Missouri's lakes and the disposal of homicide victims

This paper presents the circumstances surrounding the retrieval and subsequent autopsies of four bodies accidentally discovered weighted down in Missouri's lakes. The bodies, representing four separate cases of homicide, were sunken for a period of three weeks to ten months. The relationship of adipocere formation to the postmortem interval and the problems of injury interpretation are discussed.     

Estimation of the post-mortem interval in beagle dogs

Estimation of the time that has elapsed between death and the post-mortem examination of a body contributes to the investigation of death by defining the period during which death may have occurred. In a veterinary context, investigations involve a range of incidents including out-of-season shooting of game animals, poaching, death during transportation and cases of neglect or non-accidental injury of domestic animals. This study on dogs of the same breed, of similar weights and held under identical conditions, shows that a combination of rectal temperature, environmental temperature, gross pathology and histological changes can provide a scientifically based estimate of the post-mortem interval during the first 10 h following death, of up to one day, one to three days, three to seven days and one to three weeks.     

Medical examiner/coroner records: uses and limitations in occupational injury epidemiologic research

Epidemiologic research often relies on existing data, collected for nonepidemiologic reasons, to support studies. Data are obtained from hospital records, police reports, labor reports, death certificates, or other sources. Medical examiner/coroner records are, however, not often used in epidemiologic studies. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Division of Safety Research has begun using these records in its research program on work-related trauma. Because medical examiners and coroners have the legal authority and responsibility to investigate all externally caused deaths, these records can be used in surveillance of these deaths. Another use of these records is to validate cases identified by other case ascertainment methods, such as death certificates. Using medical examiner/coroner records also allows rapid identification of work-related deaths without waiting several years for mortality data from state offices of vital statistics. Finally, the records are an invaluable data source since they contain detailed information on the nature of the injury, external cause of death, and results of toxicologic testing, which is often not available from other sources. This paper illustrates some of the ways that medical examiner/coroner records are a valuable source of information for epidemiologic studies and makes recommendations to improve their usefulness.     

Comparing Known and Reconstructed Circumstances of Death Involving a Blunt Force Trauma Mechanism through a Retrospective Analysis of 21 Skeletonized Individuals

Little is known about to what extent the events surrounding death can be reliably reconstructed from blunt force trauma analysis alone. In this study, we reconstruct circumstances of death from a blind blunt force trauma analysis using a sample of 21 individuals of known death circumstances, obtained from two identified skeletal collections in Portugal. Fresh versus dry bone trauma and probable mechanism of fracture production were identified. The overall pattern of injuries was then used to reconstruct the most likely circumstances of death. Results show an agreement between the proposed and the reported circumstances for 13 individuals (68.4%), disagreement for 3 (15.8%), and similarity in 3 cases (15.8%). Although the significant amount of agreement highlights the potential of trauma analysis, the cases with disagreement draw attention to the pitfalls and shortcomings of attempting to reconstruct the death circumstances from skeletal trauma analysis alone.     

刑法语境中的"致人重伤、死亡"

我国现行刑法典多处使用了"致人重伤、死亡"的表述,看似简单,实则复杂。在规范性质上,具体表现为结果犯中的构成要件结果、结果加重犯中的加重结果和情节加重犯中的严重情节;在刑法价值上,既影响定罪,又影响量刑;在罪过形式上,又有单纯故意、单纯过失、故意与过失相混合三种类型。并且,刑法中的"致人死亡"不应包括引起被害人自杀的情形。     

Asthmatic deaths in the medical examiner's population

A study of people who die from asthma was performed. The case files of the Office of the Medical Examiner of Metropolitan Dade County in Miami, Florida, U.S.A., were examined during the 5-year period 1979-1983, and all autopsied cases in which bronchial asthma was the primary or contributory cause of death were collected. These 39 cases were then analyzed as to the age, race, sex, and cause of death of the victim. Additionally, the medication list of the victim, the location of the terminal incident, the scene circumstances, the presence of hospitalization at the terminal incident, and the histopathology of the lungs at autopsy were additionally observed. Essentially, the asthma victim the medical examiner sees at autopsy is an adult white male commonly dying in an acute asthmatic attack. Ninety percent (90%) of the deaths had medications noted with 20% having three or more medicines, one of which was a steroid. The terminal incident occurred at home most frequently with an acute attack or being found dead noted. Most victims received some form of terminal hospitalization. Histopathologically, classical "asthma findings" were noted approximately one half of the time.     

