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Suicide by drowning: A forensic challenge

Article in Forensic science international April 2014

DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2014.04.022 Source: PubMed

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FSI 7581 No. of Pages 3

Forensic Science International xxx (2014) xxxxxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Forensic Science International

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/forsciint

Case report

Suicide by drowning: A forensic challenge

Melanie Todt a, * , Friedrich Ast b , Roman Wolff-Maras a , Birte Roesler a , Tanja Germerott a
a
Institute of Legal Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Strae 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany
b
Institute of Legal Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Pappelallee 4, 26122 Oldenburg, Germany

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: In the case of suicidal drowning forensic examination is difcult, particularly with regard to
Received 25 March 2014 differentiating between suicide, accident, homicide and natural death. Bondage and weighting with
Received in revised form 10 April 2014 objects, putrescence and attendant lesions aggravate interpretation and investigation of postmortal
Accepted 14 April 2014
forensic ndings. In this respect, two cases of seemingly homicidal drowning with leg and arm bondage
Available online xxx
and weighting, to prevent resurfacing, are presented and discussed.
2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Forensic medicine
Suicide
Drowning
Bondage

1. Introduction 2. Case circumstances

Complex suicides, homicide-suicides, and simulated suicides,

Case 1: A 29-year-old male was reported missing by his
as well as the use of uncommon suicide methods may raise
parents. On the same day a suicide note was discovered on a
suspicion of foul play and often lead to an early involvement of
ash drive and the mans car was located beside a dam. In the
forensic investigators [1]. In these cases a proper investigation of
middle of the articial lake an inatable dinghy was located
the death scene and the deceaseds history as well as a forensic
containing the mobile phone and the wallet of the missing
autopsy is mandatory [2].
person. A rst search for the man conducted by the police failed.
In 2012, the Federal Statistical Ofce registered 9890 suicides in
Finally, by echo sounding a male corpse, later identied as the
Germany representing 1.1% of all deaths. According to the Federal
missing person, was found in the lake which shows a maximum
Statistical Ofce suicide by drowning, represented with 2.5%, is not
depth of 30 m. However, the exact depth in which the body was
a very common method of committing suicide in Germany [3].
located was not determined. The legs were xed by cable ties
Especially in cases in which a corpse is found in the water, careful
and attached to a bag lled with approximately 23 kg of angle
examination to differentiate between suicide, accident, homicide,
irons lying on the lake ground, resulting in the corpse oating
and natural death has to be performed. Forensic investigation can
vertically in the water (Fig. 1).The corpse was brought to the
be challenging due to putrefaction and agonally or postmortem
Institute of Legal Medicine for forensic autopsy. External
inicted injuries. Furthermore, bondage and weighting with heavy
examination revealed a male corpse wearing several layers of
objects are suspicious of third party involvement [4].
clothing, more specically a coat, a sweater, a t-shirt, an
This report details the planned suicides of two men by
undershirt, trousers, thermal underpants, briefs, socks and
drowning, in which leg and arm bondage as well as weighting
sneakers. Additionally swimming goggles and gloves were
with heavy objects were applied in order to prevent resurfacing
worn. Both wrists were tied in front of the mans waist by cable
and self-rescue.
ties. Regarding the way the cable ties were attached to the arms
and legs, latter connected to a bag containing angle iron, a self-
application in order to exclude self-rescue was the most
probable (Fig. 2). Livor mortis located at the arms and legs
were suitable with a vertical oating position. The corpse
exhibited waterlogged skin and considerable signs of putrefac-
tion with green coloration of the skin and gaseous distension.
Despite advanced signs of putrefaction, the internal examina-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 511 532 4570; fax: +49 511 532 5635.
E-mail address: todt.melanie@mh-hannover.de (M. Todt).
tion revealed signs of drowning, namely emphysema of the lung

