Police Probe Water Intoxication Death

California Woman's Death After Radio Station Contest Sparks Homicide Investigation

(CBS/AP)  Homicide detectives are investigating the death of a woman believed to have been killed by drinking too much water in a radio station contest.

On a tape of the Jan. 12 show, disc jockeys on KDND-FM's "Morning Rave" joke about the possible dangers of consuming too much water, at one point alluding to a college student who died during such a stunt in 2005.

During the contest, a listener - self-identified as a nurse - called the live radio broadcast and warned that the game was dangerous, CBS News station KOVR-TV reported.

"I want to say that those people drinking all that water can get sick and die from water intoxication," said the caller.

"Yeah, we're aware of that," one of them said.

Another DJ laughed: "Yeah, they signed releases, so we're not responsible. We're OK."

"And if they get to the point where they have to throw up, then they're going to throw up, and they're out of the contest before they die, so that's good, right?" another one said.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department decided to pursue the investigation Wednesday after listening to the tape, obtained by The Sacramento Bee newspaper, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said.

Jennifer Lea Strange, a 28-year-old mother of three, was one of about 18 contestants who tried to win a Nintendo Wii gaming console by determining how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. The show's DJs called the contest "Hold your Wee for a Wii."

"Hey, Carter, is anybody dying in there?" a DJ asked during the show. "We got a guy who's just about to die," the other responded, and all the DJs laughed.

"I like that we laugh about that," another said.

"Make sure he signs the release. ... Get the insurance on that, please."

Strange participated in the contest during the morning in the studio and was found dead that afternoon. The county coroner said preliminary autopsy findings indicate she died of water intoxication.

Other contestants said Strange may have ingested as much as two gallons of water. Several hours into the contest, Strange was interviewed on the air and complained that her head hurt.

"They keep telling me that it's the water. That it will tell my head to hurt and then it will make me puke," she said.

Strange won the second-place prize, tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert. She commented on the tape that she looked pregnant, and a female DJ agreed.

"Oh, my gosh, look at that belly. That's full of water. ... Come on over, Jennifer, you OK?" the DJ asked. "You going to pass out right now? Too much water?"

The winner of the contest, Lucy Davidson, said she collapsed just 15 minutes after leaving the station with her prize. "I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I just knew I had never felt so sick in my life," Davidson told KOVR.

Davidson said Strange's stomach protruded over her waist as the contest ended.

"As soon as we went to the bathroom we both came out of the stalls. I looked over at her and she probably looked as pale as I did," Davidson said.

On Tuesday, KDND's parent company, Entercom/Sacramento, fired 10 employees connected to the contest, including three morning disc jockeys. The company also took the morning show off the air.

Station spokesman Charles Sipkins said Wednesday that the company had not yet heard from the sheriff's department but that it would cooperate with the investigation.

Attorneys for the Strange family said Wednesday they plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the radio station.

[onlythenews]

I heard about water intoxication a very long time ago by a friend while in elementary school. At the time we didn't realize that it was actually true, except we didn't know it would kill, we thought that a person would get drunk like persons who drink alcohol (hence, intoxication). I didn't find out the real story until maybe 20 years later. I didn't realize how many people did not know about it until the college hazing incident a year or so ago.

Fortunately I did know, because right after that college hazing incident, my son became a participant of a high school football team whose coach requires the players to drink a gallon of water everyday. They are asked to bring the bottle to school with them as a reminder to drink. My son was so gungho about being on the team, that he immediately drank a gallon of water, probably within a 1 1/2 hour timespan and began a second. I had to tell him to slow down drinking the water and let him know about the dangers of drinking too much. Now he only drinks a gallon, but this just demonstrates what happens when people just don't know. Water intoxication is not something that is taught in school, students are taught, the dangers of alcohol abuse, smoking, ***, etc. The article I saw after the hazing incident said that 3 gallons could be dangerous. So we need to inform our friends, family, etc.

[destiny8423]

BOTTOM LINE THE STUPID IDIOTIC DJS SHOULD HAVE RESEARCHED DANGERS EVEN IF IT ISNT SOMETHIN ANY WOULD THINK WOULD HAPPEN DIDNT THEY READ ABOUT THE CHICO STATE INCIDENT HELLO IDIOTS AND ONCE THEY DID AND STILL DECIDED TO GO WITH THE CONTEST IN BIG BOLLLDDDD LETTERS THEY SHOULD HAVE WARNED CONTESTANTS OF THE RISKS! AN AS FAR AS JOKING ABOUT IT THE DJS ARE GETTING SO HEARTLESS NOW I HOPE THEY GET CHARGES AN JAIL OF MANSLAUGHTER BROGHT TO THEM BECAUSE THEY DESERVE THAT AN SO MUCH MORE. AND YES MS. STRANGE DID DO IT ON HER OWN WILL BUT SHE PROBABLY WOULDNT HAVE IF THEY HAD THE DANGERS POSTED STUPID IDIOT DJS

[mandyb5]

i think that any of you that are saying anything negative about this young woman with three children should be ashamed of themselves. i am exactly her age and have 3 kids myself and never ever hearing anything about water intoxication i would have done the stupid "game" as well for my kids, not ever thinking that drinking water would hurt me! i just wish that she listened to her body saying that it wasnt okay,let this be a lesson to all of us.she didnt die for a wii but to teach us all about something we didnt know.

