The victim, a 63-year-old prosperous businessman from Labasa, of the Northern Island (Vanua Levu) of Fiji Islands, was found completely decapitated in the early hours of morning in 2004. Initial police investigation did not reveal any history of any medical or family calamity. Further inquiry by the police revealed that on the previous day the deceased had visited all his friends and relatives, and his behavior was not out of the ordinary. The police suspected it to be a case of homicide. On visit to the scene, a completely decapitated body was found in a van on a downhill road. Tire marks were found on the road. A nylon rope was used for ligature strangulation. At autopsy, the decapitation wound of the head and the torso articulated well. The face was congested, and there was tongue bite. Wound margins were clear-cut, with well-demarcated abrasion and multiple imprints of the nylon rope on the neck. The upper one third of the larynx was attached to the head. No other injuries were found on the body. From the findings, it was obvious that asphyxiation was involved in the death before decapitation.
Condom-murder is term used to describe a homicide where a person has been killed due to his recreational sexual behaviour and the killing has strong links with the recovered condom/contraceptive material on the scene or was in personal possession of victim. It can provide immediate clue about perpetrator. We present six cases of a similar nature. Four males and two females had condoms in their vicinity at crime scene. All incidents occurred at different timings and different places but there was striking similarity in method of killing. In four cases hands were tied on the back in three cases; similarly legs were also tied in three cases. In three cases strong electric cords were used. The presence of condoms give clue for investigation, possibility of DNA identification, about type of sexual behaviour as recreational and commercial method in these cases.
Death by hanging is believed to be a painless method of committing suicide. In most cases the noose has a knot and on this basis only it can be labeled as atypical or typical hanging. A 35 year Chinese man committed suicide by hanging with a ligature material made of electric wire where there was no knot present on the noose.
Deaths due to plastic bag suffocation or plastic bag asphyxia are not reported in Malaysia. In the West many suicides by plastic bag asphyxia, particularly in the elderly and those who are chronically and terminally ill, have been reported. Accidental deaths too are not uncommon in the West, both among small children who play with shopping bags and adolescents who are solvent abusers. Another well-known but not so common form of accidental death from plastic bag asphyxia is sexual asphyxia, which is mostly seen among adult males. Homicide by plastic bag asphyxia too is reported in the West and the victims are invariably infants or adults who are frail or terminally ill and who cannot struggle. Two deaths due to plastic bag asphyxia are presented. Both the autopsies were performed at the University Hospital Mortuary, Kuala Lumpur. Both victims were 50-year old married Chinese males. One death was diagnosed as suicide and the other as sexual asphyxia. Sexual asphyxia is generally believed to be a problem associated exclusively with the West. Specific autopsy findings are often absent in deaths due to plastic bag asphyxia and therefore such deaths could be missed when some interested parties have altered the scene and most importantly have removed the plastic bag. A visit to the scene of death is invariably useful.
We hereby present a case of planned complex suicide. In this case study, we report a teen-aged girl who committed suicide by strangulating herself, and subsequently fell from the 13th floor of a housing apartment. The planned complex suicide was substantiated by the presence of a suicide note and a photograph captured in a mobile handset. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first case involving self-strangulation and fall from height, in which the photograph was stored in the handset. This is to further emphasize that objects like mobile handsets can be important in determining the cause and manner of death. The available evidence at the site of incident should be explored meticulously in order to arrive at a proper conclusion.
Every body has to eat to survive but it becomes a matter of great concern, when the life provider food becomes an asphyxiating agent. In this case, a 60-year-old woman choked herself while swallowing biscuits. On autopsy examination, biscuits were found lodged in larygo-pharynx. Brain showed marked dystrophy and loosened lusterless white matter. On histopathologic examination, brain tissue had numerous eosinophilic globules representing astrocytic processes called "Rosenthal fibers"; hence, it was diagnosed as a case of Alexander dystrophy. It is a disease of white matter, where there is a progressive degeneration of the white matter of the brain because of imperfect growth or development of the myelin sheath. The histopathology of brain showed Rosenthal fibers in abundance. This is one of the rarest disease in which choking can occur because of lack of nervous and muscular coordination and weakness. Its specific relation to choking is documented in this report.