runaway process with apache2

Hi,

I have a problem with runaway processes with apache2. The problem does
not happen often, and I haven't figured out a way to reproduce the
problem. When I check with /server-status page, the runaway process says
the status is 'Closing Connection'. On linux, the process has 100%, but if
I check with strace, it won't print anything. Is there any other way to
check what the running process is doing, and why?
The server is running debian stable with apache2 2.0.54 in prefork model
and php4 4.3.10.

As a side question, is there a way that apache or linux kills the runaway
process after x time?

Thanks,

John