10 Shocking Swimming Pool Deaths You Might Not Know

You might have heard them on the news or have read them in other horrifying or unusual deaths lists. Some of them are controversial knowing that famous people are involve, some of them remain a mystery and some of them have shocked the music industry, the tech community, the sports fans, the movie lovers and even the politicians. 

I would love to include all the shocking swimming pool deaths I have gathered through my research but I've decided to pick the ones that are "sensational" enough to enable me to come up (hopefully) with an interesting list.

Without further adieu, here is the list of 10 shocking swimming pool deaths you might not know, in no particular order.

Erika Tomanu

Listed as one of the horrifying deaths ever, the death of 7 year-old Erika Tomanu in 2006 warns us that water parks are not that safe.

Tomanu died when she was sucked head first 10 meters down the intake pipe by the powerful pump of the water park's current pool in Saitama, Japan. Despite of the grille not covering the inlet when it came off, lifeguards considered the pool safe to swim. It took 6 agonizing hours for the rescuers to recover the little girl's lifeless body.

Brian Jones

There would have been no Rolling Stones if there was no Brian Jones.

At the young age of 27, Jones was found motionless at the bottom of his swimming pool in in Hartfield, Sussex, England around midnight of July 2-3. His Swedish girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, claimed that he still has a pulse when they pulled him out of the pool. However, he was pronounced dead when the doctors arrived.

Theories about his sudden death surfaced up; some believed it was accidental, some believed it was suicide and some believed it was murder. The coroner’s report concludes that drugs and alcohol contributed to his death therefore it could have been suicidal because of his departure from the band after a second arrest for possession of marijuana. But his friends and other witnesses stated that he was happy and excited about his future plans.

In 1999, Wohlin threw allegations against Frank Thorogood, a builder who was renovating the house the night Jones died, who she claimed her boyfriend's murderer.

DJ K-Swift

The morning of July 21, 2008 shocked Baltimore when one of its popular DJs died because of a swimming pool accident at her home.

DJ K-Swift, whose real name was Khia Edgerton, had been a DJ at the young age of 11 and began working for Baltimore radio station Radio One 92Q when she was only 18. Reports claimed that Edgerton hosted a pool party on Sunday July 20, about 7 people were present in the pool who pulled Edgerton out of the water when she did not surface up after jumping into her above ground pool.

Medics tried to revive her for 14 minutes but was pronounced dead arriving at Good Samaritan Hospital, she was 29.

James Mason

In June, 2008, a video showing an old man being pulled by his wife into the swimming pool caught the public's attention not because of the delightful scene but because of its horrific ending that led to the old man's death.

The old man was James Mason, 73, and her wife was Christine Newton-John, 41. The videotape showed how Christine tried to prevent James from getting out of the pool 43 times. It was reported that Christine exercised her husband to death in a public swimming pool. The 100 minute video also showed how Christine abused her husband in the pool.

James Mason died from heart attack and investigation revealed that Christine Newton-John was really a man named John Vallandingham.

Ishmeet Singh Sodhi

In 2007, Amul STAR Voice of India crowned one of its youngest winners; Ishmeet Singh Sodhi. And when Sodhi was about to make his own name in the Indian entertainment industry, the unexpected happened.

In July 2008, Singh, winner of Amul STAR Voice of India 2007,

Sodhi went on a visit to the Maldives along with fellow contestants Sumitra and Vyom Ishmeet went to Maldives for a concert be held on August 1, 2008. 2 days before the concert, he was found lifeless in the swimming pool of the Chaaya Island Dhonveli resort in Male where he was staying.

The family believed that the 19 year-old rising star didn't simply drowned but was actually murdered because of "unexplained" head injuries found. They even listed the reasons why on the Ishmeet Singh Foundation website.

Jim Hodder

Named by the Rolling Stone as "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies," Steely Dan was in the middle of hiatus when it was reported that their drummer will never come back to play with them.

In June 1981, Walter Becker Becker and Donald Fagen announced the hiatus of their partnership leaving other band members no choice but to part ways. Steely Dan was losing their glamor when news about Jim Hodder's death shocked the music industry in June 5, 1990, 3 years before the band's reunion.

Hodder drowned in his swimming pool in North Carolina, he was 42.

Thomas E. Mees

For ice hockey fans of the 1980's, the sport is not complete without the iconic voice of Tom Mees. His name became a household term until his death in August 14, 1996

From being a sports director at WILM-AM in Wilmington, Delaware, Mees became the lead anchor on SportsCenter from 1979 to 1987. He is considered as the one of the people who pushed Frozen Four (NCAA Hockey's championship tounrnament) into its national status we know today.

It was reported that Mees, who didn't know how to swim, drowned after saving his daughter, Gabrielle, but then police claimed that the account could not be confirmed.

He was inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 2005.

Joe Flynn

Known as Capt. Binghamton on TV sitcom McHale's Navy, Joe Flynn was also a voice actor for several Disney films.

Flynn was a ventriloquist and radio disc jockey before he entered the showbiz limelight. He had made several appearances in Batman before landing on Walt Disney film comedies. And after the completion of his voiceover work for the Disney animated feature, The Rescuers (1977), on July 19, 1974, Flynn was found dead at the bottom of the swimming pool of his Beverly Hills home by family members.

Reports stated that the cast on his broken leg made him submerge quickly and some believed he suffered a heart attack therefore no foul play was involved.

Rajeev Motwani

Before Google made its domination, a certain Rajeev Motwani at Stanford University mentored Larry Page and Sergey Brin collectively known as the "Google Boys."

Born in Jammu to a Hindu Sindhi family, Motwani grew up in New Delhi and went to St Columba's School. Under the supervision of Richard Karp, he got his Ph.D. in Computer Science from U.C. Berkeley in 1988 and went to Stanford where he met the would then Google Boys.

In June 5, 2009, the tech community lost one of its greatest achievers when Motwani was found lifeless in the swimming pool of his Palo Alto in Atherton, California. No foul play was recorded and the tests revealed that Motwani had a blood-alcohol level of 0.26 percent.

The Google boys paid tribute to their great mentor and stated that; "Today, whenever you use a piece of technology, there is a good chance a little bit of Rajeev Motwani is behind it."

Abigail Rose Taylor

Every unusual deaths lists has her name and her case moved the US federal legislation to improve swimming pool safety.

Abigail Taylor was rushed to the hospital when a powerful swimming pool drain, where she unfortunately fell, partially sucked out large section of her small intestine through her rectum on June 29, 2007 at Minneapolis Golf Club in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

In an effort to save her life, her intestines liver, and pancreas were replaced with donor organs but she later on developed a rare transplant-related cancer. And in March 20, 2008, she succumbed to cancer at the age of 7, 9 months after the pool accident and 9 months before Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act became effective.

The family sued both the golf club and Sta-rite; the manufacturer of the pool drain and a division of Minnesota-based Pentair.

Special thanks to: Wikipedia, ListVerse, BlindLoop, Ranker