Barbara Asher
Barbara Asher (born c. 1950) is a professional dominatrix from Boston, Massachusetts. Going by the pseudonym Mistress Lauren M, Asher was charged but acquitted of manslaughter and dismemberment in Michael Lord's death.
According to the police, who lost all notes of a supposed confession and had no DNA evidence or any other physical evidence, Lord, 53, a retired telephone company worker from North Hampton, New Hampshire, died in 2000 while strapped to a replica of a medieval torture device in Asher's condominium, according to police. His body was never found, and no proof of his death ever appeared.
Police said Asher confessed she and her boyfriend chopped up Lord's body in the bathtub and dumped it behind a Maine restaurant, but DNA testing of her bathtub revealed none of Lord's DNA or any evidence of cleaning agents.
Quincy Dominatrix Found Not Guilty Of Manslaughter
by Beth Germano - DEDHAM (CBS4)
Barbara Asher was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and dismemberment of a New Hampshire man.
A dominatrix was acquitted of manslaughter charges Monday in the death of a man who allegedly suffered a fatal heart attack during a bondage session.
The jury in Norfolk Superior Court deliberated for eight hours over two days before finding Barbara Asher, 56, not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and dismemberment.
Following the verdict, Asher spoke with our Beth Germano, "I feel good about the outcome.".
During his closing argument, prosecutor Robert Nelson re-enacted the bondage session that allegedly killed Michael Lord, of North Hampton, N.H., in July 2000.
Donning a leather mask and speaking to the jury through the zippered mouth, he said Asher did nothing to help Lord as he flailed about and died while strapped to the rack in a makeshift "dungeon" in Asher's Quincy condominium.
"She did nothing, nothing for five minutes," Nelson said, his voice muffled through the mask.
Then she summoned her boyfriend, who chopped up the body of the 275-pound retired telephone company worker before they dumped it behind a restaurant in Augusta, Maine, Nelson said. His remains have never been found.
"Even if she was found guilty we still wouldn't have closure because we still don't have my dad." said Lord's son, Nathan.
Prosecutors said Asher confessed to police, but the alleged confession was not taped, and police investigators who testified at the trial in Norfolk Superior Court said they did not save their notes from Asher's interrogation.
Asher's lawyer, Stephanie Page (see note below), said there was also no DNA evidence recovered from the bathtub, and without a body there was no real evidence that Lord was even dead.
"No body. No blood. No DNA. No evidence," Page said in her closing argument.
External links
A webpage that has a summary of Page's defense of Asher can be located at Stephanie Page or: http://www.masslawyersweekly.com/index.cfm/page/static/content/2006_loty_page
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