Alcoholic dies trying to rappel from fifth-floor forced detox

A 48-year-old alcoholic Wuppertal woman fell to her death on Sunday evening trying to escape the fifth-floor apartment where she'd been confined to prevent her from drinking.

Published: 22 September 2008 12:36 CEST

Alcoholic dies trying to rappel from fifth-floor forced detox

A file photo of a bedsheet escape attempt. Photo: DPA

The woman tried to rappel out of her window with a bed sheet to reach an antennae cable at around 11 pm on Sunday, but the cable broke and she fell, police in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia reported on Monday.

A bypasser found the woman dead on the asphalt below. Police said she died on the scene of massive head wounds.

The woman’s family had evidently locked her in the room to “prevent her from drinking again in her addiction,” the Wuppertal police statement said, adding that an investigation is ongoing.