7.

Southern Fried True Cram covers cases that may not be suitable for young listeners, and

there may also be some explicit language used.

Listener discretion is advised.

I'd like to emphasize that this episode is especially graphic and grizzly.

Instead of listeners, please take heed, and this episode is definitely not for children.

At around 5 o'clock on a cool mid-october evening in New Orleans, a very tall young man opened

a tab at the La Riviera Roof Top Pool bar.

Seven stories up in the Omni Royal Hotel on St. Louis Street.

Over three hours he sat by the pool, smoking, taking shots of Jameson, and looking up at

the sky.

The bartender watched anxiously his Zachary Bowen got up and paced nervously around

the pool and then headed out of sight.

He was afraid Zach was about to walk out on his substantial bar tab.

Instead, Zach walked over to La Riviera's roof railing and jumped over the side.

He landed on the top of the hotel's adjacent parking garage, five stories down, dying instantly.

On this evening, October 17, 2006, Detective Tom Moravitch of the N.O.P.D.'s Person Crime's

Division was not surprised to get a suicide call.

After all, this was post-Catrina, and sadly, suicides were fairly common.

But he was surprised that it happened from the roof of a four-star hotel.

The detective and investigator from the coroner's office found Zach's body lying face up.

Aside from the blood pouring from his mouth and head, the body wasn't very mangled.

...