Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, your host of Pushing Up Lilies. In this episode, we’re diving into a chilling and often overlooked phenomenon—people found deceased in tanning beds. While these cases may sound unusual, they are both tragic and haunting. As a death investigator, I’ll share with you stories about overdoses, undiagnosed medical issues, and possible cases of foul play tied to the tanning bed. Join me as we uncover the dangers lurking behind the glowing lights, and examine real cases where routine visits turned into heartbreaking tragedies. * Listener discretion is advised.
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0:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies.
0:08 I'm your host, Julie Mattson.
0:10 Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine tingling, unusual, and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
0:24 Do I have some stories for you?
0:26 Are you ready?
0:31 Hey guys, what a busy, crazy week.
0:34 And it's only starting.
0:37 We've been super busy at the office.
0:40 Again, lots of suicides.
0:41 I know I've mentioned before that this time of year they kind of become prevalent in our cases, unfortunately.
0:49 I have had some fun though, trying to start doing my Christmas shopping.
0:54 I don't know about y'all, but I love stuffing stockings.
0:57 My only problem is I love it so much that I always end up overbuying and it doesn't fit in the stockings.
1:04 So I end up with a stocking full of stuff and then a box full of stuff that wouldn't fit in the stockings.
1:11 That's kind of my bad habit.
1:13 And I try to find small things, but you just can't anymore, you know, find little things that fit in stockings and stockings, you know, let's be real, they're not that big.
1:23 And I don't want to buy the huge one because then I'll have to fill it up.
1:28 If that makes any sense at all.
1:31 Anyway, I have started my shopping, hopefully some of you have.
1:34 It's sneaking up on us, y'all can't believe that Christmas is right around the corner.
1:40 I was a little agitated, though, on Labor Day when people already had Christmas stuff out.
1:48 I don't know why.
1:49 I just wish we could celebrate one holiday at a time.
1:54 Listen, as I'm talking about Christmas before Thanksgiving, but I just, I don't know.
1:59 I feel like we don't slow down sometimes and enjoy the holidays that are upon us.
2:06 The retail world starts trying to push the next holiday on us and it works.
2:11 I mean, that's why they do it.
2:13 It works.
2:13 Look at me already shopping, but I know I've talked to people who have finished their shopping.
2:19 I guess I'm somewhere in the middle when it comes to that kind of thing.
2:24 But the office has been busy.
2:27 I think last week, I was gone almost all day, a couple of days just on scenes.
2:33 I'm not going to say that's unusual.
2:35 It's very sporadic.
2:36 I mean, we never know from one day to the next, how busy our shift's going to be.
2:41 It's not anything you can predict.
2:43 It's kind of like working in the emergency room.
2:45 You never know what's going to come in.
2:47 I mean, you could have a car accident involving 5 people, or you could have a couple of hospice deaths.
2:55 And again, a slow shift is kind of rare these days.
3:00 I think on Columbus Day, I was able to work from home and I got one hospice call, which again, is very unusual.
3:10 And sometimes you feel guilty.
3:12 You're like, I just got paid for that day.
3:15 But at the same time, we're on call, we have to be available.
3:19 We can't leave the area.
3:21 There's limited things we can do.
3:23 I guess that's more or less also part of what we're getting paid for.
3:28 But it is nice because our office is small.
3:31 We don't have a morgue because all of our bodies go to Tarrant County.
3:36 So we're able to work from home on holidays.
3:39 We don't have to be there all the time because we don't have autopsies going on, and we don't have doctors that might be there that need us for anything, and funeral homes come in to drop off and pick up bodies.
3:52 Because we don't have that activity, we're able to work from home, which is really nice for the night shift people, but we don't ever see each other.
4:02 Every once in a while, we'll have a meeting and it's great that we're all friends.
4:06 We all get along very well, but we enjoy our meetings because we get the opportunity to see each other and visit.
4:15 With Christmas coming up, we'll have another meeting and do a little gift exchange.