Applying a forensic approach to incident response,network investigation and system administration using Digital Evidence Bags

This paper questions the current approach to forensic incident response and network investigations. Although claiming to be ‘forensic’ in nature it shows that the basic processes and mechanisms used in traditional computer forensics are rarely applied in the live incident investigation arena. This paper demonstrates how the newly proposed Digital Evidence Bag (DEB) storage format can be applied to a dynamic environment. A DEB is a universal container for digital evidence from any source. It allows the provenance to be recorded and continuity to be maintained throughout the life of the investigation. With a small amount of forethought a forensically rigorous approach can be applied to incident response, network investigations and system administration with minimal overhead.     

Evaluation of Computed Tomography as a Screening Test for Death Inquest

Abstract: The Japanese method of inquest, which depends mostly on external examinations, may misdiagnose a considerable number of accidental deaths and suicides as death by disease. We conducted computed tomography (CT) scans of 80 cases for which police concluded death by disease or natural causes based on police investigations into the circumstances and results from external examinations. The cause of death was clearly determined by CT scan in 17 of 80 cases. Ten cases underwent autopsy after the police suspected criminality based on results of the CT examinations. The results suggest CT scan may be a tool for preventing a number of overlooked crimes and accidents in Japan. However, it cannot be a perfect tool for discerning between death by disease and other causes of death without cooperation from the investigative agencies and subsequent forensic examinations such as autopsy and toxicological tests.     

Axonal injury in young pediatric head trauma: a comparison study of β-amyloid precursor protein (β-APP) immunohistochemical staining in traumatic and nontraumatic deaths

We tested the independent utility of β-amyloid precursor protein (β-APP) immunohistochemical staining as evidence of brain trauma in the deaths of young children. Blinded reviewers retrospectively reviewed immunostained brain tissues from homicidal deaths, age-matched control cases without evidence of trauma, as well as cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The reviewers correctly identified five of the seven cases with documented inflicted head trauma. However, one of seven age-matched control cases and one of 10 SIDS/sudden unexplained death in infancy (SUDI) cases demonstrated staining patterns similar to those seen in cases of inflicted trauma. We discuss these cases and the circumstances surrounding them with the intent to explain the difficulties associated with immunohistological interpretation of axonal injury. Although the utility of β-APP is quite powerful if not confounded by global hypoxic-ischemic injury, ultimately, β-APP studies should be only one piece of information in the determination of cause and manner of death.     

Unusual hanging deaths

We describe the circumstances and medical findings of four unusual hanging deaths. In brief, the unusual features are tracheostomy, delayed death, self-mutilation combined with severe neck injury caused by lengthy drop, and homicidal hanging in a young girl.     

论“网络暴力”致人自杀死亡的刑事责任

随着互联网科技的发展,虚拟空间与现实生活的联系越来越紧密,网络暴力事件层出不穷,出现了不少因不堪忍受凌辱而自杀的案例。我国刑法通常认为自杀死亡结果和网络暴力之间不存在因果关系,自杀死亡结果只是情节严重中的结果,但这并不合理。网络暴力的特质在于对精神的强制以及对身心的持续伤害,网络暴力高于普通的精神伤害行为,在特定的情况下网络暴力能成为杀人罪的实行行为并与自杀死亡结果有因果关系。相应地,刑事责任也应重新评价。     

Applications of Social Network Media in Medicolegal Death Investigation

With the increased popularity of online social networking services (SNS) such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+, we propose that a wealth of new resources is available for medicolegal death investigation. Recognizing this potential, we identified cases in which social media had been useful in the past in our office and asked our investigative staff to consider using social media in current cases. These cases provided illustrative examples for this primer regarding how information from SNS was used in death investigations in our office. Information gleaned from online social media aided in establishing preliminary identification of a decedent, locating next‐of‐kin, investigating the circumstances of death as relevant to the manner of death, corroborating eyewitness accounts, and providing information relevant to time of death. Potential pitfalls were identified, such as shared accounts or online impostors. SNS proved useful to the medicolegal death investigator and medical examiner, so long as their limitations were recognized.     

