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This was a descriptive study of elderly persons with dementia who were found dead after becoming lost in the community. Nineteen forensic autopsy cases were performed at Kochi Medical School, Japan. The mean age of the patients (9 males and 10 females) was 82.1 ± 6.6 years. Causes of death were drowning (n = 8), trauma (n = 5), hypothermia (n = 2), and debilitation possibly due to fatigue (n = 1) or were unknown (n = 3). Thirteen (68%) individuals had been reported missing, most at least 6 hours after they had left. They moved on foot (n = 14), by car (n = 3), or by bicycle (n = 2). Distances from residences to spots of death ranged from 20 to 5800 m for 11 patients on foot. In 8 cases, it was less than 500 m. The study has potential implications for enabling their early discovery and protection.

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We describe a case of poisoning by arsenic trioxide of a young man found dead at home. There were no obvious external signs of arsenic poisoning; but we observed marked endocardial hemorrhages, hepatomegaly, diffuse gastric mucosal hemorrhages, and slight brain edema at autopsy. The Reinsch test for the stomach contents and liver homogenate was positive for arsenic. Wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry combined with the Reinsch test showed that fatal levels of arsenic were present in blood and tissues. The cause of death was diagnosed as circulatory collapse caused by arsenic trioxide.