Customer Reviews

Silent Witness: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo's Death

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

The author admitted at the beginning of the book that he wrote it in a short period of time, in fact, before the autopsy report was released. There is nothing new in this book. I believe it was written quickly before interest in Terri Schiavo faded and with hope that it would become another Murder in Greenwich, but I doubt that anything will come of it. If you must read it out of curiosity, rent it from your public library or get it from someone who already spent too much for it.

I've read previous books by Fuhrman and for the most part have been impressed. Because of that and the promise on the dust cover to answer questions such as what was Terri and Michael Schiavo's marriage really like, what happened the day Terri collapsed, what will the autopsy say, and so on, I bought the book. After this, I doubt that I will ever buy another book by Furhman again.

This book offered no insight into the person that Terri was, nor her marriage with Michael. It answered no questions whatsoever, nor did it provide any insight into any of the key people involved in this story. The first 100 pages are a quasi technical write-up on various medical issues, some known to not even be associated with Terri's condition such as asphyxia and heart attacks. It's just verbiage to fill up the space.

Any major event in the story is repeated at least once, sometimes more often. This is another method to fill up space to try to cover the fact that there's nothing substantial in this book. This book really doesn't offer anything except Furhrman's speculations (six of them to be exact).

Furhman gets to the point of the book on page 223 (out of a total of 226 pages) when he says "Only Michael Schiavo knows the answer to these questions." Save your money, I just told you the bottom line of the book. That is really all he has to offer.

I always go in with a open mind, I too followed the story of Terri Schiavo and was leaning alot towards Michael Schiavo but after reading the book and putting 1+1=2 together I have my own personal views on the way she died. Mark Furhman gave a clear written view of the book explaining each and every point from the start of the book to the end. I thank him for writing the book at a laymen's level for all to read. I do give this book five stars and look forward to a follow up when they give a full report of her autopsy. Mark Fuhrman was an experienced detective long before he became a writer. Many authors have little or no law enforcement training. Mark Fuhrman is an author who tells it like it is, and has brought the life of Terri Schiavo for all to see and understand what Terri and her family have gone through. I will continue to read any book written by Mark Fuhrman.

Mark Fuhrman's book is very good. He does a very good investigation into Terri's collapse; an investigation that should have done on the night of her collapse and later when the Schindler's filed numerous police investigation inquires.

While the book came out before the autopsy results of Terri Schiavo, the book still provides some distrubing questions.

The autopsy did little to give clout on Fuhrman's conclusions and suspicions.

Regarding, Terri Schiavo autopsy:

In reading Furhman's book please bare in mind that autopsy results come with several caveats that bear noticing:

1. Terri's collapse remains a mystery to this day. Terri did not have a heart attack.

2. Michael Schiavo was the only one there.

3. It is highly unlikely that Terri had Bulima.

4. The issue of the potassium inbalance is also highly suspect.

5. Michael Schiavo is on the record of giving at least 3 different conflicting accounts of Terri's collapse. The following things remain in conflict to this day:

Did Michael have argument the day before she collapsed? - Conflicted.

What time Michael came home that night is conflicted.

Was Terri awake when Michael arrived home? Conflicted.

What made Michael wake up and why did he wake up? Conflicted.

What position did Michael find Terri in? Conflicted.

Who did Michael call? Conflicted.

Did Michael hold Terri? Conflicted.

Was Terri breathing? Conflicted.

All of these things are conflicted from the various depos, testimonies, and accounts given by Michael Schiavo.

There are also still unanswered quesitons:

What was significance of the vomit found near Terri. (It was later determined to be from the cats; Who determined that?)

6. Experts have stated that it possible for Terri to been inflicted trauma without leaving any detectable evidence. And if such evidence did in fact exist, it is possible the EMTs life saving measures done to Terri could have compromised that evidence.

7. Perhaps that most important caveat of the autopsy is the ME's final statment:

That most of medical records regarding Terri Schiavo are missing and have been lost.

For this reason, the case remains open to this day waiting additional medical information that could shed some light on Terri's collapse.

The issue of missing medical records was key question of concern during the litigation of Terri's Law that was never really answered.

To paraphrase this book's author, "This case isn't about the right to die peacefully, or about euthanasia." Retired detective Fuhrman takes the position that this case is about a man wanting to free himself from a marriage, and doing so at any cost as long as someone else is making payment.

I have two criticisms of Mr. Fuhrman's work. First, it should not have been written before the autopsy results for Terri Schiavo became available. They would, I believe, have altered some of his assumptions and therefore some of his conclusions. Second, he repeats material not once but several times; not for emphasis, but (in my opinion) to extend the word count sufficiently to make it book length, and publishable as such. With those things said, though, I found myself thinking about the Schiavo tragedy from different angles than before I read Mr. Fuhrman's book. Like a good detective, he accepts nothing at face value; and his understanding of human nature, at its best as well as at its worst, illuminates much that never made sense to me before.

