A Case of Multiple Self-Inflicted Stab Wounds of the Neck Captured on Surveillance Video.

Multiple sharp force injuries in a victim make it difficult to distinguish between homicide and suicide. Forensic pathologists also may be unable to determine the total survival time and the survival time with physical activity due to lack of evidence. The authors report here on a case of nineteen stab wounds of the neck, which led to an initial suspicion of homicide. The scene was however captured on surveillance video, which provided a precise description of the wound mechanism and led to the injuries being reclassified as suicidal. No other description of a suicide with such a high number of severe stab wounds has been documented in the literature. The video footage provided additional information concerning survival time. Physical activity was well documented during at least 4 min after the last stab wound and the total survival period was at least 6 min, despite the perforation of both jugular veins and the trachea. Vein injuries are less rapidly lethal than artery injuries. Injuries of the major airways are not immediately lethal and do not lead to immediate incapacitation. The benefit of the video evidence is to highlight wound features that may suggest a suicidal manner and inform forensic pathologists about survival intervals after severe stab wounds to the neck.

Analysis of false starts lesions on human bones produced by two hand saws with high TPI.

Cases of criminal dismemberment are encountered in forensic pathology and forensic anthropology. Saw mark analysis aims to determine the type of saw that was used: hand saw versus electrical saw, crosscut and universal saw versus rip saw, size of the teeth ("teeth per inch" TPI), and set type. The goal of this study was to analyze using a stereomicroscope a series of 60 experimental false starts (30 lesions for each saw) produced on human bones by two different handsaws with a high TPI (15 and 32). The lesions caused by these high TPI saws have rarely been described in the forensic literature. Saw 2 (rip hacksaw with a 32 TPI and a wavy set) displayed classical features. In contrast, saw 1 (universal panel saw, TPI 15, alternating set) did not produce the expected characteristics: the minimum width of the kerf was weak, the kerf walls were straight, the striae were straight, and the kerf profile was very peculiar with a succession of peaks and dips that has not yet been described.