead.
The detectives have stated that according to a medical examiner, the boy’s injuries are consistent with him being inside a washing machine. So in theory this could mean that the child was submerged in the water during the wash cycle or bounced around violently during the spin cycle, or both.
Here is what Garland Policer Officer Joe Harn had to say:
“What we feel is at some point the child was inside the washing machine in the home.
“According to investigators it is a front-loading type. For the child to be in the machine, the door had to be shut and it had to be started from the outside. It does not start by automatically shutting the door.”
According to Officer Harn, the Medical Examiner’s Office of Dallas County is working with the detectives to determine the exact cause of death.
Although a fourth party, a woman, also lived with Mr. Blocker and his children at the house in question, she was not there when Koda died. Mr. Blocker appears to have been taken into custody shortly after the authorities arrived and found Koda dead.
A neighbor named Yesenia Varela told CBS that she witnessed Blocker being taken into custody on Tuesday and managed to insinuate that the alleged killer was without emotion as they led him away.
“He had no expression on his face. I don’t know what to tell you. He had no expression.”
As other crime critics for whom I have considerable respect have pointed out, the fact someone is not wracked with great obvious emotion after the death of a child does not mean that the lack of affect definitively proves that the suspect is the killer. Another way of putting this is that not everyone beats their breast after a tragedy.
If you think about it, though, the only conceivable way Blocker could have inadvertently killed Koda (killed him by mistake) would have been if 1) there were already dirty clothes in the washer; 2) Koda climbed in and more or less buried himself among the clothes (and you must admit this is the sort of thing kids like to do); 3) Blocker came over and absent-mindedly ran the load (not an impossibility); and 4) discovered the poor child dead after the spin cycle was completed.
Now I admit this scenario is somewhat unlikely but it probably could happen. If I’m Blocker’s defense attorney, unless the suspect had already made contradictory statements when he was taken into custody, I might be tempted to resort to this defense. The trick would be to get both Blocker and his female roommate (and Koda’s mother if possible) to testify that little Koda, like lots of kids, had the habit of burying himself under clothes, blankets, pillows, etc.
The defense would be even stronger if one or more witnesses would testify that they had seen Koda climb into the washer on one or more occasions and burrow under the clothes.
Would a jury buy this theory? Probably not. Without some kind of viable defense, though, unless he pleads out in return for LWOP or some similar sentence, Blocker could well find himself facing the DP.
Based on appearances only, Mr. Blocker does look like he might be able to “hold his mud” in a prison environment.
His cause is probably not helped by the fact another neighbor, Luz Juarez, said his hands appeared to be streaked with blood.
Blocker is being held at the Garland Detention Center and his bond has been set at $500,000. He has a prior for marijuana possession and was convicted on a DWI charge in 2013.
Koda’s mother was in another state at the time of her son’s passing and is now caring for his 22-month-old sister.
* * * * *
The tragic accident scenario that I have suggested, although perhaps fanciful, is in keeping with the position being taken by his friends who are asking people not to be too quick to judge.
Demond Fernandez of WFAA writes in a article published after the initial reports:
“There’s no way he could have done this,” said Michael Dorfman, who described himself as a close friend of Blockers and one of the victim’s former babysitters. “It had to have been an accident somehow.”
Dorfman says he and Blocker’s family believe whatever happened inside the house was a tragic accident. He says they are confident more facts will be uncovered soon.
“I can’t even imagine what he’s going through,” Dorfman said regarding Blocker. “Not only losing a child, but being locked up for it too, with no answer as to hey, this is what happened, and still being behind bars.That’s got to be brutal.”
It is also noted that Blocker has been released from the Garland Detention Center as police investigate further which might not be the case if this were an open-and-shut murder case.