Jumping Together: A Fatal Suicide Pact

Abstract

In suicide pact, two or more victims mutually agree and execute to end their lives together by predetermined method, preferably by hanging, drowning, gunshot, or poisoning. The victims are usually spouses, lovers, or friends, and the reasons behind such steps are various. In this reported suicide pact, husband-wife duo jumped from the terrace of a 12-meter-high building with their wrist bound to each other. Although they jumped together, the injury patterns were completely different. The man landed on head sustaining mainly craniocerebral injuries, and the wife landed on feet sustaining long bone injuries. They left a suicide note pointing out sudden demise of their only child as the reason for the suicide, and it was signed by both of them. Jumping from a height in suicide pact has not been reported in the scientific literature yet.

Dyadic death-an unusual case of post-mortem mutilation

“…Most of the dyadic deaths are premeditated. Firearms, poisoning, hanging, and drowning are the preferred methods in suicide pacts (Sikary et al 2016;Marcikic et al 2011). Hanging and poisoning are reported as the preferred methods of suicide in India (Kanchan et al 2009) and unsurprisingly both the victims resorted to hanging in the reported case.…”

Inter-caste lovers’ suicide pact – Case report from Nepal

“…Different methods have been used by couples when committing pact suicides and include drowning with bound wrists, hanging from a tree using two independent ropes, poisoning with bottled gas and a fall from height with bound wrists. 3,6–8…”

“…Literature reports a suicide pact between a husband and wife who jumped at the same time with bound wrists from a 12 m high four-storey building and ended up with a different distribution of injuries. 6…”

Suicide pacts in a district of Sri Lanka between year 2001 and 2014

“…In both cases suicidal notes were available. 1 Consultant Judicial Medical Officer, Teaching Hospital Anuradhapura *Corresponding author: Senanayake SMHMK, Tele: 0094718195569, e-mail address: dilruksena62@yahoo.co.uk…”

“…Suicide pact is an agreed plan between two or more individuals to commit suicide [1]. The plan may be to die together, or separately and closely timed [2].…”