So I'm writing this story where one character has to be murdered from carbon monoxide poisoning in a car. How can I get it done? Can somebody help me?
Drug them and leave them behind the wheel of their own car parked in their own garage with the door closed. Maybe get them drunk first. I think that's what Kevin Spacey did to that guy in House of Cards.
Convince them that a bucket of dry ice in the back seat is an acceptable stop gap to a broken air conditioner.
Don’t keep us guessing and fix the OP to include the details of what exactly you’re looking for. Why carbon monoxide poisoning? What does the victim do for a living? What time period we talking? Is this sci-fi based (underwater cars possible)? Why does the murderer choose this option? Is it believable the murderer would go for this? You want it to look like suicide or not? What is the location? Garage is always the most obvious, but are you going to tell us this isn’t an option either? Address these issues, and any others that come to mind, and I’ll see if I can think of something. GL
Ok, here is the full context of the plot: A bit about motivation: I don't know if you are familiar with the word "honor killing." It is when one family member kills another person for marrying outside their religion or caste. Unfortunately, this unfortunate thing is very common in India. Plot: My character, let's say Lisa is in a relationship with someone outside her religion and her parents disapprove. To prevent her from marrying her lover, her uncle decides to kill her. He fills her gym ball with carbon monoxide (this is one idea I'm thinking about). As she drives home from her gym to house, she loses control of her car and dies. Why carbon monoxide poisoning: I want to make it look like an accident or suicide at first. Even if the investigators find carbon monoxide in her blood, we can rule it out as air conditioning sucking exhaust leak.
Huh? Surely there are easier ways ... why would someone ‘commit suicide’ whilst driving a car? Doesn’t make sense. How exactly would you get the gas into the basket ball and then get it to leak out at the right time AND assume the journey is long enough AND given that the person is conscious and feeling a little lightheaded/woozy wouldn’t they stop the car? Or simply open a window? Have you looked into the amount of gas required in any given space, the time it takes to effect people or looked at cases where the victims of such incidents were fully conscious - most incidents of such poisoning I’ve heard of usually happens to people who are asleep.
This is one plot hole I'm trying to fix. I have also heard people are usually asleep when this type of accident happens. I'm looking for a way, for this character Lisa and possibly her boyfriend has to die. But it should look like a suicide or an accident at first.
T The idea of the gym ball is not finalized. That is just a thought. I'm looking for more reliable ways
a gym ball of carbon monoxide wouldnt be anywhere near enough to kill released into a car - for one thing its heavier than air so it would just sit on the floor of the car, for another if there was somehow enough (like tampering with the exhaust to vent into the passenger space) you'd realise something was wrong and wind a window down. Carbon monoxide poisoning happens either deliberately when suicides fill their cars with exhaust fumes, or accidentally (usually from gas fires in bedrooms) while people are asleep if you want to gas her while driving it needs to be something a lot more potent, like cyanide, or sarin or something of that ilk..
This could be a potential problem. I think I'm going to look for some other ways to kill the character then
If there was carbon monoxide in the car, they wouldn't necessarily die from it while driving. They could just get dizzy, nauseated, and short of breath, then pull off on the side of the road or at a rest stop, try and take a quick nap in hopes they'll feel better, and never wake up. There was a book I read a long time ago where a terrorist was using fire extinguishers filled with CO to crash planes. CO is in itself odourless, tasteless, and dissolves instantly in liquids, so the only way they would know what's up without any exhaust smell would be by symptoms, and depending on the concentration, by then it may be too late, and the victim may brush it off as the result of a bad night. I agree that a gym ball wouldn't be enough, but a compressed container may be, especially if it's hot with the windows shut and the A/C on cycle. I think the bigger problem would be obtaining it. It's not exactly something that's sold in supermarkets, and manufacturing and compressing it yourself would be problematic. That's not to say it can't be bought, though. I do know you can (or at least used to be able to) buy tester kits for carbon monoxide detectors that had a couple of small vials of CO that you would empty while they and your detector were both sealed in a zip lock bag, so it's got to be manufactured somewhere.
Fire extinguishers are usually full of Carbon Dioxide - a fire extinguisher full of Carbon Monoxide would be a really bad idea, that shit's flamable (it was once used a a gas fuel before the widespread availability of butane and propane, hence the trope of people committing suicide by putting their head in a gas oven) As to manufacturing it its made by burning carbon in a low oxygen environment - that's why accidental monoxide deaths are usually related to fires or gas fires that arent drawing propperly
Have the killer convince the victim to commit suicide. Could be a long and winding path, but if the 'killer' has the patience, then talking the victim into it also adds a psychological thriller aspect.
