Self‐Strangulation Turning into Partial Hanging for a Suicide Victim

Abstract

Hanging is the most common asphyxial method of suicide, whereas suicide by strangulation is unusual. Here, we are reporting a particular methodology of the asphyxial method of suicide in which a case of self-strangulation culminated into partial hanging. A 30-year-old male wrapped one end of the cable wire around his neck. He then passed the other end over a curtain rod and tied that end around the right hand. He pulled the hand down, using the curtain rod as a fulcrum, to tighten the noose around the neck in an attempt to strangulate himself. However, he lost consciousness during the process and the body slipped down, pulling the right hand up which got stuck at the curtain rod. This led the body hanged in the kneeling position. This bizarre scenario raised suspicion of homicide but the crime scene, autopsy and victim characteristics were in favor of suicide.

Homicide or car accident: The case of the ‘guilty’ fibre

“…During judicial forensic investigation, it is possible to find a murder crime scene disguised as suicide. 1–6 Forensic crime scene investigation is an indispensable method of obtaining clues, information and useful evidence. In some cases, contextual information and crime scenes are tampered with to mislead the investigation, leading to evidence that is inconsistent or in contrast to findings, e.g.…”

Distinguishing between homicide and suicide knots and ligatures: A comparative analysis of case and survey data

“…Polson and other authors have described several neck ligature tying methods used in homicides and suicides [1–4,13–20,74–93]. With homicides, multiple neck wraps may be secured with a Half Hitch or no knots at all may be employed [16,18].…”

“…Homicides may be staged as suicides to divert guilt, while suicides can be disguised as homicides to implicate someone else [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][75][76][77][78][79]. Suicide may be performed in a variety of unique ways for reasons known only to the decedents [78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93].…”

Asphyxia using a piece of a sarong at a psychiatric unit: a case of self-strangulation

“…Choć śmierć w wyniku uduszenia gwałtownego nie jest rzadką przyczyną zgonu w praktyce kryminalistycznej, jej postać różni się w zależności od przypadku. Częstym powodem uduszenia gwałtownego jest powieszenie, w którym siła zacisku na szyi wynika z masy ciała [1,2]. W przypadku zadzierzgnięcia zacisk wywoływany jest jednak w inny sposób, a domyślną przyczyną zgonu jest zwykle zabójstwo [3].…”

“…Death due to asphyxia is not an uncommon cause of death in routine forensic practice, but its presentation varies from case to case. Asphyxia is commonly caused by hanging, where the constriction force on the neck is derived from the weight of the body [1,2]. However, in strangulation the constriction force is from something other than body weight and the manner of death is usually homicide [3].…”