4:19 But I like our little office and the way it is now, there will be a day when it gets bigger and we have a morgue and we have a pathology lab, and we have pathologists, they're doing autopsies.
4:32 But I hope when that happens, I am retired because I've worked in bigger offices like that before and I just kind of prefer the more laid-back model.
4:44 When I worked in Dallas County, and when I worked in Harris County, you know, there had to be somewhere in there all the time.
4:50 Of course, we were very busy.
4:52 You couldn't work from home.
4:53 That was completely unheard of, and you didn't even ask because you already knew the answer.
4:59 It wasn't going to happen.
5:01 But a couple of things that I just wanted to talk to y'all about real quick, before I got into the interesting part of the podcast.
5:10 You know, I like to educate a little bit, and I had a couple of cases this past week that made me just kind of want to educate just a little first, if you'll bear with me.
5:22 I had a 50-year-old truck driver who was in very good shape.
5:28 This guy was all muscle.
5:30 He wasn't feeling well.
5:32 He called his mom, told his mom that he was coughing and just was tired and weak and spoke with her.
5:40 And of course, she gave mom advice, go get some soup and crackers and Sprite and drink a lot of liquids, get some relaxing bath salts and take a nice warm bath.
5:51 Seemingly healthy man following Mom's orders as far as getting soup and doing all the things to get better and feel better, he never complained to her of shortness of breath, and I found this out after he passed away because I talked to her on the phone.
6:10 She lived in another state, but he told her that he had gone to a local urgent care and been diagnosed with pneumonia.
6:19 We often wonder, and I know when I first started this job, I thought, how is it that pneumonia is killing young people, young people with really no obvious underlying medical problems.
6:32 He could have had some underlying medical problems.
6:35 He was a smoker, which contributed somewhat, I'm sure.
6:41 But pneumonia can be severe.
6:43 And sometimes those sacks that are in your lungs get filled with fluid and make it really hard for oxygen to enter your bloodstream.
6:53 We forget sometimes that the lack of oxygen can damage your organs.
6:58 It can damage your kidneys, your liver, your heart.
7:01 Bacteremia occurs if pneumonia spreads to the blood.
7:07 And this can also lower your blood pressure.
7:10 There's a lot of things going on in your body besides just the external symptoms that you see.
7:18 Lack of oxygen can damage your organs.
7:21 If the infection gets in your bloodstream, your blood pressure can drop, inflammation can result in sepsis.
7:29 So when your lungs get inflamed, it can cause you to have an overall infection that can also cause organ damage.
7:38 It's hard to imagine, but 50,000 people die of pneumonia each year, and flu can lead to pneumonia.
7:47 I don't really know if I am against or for vaccines, to be honest.
7:55 I got the COVID vaccine.
7:57 I did not get the booster.
8:00 I got the two vaccines for COVID.
8:03 I was hesitant to get the second one.
8:05 Something about it didn't feel right, but I got it.
8:09 I decided I would never do a booster.
8:13 I'm indifferent on the whole vaccine idea.
8:16 But I can tell you that if you are elderly or young or you have a compromised immune system, it would behoove you to get the flu vaccine because flu can lead to pneumonia and also to get the pneumonia vaccine.
8:34 I encourage it mainly for elderly people.
8:38 Just because they're more susceptible to those types of infections because their immune system may not be working as well.
8:47 But another thing that happened this past week, and I see it a lot, and it's probably my biggest fear is pulmonary embolism, which is caused by deep vein thrombosis.
9:00 And many of you have heard of this, but I did have a patient this week who was also, or decedent, who was also 50 years old and went to an urgent care where there was no CT scan.
9:17 With leg swelling and pain and was sent home with a pain medication and muscle relaxer.
9:25 I guess that pulmonary embolism has always been one of my biggest fears.
9:29 And if there's a family history of that, then you are at risk.
9:33 I was at risk for that reason.
9:35 And so the last time I had surgery, I asked my doctor, hey, can you put me on something just a prophylactic DVT?
9:43 My biggest fear is throwing a blood clot because we all know during surgery, you're not moving and your blood's not flowing like it should be.
