Citation

Miziara ID, Bertaccini F. Am. J. Forensic Med. Pathol. 2011; 32(2): 164-165.

Affiliation

From the Hospital das Clínicas-São Paulo University School of Medicine; and Legal Medicine Institute, São Paulo, Brazil.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/PAF.0b013e318219c832

PMID

21512387

Abstract

We report a very unusual case of murder of a 4-year-old male white child who died of asphyxiation. Asphyxia occurred due to 3 factors: manual strangulation, hyperextension of the neck, and atlantoaxial subluxation. The offenses were carried out by a single assailant (the stepfather of the child) who strangled the child with his right hand, using his left hand to pull the hair of the child, forcing the head back and causing hyperextension of the neck, thereby dislocating the first and second cervical vertebrae.

Language: en