"Beaten to death". An autopsy series of homicidal blunt force injuries

Although gunshot is by far the most common means of homicide in the United States, significant numbers of homicides are also perpetrated by other means. Blunt-force injuries are produced by a variety of objects, including hands and feet and many different weapons. Some of these objects produce distinctive patterns of injury of potential evidentiary value. This paper presents a series of 20 consecutive blunt-force homicides in adults. Seventy percent (14 cases) of the victims were men. Thirty percent (six cases) followed an argument or altercation. A number of the weapons used were "weapons of opportunity" seized in the course of the incidents. Sixty-nine percent (nine cases) of known assailants were acquainted with their victims. Few characteristic patterned injuries were seen. Not surprisingly, craniocerebral trauma was the most common cause of death. One half (10 cases) the victims survived their assaults for varying periods of time. Homicides due to blunt-force injury still pose a significant challenge for the forensic pathologist, who must obtain a complete and accurate history of the fatal incident, interpret patterns of injury and other findings at autopsy, and correlate all of the findings to make an accurate ruling of the cause and manner of death.     

Circumstances at the time of death in drug fatalities

The circumstances in drug-related deaths were investigated in this study. The basic client sample was composed of 743 drug addicts of the opiate type who had been admitted into the institute's drug-free outpatient program from 1969 to 1982. In this program, 91 clients died during the observation period. In order to be able to judge the various backgrounds adequately, a multiply subdivided classification system was developed for the death cases. Each case was recorded in three main categories: manner of death, cause of death, and phase of addiction. This was a more elaborate procedure than those commonly used since, in general, such death cases are only subdivided into a few groups that differ little from one another. Two manners of death predominated in this sample: accidents caused by poison (62%) and suicide (25%). Within in the various causes of death, poison cases prevailed (80%) and opiate intoxication (single or combined) was predominant (60%). Concerning the phase of addiction two phases were distinguished: the actual drug addiction phase (65%) and the intramural stay in prison or a hospital (25%). There were no significant sex-related differences. Various combinations regarding the mechanism of lethal opiate intoxication of drug addicts were scrutinized, concentrating on three approaches: the lack of opiate tolerance after periods of abstinence, the synergistic effect of simultaneously taking other CNS-depressant drugs, and differences in concentration in the heroin used. Our conclusions are given from the point of view of adequate counseling for drug addicts.     

Injuries to law enforcement officers: the backface signature injury

In today's law enforcement community, one of the most vital tools an officer can possess is personal body armor. However, a recent Department of Justice investigation has raised important questions regarding the protection actually afforded officers through the use of personal body armor, and the current test methods used to assess the armor. Test results show that most Zylon-containing vests showed deformations in excess of the 0101.04 Standard's 44 mm backface signature limit. Such increased deformation can lead to serious injuries, including backface signature injuries, which have occurred in the field. Although the vest is successful in containing the round, it is not effectively dissipating the energy enough to prevent large amounts of vest deformation at the area of impact. Therefore, open, penetrating wounds occur even though the bullet did not penetrate the vest. The objective of the current study was to further define the backface signature injury through the use of case studies and laboratory experiments. Following the case study investigation, backface signature testing was conducted using a clay medium based on the NIJ 0101.04 Standard. The final component of this research involved the use of post-mortem human specimens (PMHS) for further investigation of the backface signature injury. Although the underlying cause of backface signature injuries is unknown, energy density is likely to play a role in the mechanism. Energy density (E/a) is defined as the energy per unit area and has been previously used in less lethal skin penetration research. Further research into the underlying causes of backface signature injuries is necessary. In addition to armor testing, the study of law enforcement personnel who have been shot while wearing soft body armor is also a valuable tool for determining the effectiveness of certification standards. Finally, it is important for medical personnel to recognize the backface signature injury and document this as a type of injury separate from blunt trauma or penetrating trauma behind armor injuries. Detailed knowledge of the injury, including the depth of the wound, would be beneficial to the scientific community.     

