I doubt the police investigation is over, and a coroner report certainly isn't done, so there isn't an official cause of death yet.

cod develops over time, from an enforcement perspective, a rapid assesment of the situation may lead to a level of response based on perceived threat.

an experienced or well trained LEO may see a subtle detail indicating involvement, or not of other person, setting the tone for investigation or threat response.

an autopsy may turn that around if it ends up that a weapon was held in a position quite unlikely for decedent to achieve.

the overarching consideration is a planned murder is not in any way beneficial to boeings situation

If you can zero someone about to testify in Congress, you can also coerce a coroner to say whatever you want.

It's probably worth remembering that there is a tremendous amount of political pressure on the coroner and prosecutors dealing with this to not leave behind an unsolved murder finding that could sully the reputation of the entire system for giving congress a chance of hearing testimony from whistleblowers.

So anything short off enough evidence to secure an quick conviction of some disposable culprit will we bend into whatever shape is needed to support an "suicide" or "accidental death" finding by the prosecutor/coroner in charge regardless of what the investigating detective think is the most likely explanation.

same deal as saying "alleged", they'll use such wording until something is officially determined or so on.

(this comment was originally a reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39674829 but we merged that thread hither)

a couple of experienced highly muscled guys could use force to make it look that way.