Citation

Bohnert M, Schmidt U, Perdekamp MG, Pollak S. Forensic Sci. Int. 2002; 127(3): 192-197.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/s0379-0738(02)00110-x

PMID

12175948

Abstract

The authors report on a combined suicide of a 71-year-old farmer who fired a shot to his forehead with a livestock stunner before burning himself. As the fire was fueled by a pile of firewood it burnt for many hours, thus, causing subtotal incineration of the body. The remaining bones were calcined and reduced to a residual mass of only 3 kg. In spite of the extreme destruction, a circular bone defect corresponding to the site where the captive-bolt had entered the skull could be identified in the frontal squama. The example of this suicide is used to illustrate the problems of distinguishing between mechanical and thermal fractures. As expected, the attempted isolation and amplification of both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA for the purpose of identification was not successful.

Language: en

Keywords

Abattoirs; Aged; Burns; Craniocerebral Trauma; Fires; Forensic Medicine; Humans; Male; Skull; Suicide; Wounds, Gunshot