Complex suicide with black powder muzzle loading derringer
Language English Country United States Media print-electronic
Document type Case Reports, Journal Article
- MeSH
- Asphyxia etiology MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Fatal Outcome MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Head Injuries, Penetrating diagnosis etiology pathology MeSH
- Autopsy MeSH
- Burns etiology MeSH
- Predictive Value of Tests MeSH
- Cause of Death MeSH
- Suicide * MeSH
- Forensic Ballistics methods MeSH
- Forensic Pathology methods MeSH
- Wounds, Gunshot diagnosis etiology pathology MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Case Reports MeSH
Planned complex suicide is defined as the combination of more than one method of suicide, previously planned by the victim, to prevent failure of the first method. Herein, we present a case of planned complex suicide, committed by a black powder muzzle loading handgun and hanging. A 39-year-old man was found dead in the bathroom of his flat, hanging by the neck with a huge atypical gunshot entrance in the right temporal region of his head with extensive backspatter. The skin defects, as well as soft tissues in the subcutaneous pocket undermining, were heavily burnt. Along the wound canal were multiple bone fragments, and at the end of the path at the left temple was an embedded lead ogival projectile with a cross shaped artificial incision at its tip. The hanging was incomplete. There were no fractures of the hyoid bone and laryngeal cartilages. Cervical muscles and vessels were intact. Simon's sign was negative. Signs of asphyxia were not present. This is the first reported case of complex suicide with a black powder derringer and manipulated projectile.
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