An awful way to go.

A couple months ago I read a story in The Sun about the death of a kids show TV actress/model, yesterday I read they had found her boyfriend dead, he'd been missing for days.

How it all started seems pretty impossible, but I guess anything is possible. If it were a story in the US I would expect it to be an episodes "ripped from the headlines" on Law and Order in about three months.

The background...Back in 1998 Natasha Collins met Mark Speight after she got a part on the kids show See It Saw It. Mark had become very popular hosting a another kids show called Scratchy & Co. Natasha worked as a model before trying her hand at acting and hosting. By all accounts they were a happy couple.

Until January 3, 2008.

Police were called to Mark and Natasha's home in London where they found Natasha dead in the bath tub.

They arrested Mark on suspicion of murder and supplying class A drugs. He was released on bail and an inquest begun.

Here is the part that got me interested even though I'd never heard of these people before.

The death was ruled an accident, "death by misadventure" to be precises. Natasha's body was covered in scalding burns over 60% or her body and it was speculated that because of the "very significant" amount of cocaine (five times more than most deaths attributed to cocaine over doses) in her system that she had gotten into the bath, turned the faucet on and passed out (or collapsed). She remained unconscious as the water continued to run and became hotter and hotter. The coroner said “It’s more likely than not a heart problem in the bath made her lose consciousness. She was 31 years old.

Mark was asleep when this happened and awoke at 1.15am to find her dead in the tub. Mark told the paramedics when they arrived that “She had a little bit of cocaine last night.”

As it turns out Natasha had quite the coke problem. During the inquest they found a small hole in her nose which pointed to long term use. And "heart problems" seem to go hand in hand with long term use as well so it seems like a a likely cause. The coroner did add that even with out the scalding water still running the cocaine was still more than enough to have caused her death.

Mark was completely cleared of charges and he quit hosting the kids show.

He went into a deep depression and everyone was worried. Last week he was set to meet Natasha's mother for tea but never showed up. Everyone feared the worst. He was seen in CCTV footage at the train station just before he was to meet her mother. His phone and bank cards had not been used since. It was all over the news and his family (and hers) were begging for him to contact them and to not do anything harsh.

Yesterday morning they found his body hanging in an empty office above the platform of the train station, the same one he was seen in the CCTV. He'd been dead for six days. He'd killed himself just after the camera shot his photo.

How he got there I have no idea and how he wasn't found sooner I don't know.

I just can't imagine how horrible it would be to basically boil yourself to death in a bath.

And I can't imagine how horrible it would be to know that you were asleep in the house while your partner was dying.