The Perfect Murder: How a Suicide Became a Homicide

Abstract

This case report describes the death of a 51-year-old female, which presented by autopsy, scene circumstances, and social history as a suicidal ligature hanging. However, when her boyfriend walked into a police department in another state, months later, claiming to have killed the woman and staged a hanging, the medical examiner's office was asked to review the admission, as it was thought wholly inconsistent with the timeline provided. Upon reenactment of the admission, the perpetrator perfectly demonstrated the use of a lateral vascular neck restraint (carotid restraint), known to incapacitate and potentially kill an individual within a matter of seconds. The autopsy finding of severe atherosclerotic heart disease was important in understanding the mechanism of death, the timeline of events, and in corroborating the confession. This case demonstrates the value of performing an autopsy even though investigation and history suggested an obvious cause and manner of death.

Homicides Disguised as Staged Suicides

“…As such, death investigators and forensic pathologists should not discount homicide as a potential MOD until a thorough investigation is complete (19). Also reported in the literature is a case of a hanging initially thought to be suicide, but later determined to be a homicide following admission/confession of the ex-boyfriend (20). The cases presented in this report add three additional cases to the literature of homicides which were initially considered suicides.…”