Unusual hanging deaths

Four unrelated hanging deaths involving young white males, all in enlisted status in the United States military, are presented. Taken in a military context, one scene served as a suicide note equivalent with the unmistakable message of extreme defiance toward military regulations. In two cases, the elaborate attire of the decedents could have lead to the misclassification of the manner of death if investigative information had not been considered. Extensive background investigation and review of medical records in the fourth case disclosed that the victim had an eight- to ten-year history of compressing his neck to cause unconsciousness. He left an extensive suicide note in which he concluded that "hanging would be good." Each case has certain unique features, as a group, the cases all demonstrate a continuum from obvious suicide to cases where the manner of death is, at first, equivocal.     

An unusual shotgun injury pattern produced by an intermediate target

Discharge of a shotgun with a shotgun casing in its muzzle as a "dust cover" produced a pattern of injuries suggestive of combined intermediate- and distant-range wounds.     

The "empty heart" sign

Approximately 15% of victims of instantly lethal central nervous system trauma have an empty or nearly empty heart at autopsy. This article defines and discusses the "empty heart" sign.     

Growth behavior of the blue blowfly Calliphora vicina maggots

Fifty-three clusters of blowfly eggs of the genus Calliphora vicina were observed in the laboratory up to the hatching stage under reproducible and virtually field-like conditions. Rearing the larvae was then continued up to pupation, the larval growth in length being recorded several times a day. As the object was to study the dependence of the larvae increase in length on the temperature conditions in vitro, the substratal humidity and food supply were kept unchanged during the entire study. The temperature ranged from 6.5 degrees C to 35 degrees C, with the temperature for the individual cluster kept constant during the entire developmental process. Data on about 5500 measured larvae were statistically evaluated. The basic result established was that in the case of the blowfly of the genus Calliphora vicina in vivo, all developmental stages relevant to the entomologic determination of the time of death depend on the temperature conditions: (1) the duration of the egg stage increases with decreasing temperature; (2) the speed of larval growth is slower at lower temperatures; (3) the maximal larval length is reached earlier at higher temperatures; (4) the mean value of maximal length decreases with increasing temperature; (5) larvae under all temperature conditions decrease in size after having reached their maximal length, the decrease in length being more rapid at higher temperatures; (6) constant temperatures over 30 degrees C lead to "stunted forms" which do not pupate and die; (7) constant temperatures under approximately 16 degrees C after the peak of growth has been reached inhibit the readiness to pupate, which causes the larvae to fall into a stationary state of rest, which will be interrupted only when the temperature is raised and resumption of the metamorphosis is thus induced. To allow rapid reconstruction of the larval age in general practice, the established growth data were set out in the form of a diagram designated isomegalendiagram, which permits temperature-fluctuation-related entomologic determination of the time of death with a maximum degree of accuracy.