Man dies four days after 18-foot snake coils itself around his neck, PA coroner says

A 27-year-old man died four days after his pet snake wrapped itself around his neck, according to a Pennsylvania coroner.

The snake, initially described by police as a 15-foot snake, was an 18-foot boa constrictor-type snake, Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio said.

An officer in Upper Macungie Township, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, shot the snake in its head on Wednesday, July 20, after finding the victim lying on the floor of his home being strangled by the reptile, McClatchy News reported.

Police said at the time the man was taken to the hospital, where his condition was unknown. The coroner said Elliot Senseman died on Sunday, July 24, from a brain injury “due to asphyxiation by constriction.”

When the snake coiled itself around Senseman, he had a “complete lack of oxygen to the brain,” according to the coroner.

An officer described the snake strangling Senseman “as a scene from a horror movie,” Lt. Peter Nickischer told WPVI.

The decision to shoot the snake “was a matter of life and death,” Nickischer added.

Senseman was described by a friend as a “misunderstood genius” and a “visionary,” according to The Morning Call.

“Eccentric is the word. Some may even say weirdo,” said Jeremy Rios Griffin, who attended Kutztown University with Senseman. “He was kind of a hippie type, too, if you had a modern-day hippie.”