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2014.04.022
0379-0738/ 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: M. Todt, et al., Suicide by drowning: A forensic challenge, Forensic Sci. Int. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
forsciint.2014.04.022
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FSI 7581 No. of Pages 3
e2 M. Todt et al. / Forensic Science International xxx (2014) xxxxxx
Fig. 1. Legs xed by cable ties and attached to a bag lled with angle irons, in order
to exclude self-rescue.
Fig. 2. Tied wrists in front of the waist by most likely self-fastened cable ties.
and diluted content of the stomach. Furthermore, a few
milliliters of liquid could be punctured from the sphenoid
sinuses. According to the autopsy, cause of death was stated to
be drowning. Competing causes of death, organic abnormalities
or indications of homicidal violence were not present.
Toxicological analyses for alcohol and drugs were denied by
the Justice department, but an examination for ethyl alcohol
was commissioned in-house and showed negative results.
Finally, based on the autopsy results, the negative toxicological
examination and police investigations, a suicide by submersion
was stated.
Case 2: A 23-year-old man was found in the reed bed of a canal
with his hands and legs xed by padlocked metal chains (Figs. 3
and 4). The corpse wore a backpack on his back, lled with
multiple stones (Fig. 5). At about the same time the body was
recovered, a couple of cylinder keys were found by a sherman
at the opposite canal bank. The keys matched the padlocks
found at the corpse. In the apartment of the man, who was
suspected to be found dead, a suicide note and packing material
of padlocks were found.A forensic autopsy was ordered by the
Justice department. External examination revealed a regularly
clothed young man. Appearance of the bondage of arms and legs
secured by padlocks was in accordance with self-captivation.
Beside waterlogged skin, the corpse showed advanced signs of
Fig. 3. Death scene: discovery of a male corpse in the reed bed of a canal with signs
of putrefaction.
Please cite this article in press as: M. Todt, et al., Suicide by drowning: A forensic challenge, Forensic Sci. Int. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
forsciint.2014.04.022
Fig. 4. Death scene: the hands and legs were xed by padlocked metal chains.
putrefaction such as green coloration and gaseous distension of
the soft tissue and the viscera. Due to putrefaction the
ascertainment of relevant ndings was very limited. The
stomach was brimming (800 ml) and a few milliliters of
reddish-aqueous liquid could be punctured from the sphenoid
sinuses. The lung was collapsed and no relevant ndings, in
particular no ndings congruent with drowning, were found
due to extended putrefaction. In the context of the autopsy a
pathological cause of death, organic abnormalities or injuries
suspicious of third person intervention could not be deter-
mined. Moreover, toxicological examination of the urine
showed a negative result for ethyl alcohol.Even though in the
context of the autopsy no denite ndings verifying the cause of
death could be found, careful consideration of all ndings as
well as the result of police investigation concluded suicide due
to drowning as the most probable cause of death.
3. Discussion
Even though drowning as a cause of death is not unusual in
Germany, drowning in order to commit suicide is a rather rare, but
important forensic manifestation and has to be distinguished from
accidents, homicides and natural death in water [3,5].
Drowning can be dened as a process of primary respiratory
impairment from submersion in a liquid, most frequently in water.
In typical drowning, breath is initially held voluntarily when
sinking beneath the water surface. Based on a combination of
hypercapnia, hypoxaemia and acidosis involuntarily inspiration
occurs resulting in the inhaling and swallowing of liquid. The
whole process results in cerebral hypoxia which continues until
death occurs by anoxia [6,7]. In this process CO2-stimulation of the
respiratory centre leads to the inhalation and swallowing of water.
Repeated resurfacing combined with deep inhalation causes foam
and overination of the lungs. Furthermore, reddish blurred
blotches located beneath the pulmonary pleura on the exterior of
the lung (Paltaufs spots) created by accelerated respiration with
simultaneous haemolysis may arise [8]. Even though these specic
ndings may be present at autopsy, they can be very slightly
Fig. 5. Backpack lled with multiple stones to prevent resurfacing.
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FSI 7581 No. of Pages 3
M. Todt et al. / Forensic Science International xxx (2014) xxxxxx
developed or lack completely, particularly after the onset of
putrefactive changes, so that diagnosis of drowning, based solely
on an autopsy may be difcult or impossible [5]. In the two
presented cases, signs of drowning were discrete in one case and
lacked in the other due to advanced signs of putrefaction.
However, even in cases in which, based on autoptic ndings,
drowning can be identied as the cause of death, the circumstances
of death cannot be fully determined at all times [9]. Injuries sustained
by third party involvement in homicides have to be differentiated
from agonal or postmortem lesions as well as from traumatic origin
for example from falls. No injuries were detectable during autopsy in
the two presented cases. Nevertheless, because of self-bondage and
weighting with heavy objects foul-play had to be excluded. Careful
reconstruction of the bondage of both fully and regularly dressed
males revealed, that a self-attachment of the bondage was
undoubtedly possible in each case. Comparable circumstances can
be observed in numerous cases of suicidal drowning [10]. Regardless,
if a corpse is found in water, especially when bondage and
attachment of heavy weight objects are present, a homicide has to
be considered and a careful investigation including a forensic
autopsy has to be performed [11].
An intoxication with alcohol or other drugs seems to be unusual
in victims of suicidal drowning [5,1114]. On the contrary, positive
blood alcohol concentrations in cases of drowning should alert the
investigator to review all aspects related to the drowning incident
before assuming a suicide as the manner of death [11].
Forensic autopsy of the two presented cases could not prove
either intoxication with ethyl alcohol or a competing cause of death,
e.g., organic abnormalities or signs of violence. Furthermore, in both
cases suicide notes were found during police investigations. In the
end, considering autopsy results and case circumstances, suicidal
drowning was stated as the cause of death in both cases.
The two cases presented here reveal, that putrefaction,
bondage, and weighting with objects causes hindered post-
mortem interpretation of ndings within corpses located in water.
It poses a challenge for the pathologist and other investigators to
Please cite this article in press as: M. Todt, et al., Suicide by drowning: A forensic challenge, Forensic Sci. Int. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
forsciint.2014.04.022
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e3
determine the cause and manner of death, because all manner of
death is possible. For this reason correlation between case
circumstances, setting of the nding situation, and results in
securing of evidence always have to be carefully investigated, in
order to exclude potential violence and thus to act on the
assumption of suicidal drowning.
4. Conict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conict of interest.
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