The coroner investigating the deaths of a young couple who were involved in the West Coast Goth scene cannot yet answer the most troubling questions surrounding their apparent double suicide.
Owen Court confirmed yesterday that Rachel Adams, 23, and Mark Rempel, 28, died by hanging.
What he does not know is why they killed themselves and which one came up with the idea to end their lives in a suicide pact.
"That's exactly what I need to determine before I issue the judgment of inquiry," Mr. Court of the B.C. Coroners Service said yesterday.
He added that he expects to conclude his investigation in about two months.
The couple, who friends said were into sado-masochistic sex and body piercing for pain and pleasure, were found last week hanging together in a wooded area near Lions Bay, just outside Vancouver.
They had vanished a few days earlier from Ms. Adams's apartment, which was found splattered with blood.
The mystery of the missing couple, who were well known in the Goth community, intensified when Vancouver police reported that a bank camera in a shopping mall captured an image of them showing no obvious signs of stress the day after they were last seen.
Their remains were found when police searched a wooded area along railway tracks in Lions Bay near where Mr. Rempel's car was found abandoned.
Mr. Court confirmed that he is handling a double suicide, although he did not use that term.
"What I am saying right now is that deaths have occurred as a result of hanging . . . and that there was no foul play involved.
"It looks to be a consensual hanging by both individuals. But I'm not going to classify the deaths until the investigation is complete."
Mr. Court agreed that double suicides are unusual.
"In my experience, scenarios like this are extremely rare. Extremely rare.
"I've certainly not seen another case similar to this that I can recall."
There have been only a handful of double suicides in North America in recent years.
Last month, a pair of teenaged girls in Indiana committed suicide together.
In that case, a school official said, "it appears that some of the decision-making involved Wicca and to some degree, witchcraft."
But Mr. Court said the lifestyles of Ms. Adams and Mr. Rempel do not appear to be a factor.
"I think that a lot of unnecessary focus has been put on what's being called the Goth lifestyle in this case.
" I don't see anything thus far that specifically related to what's referred to as the Goth culture," Mr. Court said.
"And I certainly don't have any reason to think that anyone else involved in this particular culture is at risk for anything, based on what we've seen in this investigation.
"It's something that a lot of unnecessary attention has been given to."
Mr. Court said that neither Mr. Rempel, who was a psychology student at the University of British Columbia, nor Ms. Adams, a student at Langara College, left any message to explain their actions.
"I do not have a note left by either one of them from the scene.
"I'm in the process right now of going through e-mail documents sent by Mr. Rempel previously."
One of those e-mails, to a woman named Sarah whom he'd been seeing, said: "I think I am going to die. I hope you understand."
In an e-mail exchange, Sarah said she alerted police about her concerns for Mr. Rempel's safety after getting that message.
By the time investigators arrived at Ms. Adams's apartment, the couple had vanished.
Mark Hume