9:51 And the chances of it clotting and then the clot loosening and getting lodged in your lungs is higher.
9:58 Just like when you travel long distances, it's always good to wear compression socks.
10:03 And move around a little bit.
10:05 Move your legs and don't sit still for too long.
10:08 And I know after I had my surgery, I had the SCD compression, and they were a pain.
10:14 I mean, I'm not going to lie, I hated them.
10:15 Had having them on.
10:17 I hated taking them off to get up.
10:19 But there is a reason that they have those things.
10:22 And the reason is to decrease the chances of this complication.
10:28 The symptoms then are going to be swelling in your leg, mostly in the calf area, and then tenderness and warmth to the touch.
10:37 Sometimes it may be red.
10:38 And again, it’s caused by bed rest.
10:43 You can get it after surgery, you can get it while you're traveling.
10:46 It can put you at risk if you have been sick or in an accident, if you break a bone in your leg, or, I mean, it puts you at risk.
10:56 So move around when you're traveling long distances.
11:00Try to get up and move like you're supposed to after surgery.
11:05 You're at risk if you are at increased age or if you're pregnant or overweight, if you're a smoker, or if you have a family history of the same, and then genetics can also come into play as well.
11:20 Again, that's just been one of my biggest fears.
11:22 And I was sure to tell the surgeon last time I had surgery, he, my dad had blood clots.
11:29 Is there anything that you can do to prevent it?
11:32 And they did put me on Lovenox injections and just a little shot in the stomach.
11:39 I bruised a lot because it does thin your blood.
11:41 But again, I wore my SCD compression devices on my lower legs.
11:48 And I did everything I could to prevent it.
11:51 And I think that even when you're doing that, it's important to know the symptoms and not to ignore them.
11:58 If it's in one leg and not both, there's a good chance that it can be a deep vein thrombosis, and I would definitely get it checked out.
12:07 Don't try to be brave.
12:08 Don't try to pretend nothing's wrong.
12:11 And I'm not saying be paranoid and run to the hospital every time you have a little aching pain, but this is a very serious issue, and it causes a lot of deaths.
12:22 We see it a lot and it can cause a very quick death.
12:26 And many times you don't have time to get to the hospital for help.
12:31 The first sign of symptoms, please do not ignore them.
12:35 And I just, again, like to educate because these are things that we see a lot.
12:39 We see them in young people or people of all ages.
12:42 And I think it's just very important to bring that to light and maybe educate a little bit, especially because I've seen a lot of it lately and I just wanted to kind of go over it with y'all.
12:53 The case I wanted to talk about is a case out of Indianapolis, Indiana, and I know that you all have heard about it because it's all over the news, but Derek Sik went into a tanning bed on a Friday, which was, I think, the 8th of November this year, and wasn't found dead until Monday.
13:18 And a lot of us are wondering, like, how can you lay in a tanning bed for 3 days at a place of business that is open 7 days a week and no one knows you're there.
13:30 I guess one thing we do know is there were not proper cleaning measures because had that been the case, that room would have been walked into daily.
13:42 That's a problem that I know the corporation is going to attack, but Derek's family confirmed that he struggled with drugs and there was a syringe found in the room with him.
13:55 The family reported him missing on Friday, the 8th of November.
14:00It's important to mention too that he was wearing an ankle monitor.
14:07 He had been charged with possession of a narcotic drug and possession of a controlled substance last year, and wearing the ankle monitor was part of his plea agreement along with drug testing.
14:20 Now, Planet Fitness patrons, people who went in, reported an unpleasant odor.
14:29 Now, the good thing is that because it's on a timer, the bed didn't stay on for 3 days.
14:36 Wouldn't that have been terrible, but he was in there nonetheless, so this is definitely not a good thing.
14:44 The store closes at 9.
14:47 You know, at night there was no one in there.
14:49 I think they opened up at 7, but on Friday, the 8th, he went in the club to purchase a membership, and his girlfriend Heather and her daughter Ava left him there and went and visited a TJ Maxx store while he was there.
