Suicide, Not Murder

A Nicaraguan diplomat's body was found dead in his apartment last month in New York City.  While initial reports speculated that Cesar Mercado might have been murdered, it turns out that it was a pretty painful suicide.

Cesar Mercado, 34, was found Sept. 23 in his apartment with his throat cut and 12 stab wounds in his abdomen, but unnamed police sources told the Post the diplomat stabbed himself after swallowing drain cleaner to cause his death.

Police were already considering that possibility after traces of the corrosive liquid were found in his body, and the discovery that the diplomat had recently been diagnosed with an incurable disease, something that could have brought on depression.

Police officials said that a Nicaraguan forensic expert reported that it was Mercado who stabbed himself several times and cut his throat after swallowing a chemical product that burned some internal organs.