Authorities investigating case of woman killed by drinking too much water in radio contest

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ Homicide detectives are investigating the death of a woman believed to have been killed by drinking too much water in a radio station contest. <br/><br/>On a tape of the Jan.

Wednesday, January 17th 2007, 9:04 pm

By: News On 6

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ Homicide detectives are investigating the death of a woman believed to have been killed by drinking too much water in a radio station contest.

On a tape of the Jan. 12 show, disc jockeys on KDND-FM's ``Morning Rave'' joke about the possible dangers of consuming too much water, at one point alluding to a college student who died during such a stunt in 2005.

A listener called the show to warn the DJs that the stunt was dangerous and that someone could die.

``Yeah, we're aware of that,'' one of them said.

Another DJ laughed: ``Yeah, they signed releases, so we're not responsible. We're OK.''

``And if they get to the point where they have to throw up, then they're going to throw up, and they're out of the contest before they die, so that's good, right?'' another one said.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department decided to pursue the investigation Wednesday after listening to the tape, obtained by The Sacramento Bee newspaper, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said.

Jennifer Lea Strange, a 28-year-old mother of three, was one of about 18 contestants who tried to win a Nintendo Wii gaming console by determining how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. The show's DJs called the contest ``Hold your Wee for a Wii.''

Strange participated in the contest during the morning in the studio and was found dead that afternoon. The county coroner said preliminary autopsy findings indicate she died of water intoxication.

Other contestants said Strange may have ingested as much as two gallons of water. Several hours into the contest, Strange was interviewed on the air and complained that her head hurt.

``They keep telling me that it's the water. That it will tell my head to hurt and then it will make me puke,'' she said.

Strange won the second-place prize, tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert. She commented on the tape that she looked pregnant, and a female DJ agreed.

``Oh, my gosh, look at that belly. That's full of water. ... Come on over, Jennifer, you OK?'' the DJ asked. ``You going to pass out right now? Too much water?''

On Tuesday, KDND's parent company, Entercom/Sacramento, fired 10 employees connected to the contest, including three morning disc jockeys.

Station spokesman Charles Sipkins said Wednesday that the company had not yet heard from the sheriff's department but that it would cooperate with the investigation.