15:08 After returning, they couldn't find him anywhere in the gym.
15:14 I don't know what they thought happened or where they thought he went.
15:18 I mean, I would think that they would look pretty well around all the areas.
15:23 And I would think that he probably mentioned to her that he was planning to tan.
15:28 I don't know.
15:29 I just think this is really weird that no one could find him.
15:33 But they looked around Planet Fitness apparently, and his car was found in the parking lot.
15:40 It had been moved over one space.
15:43 I don't know what significance that is, but I did notice that that had been reported, that it was moved.
15:49 His disappearance wasn't reported until the 10th, so two days later.
15:55 And I mean, it's hard because he's an adult, right?
15:58 And he has the right to go wherever he wants to.
16:01 And Who knows if he wasn't trying to get away.
16:04 I mean, and that's his right.
16:06 I guess they waited an ample amount of time for him to come home on his own, and a couple of days later they reported it.
16:15 The probation officer that was following his case visited Planet Fitness on Monday the 11th, and found him in the tanning booth at 8:26 a.m. Now, they do suspect that fentanyl is involved.
16:29 He did have again, a history of drug use.
16:33 It does take toxicology, sometimes up to 3 months to come back in our office.
16:38 I know that all offices are different.
16:41 But he had a 2-year-old son.
16:44 He was trying to change his life by working in a home for people with mental and physical issues.
16:50 It sounds like he was trying to turn things around, but this is not the first time this has happened, and definitely not the last time it's going to happen, I'm sure.
17:02 Because, you know, some people don't take syringes into the tanning booth with them and just have natural disease processes.
17:12 A salon customer found a dead woman on a tanning bed who had visited a salon parlor for a two-hour session in Austria back in 2021, and she was 50 years old.
17:26 She went into the tanning bed at 2:30 and was found dead at around 4:45 by another customer.
17:33 The customer apparently noticed that the door was shut and locked, but the tanning bed wasn't on.
17:39 So she pried the door open with a coin.
17:44 And, you know, of course, they look at the bed and make sure that it wasn't something wrong with the bed that could have caused her death.
17:52 They look at the body to make sure there's no burns and that kind of thing like that.
17:56 Her death was thought to be natural.
17:59 I couldn't find the final outcome of her autopsy.
18:03 I'm sure it's out by now because it's been 3 years.
18:06 But again, this is in Austria, so they're not as accessible to us as cases in the States, but There was found to be no defects in the bed.
18:17 There were no drugs involved, to my knowledge.
18:20 But again, she was only 50, so very young, but could have had some underlying medical problems that had or had not been diagnosed.
18:29 There's just always that possibility that, I mean, you can die anywhere.
18:34 It's kind of like dying in your sleep, you know, when I would go tan, which I don't do anymore.
18:39 I'm pale as a ghost, but It was relaxing and I literally took a nap.
18:44 I mean, I put on my headphones, I listened to music, and I would lay there for however long.
18:50 It wasn't long, you know, 10 minutes or so.
18:53 But I would think that the people that work at these salons would check on people and try to go in on a regular basis and clean the rooms between people.
19:06 I mean, where are the employees?
19:09 Why are they not doing their job?
19:10 I don't understand, I mean, this one not so bad.
19:13 It has only been 2 hours.
19:15 The other 13 days.
19:17 There is no reason that a dead body should lay in a place of business that's open during the day for 3 days.
19:26 But there was also another case in 2018 where a 27-year-old man was found dead on the floor of a tanning room in a New Jersey gym.
19:37 And then there was the case of Rhonda Waits.
19:41 This happened in January of 2012.
19:44 She was 46 years old, and she was found face down in a tanning bed, and this happened here in Texas after she had been in it for more than a day.
19:55 I believe this was at her own home though.
19:58 She was found by her boyfriend after he returned from a 3-day holiday.
20:03 But the bed was on a timer system and was off when she was found.
20:09 That kind of eliminates the chances of it being related to the bed, because there were no burns or anything like that.