[ecuadoriana]

It's idiotic to trust your LIFE to a radio station contest! Trust your life to your family & friends- those who know you, love you, wouldn't want to cause you harm, & would have a lot to lose should you die. I'm not laughing about this. I'm extremely sad for those she left behind.

Azngrrl220 said: "...the individual trusted this station...It is highly doubtable that the individual entered the contest believing that she would die."

That's exactly why people need to think before they leap into an act that's outside the scope of normal every day activity (& when it comes to the possibility of leaving children w/out a parent they need to think with their hearts). Some posters argued that we are encouraged to drink water for our health. Of course! Because people sweat it out & normally one uses the toilet when the body (which obviously can be smarter than the brain as this contest scenerio demonstrates) makes the announcement: "Gotta go!"

Common sense dictates that to fight that natural need to eliminate is going to be a disaster. In this case it was the worst case.

It just goes back to don't use/abuse your body! Sheesh- no one would want to intentionally cause a flood in their basement because of the resulting damage to the foundation. Why would anyone flood their beautiful, precious, fragile body?

[chaffeebl]

The contest was undoubtedly designed to increase ratings. The danger may have started when the amount of water consumed was increased above 8 ounces every 15 minutes because two healthy kidneys can't eliminate water much faster than that. The woman probably cound have been saved with prompt medical treatment. If they had paid attention to her symptoms they would have realized to need for treanment.

[azngrrl220]

I find it quite sickening that a large majority of the public is laughing about this and are adding negative connotations to this issue.

Our society is indeed very materialistic but several citizens fail to realize that the individual trusted this station and wanted to simply please her kids. It is highly doubtable that the individual entered the contest believing that she would die.

A lot of people had stated that they knew that water intoxication existed but is this true? I believe not. On a recent online poll i saw, approximately 28% of the people who participated in this poll did not know of the water intoxication before this case. This is a classic case that involves "hindsight bias". Even i did not know about water intoxication. And last year i just took AP Bio...

Regardless of which, all the readers reading this should be considerate to the family. Stating such negative statements like "Oh that was stupid" is not helping the family. She was a wife, mother, and friend.

As to my bias, i believe the station were very irresponsible. They were warned of the dangers and went on with the contest. None of the contestants were really aware of this issue. Whether or not there were waivers, a death is inexcusable. The station should have warned the contestants about the dangers of this contest before they proceeded....

[jackmehoffe1]

Sad things:

Young mom willing to risk her life for computer game. What does this say about our society?

17 other people were willing to do this.


This is a litigious society. No one at Entercom ran this by legal before they advertised for participants? No wonder her family is suing. They'll never have their mom back but they'll always know that lawsuit profits will buy them all the trinkets that society deems worth risking life and limb for.

[jackmehoffe1]

Sad things:

Young mom willing to risk her life for computer game. What does this say about our society?

17 other people were willing to do this.


This is a litigious society. No one at Entercom ran this by legal before they advertised for participants? No wonder her family is suing. They'll never have their mom back but they'll always know that lawsuit profits will buy them all the trinkets that society deems worth risking life and limb for.

[diggydog77]

A few more points. That she signed a waiver should mean squat. Even if it was a tiddly winks contest, a waiver would be required by a radio station where they have people on site.

If this station is owned by Clearchannel or whatever, I predict an award to the family of ten to twenty million dollars, fully deserved.

To compare this to fat people suing MacDonalds is ludicrous.

It is not as if water drinking contests are a tradition at the State Fair, like pie eating, which is conducted in a comparitively safe manner. This contest was conducted in a totally dangerous way and I heard that the station was warned at one point by a nurse who called in. If I had heard such a contest was being held, I would have called the station owner, the police, the head of a hospital, and everyone I could contact to stop it.

[katrinibee]

Yes, the woman made a conscious decision to enter this contest. Probably trusting that the radio station would be responsible enough not to ask contestants to do something that would truly endanger their lives. It was horribly irresponsible for the radio station to conduct a contest of this kind when they had knowledge of what the risks were. Sure, the woman could have been more careful with her choices, but I don't blame her for trusting those holding the contest to keep her out of dangers' way. What responsible organization would knowingly risk a person's life in the name of a Nintendo Wii? Disgusting!

[diggydog77]

This is a horrible tragedy and I hope the surviving family gets millions in a law suit.

Hypertremia is not a concept that even the average person knows about. People entering a contest for a video game console would assume it is not risky. In reality, it is extremely risky. Even dieters, who want to get 8 glasses a day, fine for normal activity levels, but don't push it to twice that.

