Drug detection in decomposed cadavers confirms testimonial evidence in a case of serial homicides.
Forensic Sci Int
; 325: 110893, 2021 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34273605
ABSTRACT
Toxicology investigation on human's buried dead bodies is a rare and challenging task in the forensic field. As requested by the Judicial Authority, this work aimed to verify testimonial evidence that emerged during a criminal investigation involving multiple murder cases. The statements indicated an improper medical administration of one or more alleged drugs (propofol, morphine, diazepam, and midazolam) which presumably caused the deaths. Since the supposed crimes took place several years before, the task of the present work was to obtain results to support the charges. The analyses involved 18 biological samples taken from four exhumed bodies, three of which were female and one male, each buried in a different date and mode. Each sample was treated with specific purification and extraction techniques (LLE - SPE) after the addition of the deuterated analogs of the searched analytes (propofol-d17, morphine-d3, diazepam-d5, midazolam-d4) as internal standards. Afterwards, the extracts were subjected to qualitative analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-Electron Impact (GC/MS - EI), both in full scan and SIM mode. Propofol, morphine, and diazepam were identified in the corpses. It supports testimonials that were administered just before the deaths occurred.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Midazolam
/
Propofol
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Diazepam
/
Homicídio
/
Morfina
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
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Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Limite:
Aged
/
Aged80
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Forensic Sci Int
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália
País de publicação:
IE
/
IRELAND
/
IRLANDA