Citation

Scherer C, Jellinghaus K, Bohnert M. Arch. Kriminol. 2018; 241(1-2): 45-53.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Verlag Schmidt-Romhild)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A 63-year-old man was found under a 60 m high motorway bridge. His car stood on the side of the road on the bridge, the lights were unlit and the car unlocked. No suicide note was found. External inspection of the corpse showed multiple abrasions and bruises compatible with a fall from height. However, between neck and chest, a wire approximately 3 mm in diameter protruded from the skin. The clothing of the deceased had been cut at the place of discovery and showed no unusual damage pattern, especially no puncture in the region of the neck or the chest. During autopsy, the wire could be traced to the collarbone. This suggested that it had most likely been implanted during the man's lifetime for osteosynthesis. Subsequent criminal investigations confirmed this assumption: The deceased had undergone surgery for a broken collarbone after an accident in September 2016 and the fracture had been stabilized with wire osteosynthesis. © 2018 Verlag Schmidt-Romhild. All rights reserved.

Language: de

Keywords

Fall from height; Impalement; Penetration injury