December 12, 1995
Web posted at: 8:30 a.m. EST
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The Los Angeles coroner's autopsy report revealed that model Linda Sobek was sexually assaulted and legally drunk before she was killed and buried in a shallow grave in a remote mountain area outside Los Angeles.
The coroner's office released a statement Monday saying Sobek died of asphyxiation as a result of neck and shoulder compression. The death was ruled a homicide.
Scott Carrier, spokesman for the Los Angeles County medical examiner's office, said that Sobek's death was "consistent with somebody sitting on somebody or somebody laying on somebody." He said it did not appear she was strangled. Carrier added Sobek had no broken bones, and would not discuss the nature of the sexual assault.
Photographer Charles Rathbun was charged with Sobek's murder after he lead investigators to her body in the Angeles National Forest on November 24. Sobek, 27, disappeared November 16 after leaving her Hermosa Beach home for a modeling assignment.
The toxicological examination revealed that Sobek had a .13 percent blood alcohol reading at the time of autopsy. California's legal blood alcohol level for driving is .08 percent. No drugs were detected in her bloodstream.
Rathbun has pleaded innocent to murder and is being held on $1 million bail. He has twice tried to commit suicide since Sobek's death. He claimed he accidentally killed Sobek, a former Los Angeles Raiders cheerleader, while demonstrating high-speed car maneuvers during a photo shoot.
| CONTENTS | SEARCH | CNN HOME PAGE | MAIN U.S. NEWS PAGE |
Copyright © 1995 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