To me, this kind of fluid drinking contest is no less harmless than if they had a contest to see who could swallow the largest rubber ball, only as I said, with water, this is not obviously dangerous at all. Still the radio station should have researched the dangers and should be held responsible for having a contest that deadly.

I hope it is featured on all the national news stations tonight as it will help educate people.

[iluvnews81]

Just as everyone else has said...I never would have thought drinking large amounts of water would kill you. If anything I figured you would get very sick and your body would either make you throw it up or you would eventually not be able to "hold it" and go on yourself. It was the woman's choice to do this but the radio station, knowing this can be fatal, chose to have people perform this stunt for a video game. The insult is that they joked about the dangers of doing it. Now with the dj's help, there are 3 small children with no mother....Is it still funny?

[brijarjo3]

With the exception of know it all persons and persons in the medical field, very few people know that consuming too much water in a short period of time can be fatal. How often have we heard or been told to drink water for various reasons, a full glass with certain medications... at least a little more than a quart for various diagnostic studies, such as ultrasounds of the abdominal/pelvic area... and do not use the bathroom until after the study has been done.... and the one that has been around since the beginning of time, the body need water to sustain itself.. and let's not forget water has ZERO calories... so this could have easily happened to anyone... regardless of the person's level of intelligence.

[ecuadoriana]

coolerhead, I have to admit, you said it much better than I did.

[ecuadoriana]

"To:ecuadoriana
You pompous, judgemental, know-it-all.
Posted by oleander8 at 12:24 PM : Jan 18, 2007"

Yup, BUT I am ALIVE to be one!

Placing the words "free prize!", "free gift!", "win big!" in front of supposedly intellegent humans (you know, those creatures with the thumbs who think they are so much smarter than "dumb animals" because of all their super cool electronic gadgets) is what helps seperate the weak ones from the rest of the herd.

Placing the priority to get "a prize" over using common sense is what makes college kids binge drink to "win" a spot in a fraternity. Getting "something for nothing" ALWAYS comes with a price tag much higher than if one actually earned it. ALWAYS.

This woman, & others like her, used her body, & ultimately her life, to get something for free. A better lesson for her children would have been to work for the stupid video console. You know: do extra chores around the house, mow the neighbour's lawn, show some initiative & responsibility- that sort of thing. Something that parents aren't teaching their kids any more. That's why people want to sue the fast food restaurants because of their own weight problems- they want it fast, now, & the easy way.

So, yeah, I'm a "pompous, judgemental, know-it-all" who is alive with self respect. I don't use my body, my health & the safety of my family to "win big prizes"!

[ladyephesus1]

Not everyone is educated about these kinds of things. When the word "free" is placed on a contest and a persons adrenalin is going, they are not thinking about health issues. Im certainly not a nurse nor my children, but my kids may have participated in something like this had i not known about it. Some people think drinking alot of water is good for the body, but water intoxication has me floored. Im serious guys, ive never in my life heard of it until now. I dont think this woman knew what she was doing at all to her body. This is so sad. She loved her kids that much that she was willing to drink herself to oblivion, not knowing the consequences was death. Whenever a business holds a contest, they have to do their homework on health issues , etc. just like going to disneyland and getting on a rollercoaster..the sign says" if you have any heart problems, high blood pressure, we suggest you not get on this ride". Same thing applies to anything involved with the body. Anytime the body is involved, you need to know your stuff from top to bottom. consult with doctors and do research. I feel the radio station should be sued for being so careless. What if somebody filled their bladder with two gallons of water and ask them to hold it for 3 hours?? yeah right!!

[oleander8]

To:ecuadoriana


You pompous, judgemental, know-it-all.

[Syndicate]

I hope they get time.

[ecuadoriana]

Any one who abuses their body just to win a prize has their priorities screwed up. Why would any one want to do drink or eat anything beyond the body's normal capacity just to win a stupid prize? The answer: Because people place such a low priority on their health compared to the desire to aquire material possesions.

Whether this woman knew of the dangers of water intoxication or not is irrelevant. Once she decided to attempt this stupid contest she made an agreement with her SELF that her own health & safety, & the lesson she was teaching her children about binge drinking, weren't as important as aquiring a free video game.

And the message that was she sending to her kids? That her life was worth less than a video machine or Justin Timberlake tickets! How sad. Had she lived she should have been charged with reckless endangerment to her self & her children.

She did this to herself. The family shouldn't be suing anybody. She needed to take some personal responsibility for her actions.

The DJs shouldn't have been laughing about the dangers, but laughing at someone for being an idiot is not a crime & they certainly didn't force her to do this. It was her choice- & now she is dead from the consequences of that choice.

Thats right! Water intoxication is real and can kill. It is a shame that nobody consulted a doctor before this happened. I hope the DJs never work in radio , TV or news print again. They were laughing while someone was dying. What fools!