Simultaneous sudden infant death syndrome: a proposed definition and worldwide review of cases.

Epidemiologic studies of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the leading cause of death of infants during the postperinatal period (7-365 days), have mainly focused on the deaths of single infants. Simultaneous sudden infant death syndrome (SSIDS), the death of a pair of twins occurring at the same time, has received limited attention within the medical community. To the authors' knowledge, this article is the first to describe the 41 SSIDS cases cited in the world literature from 1900 to 1998 by the location of death, a summary of the circumstances surrounding the deaths, and evaluation of these cases in terms of a proposed definition of SSIDS. This evaluation critiques whether the 41 pairs of SSIDS cases adhere to a newly proposed definition of SSIDS. Twin infant deaths must meet all three criteria to be considered SSIDS. The study found that only 12 pairs of twins met all three criteria (29.2%), nine pairs met two criteria (21.9%), alternative cause of death was offered in five pairs of twins (12.1%) and in the remaining 15 pairs (36.6%), only limited information was available; therefore, no conclusions could be reached.     

Suicidal fire deaths revisited

A study of self-immolation or suicidal fire deaths was performed on the case files of the Office of the Medical Examiner of Metropolitan Dade County in Miami, Florida, during the 8-year period from 1977 to 1984. A total of 24 cases, representing 0.96% of the suicides that occurred during this period, were collected and analyzed as to age, race, sex cause of death of the victim along with the blood alcohol content at autopsy, drugs detected at autopsy, and the terminal carboxyhemoglobin. Additionally, the scene circumstances, geographic location of the terminal incident, the reason for the suicide, whether or not there was a past suicide attempt, a past psychiatric history, how the fire was started, presence or absence of an outside example, time of occurrence, presence of hospitalization, and presence of a suicide note were also noted. Most of the victims were white women of over 50 years of age who died of thermal injuries. Half of the time the blood alcohol content was negative at autopsy, 1/3 of the time the drug screen was negative, and 1/3 of the time a small amount of carboxyhemoglobin was noted. Most fires originated at home, although motor vehicles were also common. Reasons for the suicide were varied. Of the cases 1/3 had a precious suicide attempt and approximately 1/2 of the cases had a psychiatric history. Commonly, the fire is started by pouring a flammable liquid on one-self as isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol or gasoline and igniting it. No outside media examples were noted. These events occurred more frequently in the afternoon or evening.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Artifacts Caused by Leaf-Cutting Ants of the Genus Atta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Postmortem Bite Injuries and the Tearing of Clothes

Ants are one of the first insects to find an exposed cadaver and can be present during all stages of decomposition. Although these organisms are not commonly used in postmortem interval estimates, they are to be taken into account on criminal investigations involving human corpses, since they can leave bite marks that can be mistaken for antemortem or perimortem injuries, which could be misleading when ascertaining the occurrence of abuse or physical altercation during a crime. A few studies report the action of ants on human cadavers and even though leaf-cutting ants of the genus Atta are frequently encountered in succession studies that use animal carcasses, there are no records of these fungus-growing species on human corpses. Atta is a genus restricted to the New World, ranging from northern Argentina to southern United States and acts as one of the most conspicuous neotropical herbivores. In this study, we report three cases of violent death that illustrate the impact of ants, especially those of the genus Atta, in a forensic setting. We compare the patterns displayed by postmortem bite injuries caused by leaf-cutter ants and other common species with less robust mandibles. We also present the capability of Atta ants to create artifacts by cutting victim’s clothes in a crime scene, contributing to the knowledge of ant-mediated confounding factors in crime scene investigation.     

The contribution of the scientific school of Yu.I. Pigolkin, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, to the development of modern methods for the estimation of the time of death

The principal characteristics of the investigations performed to specify methods for estimation of the time of death (TD) are presented. The studies included the measurement of electric conductivity of organs and tissues depending on the time of death and the evaluation of contractile activities of smooth muscle cells in response to the application of an electric current. A new method for the estimation of the time of death with the use of morphometric techniques is described. The results of histostereometric measurements are used for the first time to characterize the intensity of autolysis. Forensic medical mycological studies have been carried out. A combined approach to the determination of the time of death is proposed including mathematical simulation.