Citation

Gascho D, Bolliger SA, Enders M, Thali MJ, Fliss B. Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 2018; 14(1): 120-122.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Medicine and Imaging, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190/52, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s12024-018-9948-z

PMID

29423777

Abstract

Suitcases or other containers are occasionally involved in forensic investigations. If there is a suspicion that human remains are hidden inside such a container, medico-legal examinations are required. However, these containers are occasionally locked. Forced opening of a locked suitcase or container may cause damage to its contents. Additionally, the safety of the investigator has to be considered as such containers may be booby-trapped or contain other hazardous material. An overview of the contents before opening is desirable in order to avoid the possibility of encountering a Pandora's box. In forensic medicine, an established approach to examine the inside of a body before opening at autopsy is postmortem computed tomography (CT). However, there may be a reluctance to use this approach for suitcases or containers with metallic components because of the assumption that severe metal artifacts will result in inadequate images. In this article, we present a forensic case in which a CT scan of a metallic suitcase was performed in order to examine its contents. Additionally, we performed an experimental scan of a conventional safe in order to determine if CT is able to reveal the contents of such a highly radiopaque storage box.

Language: en

Keywords

Bones; Computed tomography; Human remains; Metallic artifacts; Virtopsy