Worth reading, although the repetition makes even this sad yet riveting story bog down at times.

The case itself is fascinating and unresolved the facts remain the same as was/is the outcome. Furmhan on the otherhand is making a very good living exploiting murder. He seems to be forming a pattern here.

Yes, he said he wrote this book in a hurry. I believe him. He was so redundant with information; it seemed he was repeating himself over and over just to fill a book.

Making money again off of the pain of others. He sure does enjoy hurting other people and this book is not different. He wrote this dude in less than 3 months, uh this is a life ya no.

The New Republic once described books like this as "snap" books: hastily produced and devoid of meaningful content. This might have been worth a magazine article, but it's padded with the extraneous. Not only is it repetitious, but do we really need a detailed explanation of ways in which Terri Schiavo could NOT have been strangled? All that I can say in its favor is that it have a substantial section of Schindler family pictures, some interesting appendixes, and it is readable. It's rather frustrating that none of the books that I have read on this case so far have indexes. Makes it difficult to compare the versions.

Fuhrman states: "When I first decided to write this book, I decided that the one contribution was objectivity ... I have a great deal of respect for the Schindler family, and I am truly sorry for what happened to their daughter. I may not like Michael Schiavo much, but that doesn't mean he killed his wife." Oh well, that last bit is really reassuring.

Fuhrman assumes that if the Schindlers said it, it must be right. At first, both Michael Schiavo and Bobby Schindler Jr. agreed that Michael called Bobby. Then Bob Schindler decided that he was the one who called Bobby. His son (Bobby) changed his testimony, which proves that Michael was a liar.

Bob Schindler also claims that Michael hadn't called 911 whereas Michael claims he did before calling the Schindlers. The conversation, as recorded in the Schindlers's book (A Life That Matters: The Legacy of Terri Schiavo -- A Lesson for Us All) is:

"'Dad, it's Michael,' the voice on the other end of the line said. 'There's trouble, Terri's passed out. She's unconscious. I can't wake her up.'

'Call 911,' Bob shouted and slammed down the phone."

Nothing in this conversation indicates that Michael hadn't already called 911, but the Schindlers and Fuhrman claims it's further proof of lying.

Fuhrman says that he is chiefly concerned with the issue of how Terri Schiavo came to collapse in the first place. He argues that the discrepancies in the story are highly suspicious and the Florida police bungled the investigation. The first problem with this accusation is that Fuhrman is looking at about 15 years of statements made in the course of a case that was first highly publicized in Florida and later nationally. The original investigators were looking at what they were told in a couple days; they had no way of knowing that people would change their testimony, or simply be confused, 10 years later. Given the contradictions, some of it has to have been invented, but Fuhrman allows himself to pick and choose to build a case.

Call me a dumb layperson, but I find his arguments unconvincing. According to Fuhrman, it is suspicious that Michael Schiavo gives various estimates of when he got home from the restaurant. This might be a red flag worth pursuing, but in the end it's too long before Terri Schiavo's collapse to be obviously important. Maybe it just shows that Michael had a terrible sense of time. Maybe he did have an argument with his wife - his statement to the police implies at least some little disagreement, but the one cited by her friends wasn't around the time of her collapse. Again, worth checking, but not a smoking gun. And why is it suspicious that Michael hearing a thud, would think it might be his wife? After all, her half of the bed was empty, she was obviously up. Fuhrman argues that Michael Schaivo, if he was innocent, should have thought that it was one of the cats. Maybe it didn't sound like a cat jumping down from something.

At the end, he suggests that Governor Jeb Bush convene a grand jury. In his haste to publish, Fuhrman not only missed the autopsy, he missed the report from Florida State Attorney, Bernie McCabe, on the subject of further investigation of abuse. It is published in Michael Schiavo's book and is a complete refutation of Fuhrman. The study concluded that whatever time Schiavo thought he got up, he consistently claimed that he attended to his wife immediately. It points out that the Schindlers had an even worse sense of time: they originally said that Schiavo called between 3 am and 4 am; the 911 call was at 5:40 am. Further, the investigators were unable to fathom how evidence of abuse could have been missed in the intense examination of Terri Schiavo when she first went to the hospital.

Rather a waste of trees.

Fuhrman's book is effective because he carefully avoids making
any extravagant claims. He makes a strong circumstantial case
that Terry Schiavo's husband knows more than he's telling about
her initial collapse. What I don't understand is how anyone
intelligent enough to write this book could have been dumb enough to perjure himself in the Simpson case.