20:17 I've heard of people getting burns and tanning beds, but I don't think any of these people had any burns or anything to indicate that the business was at fault for the death itself.
20:30 Again, her boyfriend found her.
20:33 She had a radio on in the house and meds were nearby.
20:37 They did not suspect foul play.
20:40 Again, it was not linked to the tanning bed, but this was in a suburb of Fort Worth called Samson Park.
20:48 I just thought I would talk a little bit about the tanning bed thing because there is, you know, a risk of burns and those types of things, but these are just natural deaths that occur at places of business, and it just happens to be that they were lying in the tanning bed.
21:06 And if you have underlying medical problems, I mean, this can happen anywhere at any time.
21:12 That's why I always stress the importance of going to a doctor and establishing a primary care physician so that you can get your yearly physicals and just make sure that everything looks good so that your risk is lower.
21:29 That's just kind of something that I've always encouraged.
21:33 And I know that, you know, when we're young, we think we're fine.
21:37 You know, there's no way nothing's wrong.
21:39 But in all honesty, we're not getting any younger.
21:42 And if you have a family history of anything, there's a good chance that it could be passed on to you, and you definitely want to be proactive instead of dealing with an issue after it's too late.
21:58 are not being able to deal with an issue.
22:00 We are working on designing the box for the cereal box.
22:05 I'm super excited about that, and we will be rolling out the first edition of that.
22:12 It'll be on our website where you'll be able to go on and actually order it, and I'm thinking you'll be able to do it monthly or bi-monthly.
22:21 I'm not sure.
22:21 I'm open to suggestions.
22:23 I'm open to suggestions.
22:24 Some people don't want a monthly subscription.
22:27 Some people would rather have it every 2 or 3 months.
22:30 I would love to see what y'all think.
22:33 You can always message me, Julie @ PushingUpLilies.com.
22:37 That's my email.
22:38 Again, we're available on all podcast platforms and on our website, PushingUpLilies.com.
22:46 You can go on and request to have me as a speaker at your school, also as a consultant on maybe a movie set or those types of things.
22:57 Anyway, I'd love to do that.
22:59 If anyone knows of anyone that needs that type of assistance, there is a place on the website for you to go on and enter your information, and I will contact you.
23:09 Again, working on our YouTube channel, trying to get more and more followers.
23:14 Once our videos get up and going, it will do well, and it is called Brains, Body Bags and Bedside manner.
23:21 I'm super excited about that.
23:23 And gosh y'all, just getting ready for Christmas and getting ready for Thanksgiving.
23:29 I ordered my ham from Honey Baked Hams yesterday, and I forget sometimes to think ahead.
23:36 In the past, Thanksgiving has been here and I'm like, crap, what are we going to do?
23:42 Because, I mean, I can cook, but sometimes I choose not to just because it's so much trouble and I feel like I can't really enjoy my family like I want to if I'm constantly in the kitchen.
23:53 And then you got to clean up.
23:55 You don't have to clean up anyway.
23:56 But I did order a honey baked ham because we love ham, I think more than turkey.
24:02 I think we tend to kind of lean the ham direction.
24:05 I got that ordered and I need to order some pies because I cannot do meringue.
24:11 How many of y'all can do meringue?
24:12 I'm jealous because I cannot.
24:15 I hope that life is treating you well and that you are able to prepare for the holidays accordingly and that you are looking forward to spending time with your families.
24:28 I know that we are, we're going to have a couple of our 3 kids here, so that'll be good, but we are going to have it at our house.
24:34 Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week.
24:36 I hope the county is good to me today, after work today and tomorrow.
24:41 Look forward to talking to y'all next week and be careful out there.
24:46 Bye y'all.
24:48 Thank you so much for joining me today on Pushing Up Lilies.
24:52 If you like this podcast and would like to share with others, please do me a quick favor and leave a review on Apple Podcast.
24:59 This helps to make the podcast more visible to the public.
25:02 Thanks again for spending your time with me and be sure to visit me at PushingUpLilies.com for merchandise and past episodes.