Citation

Kettner M, Schnabel A, Ramsthaler F. Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 2012; 8(4): 426-429.

Affiliation

Institute of Forensic Medicine, Goethe University Medical School, 60594, Frankfurt, Germany, Mattias.Kettner@gmx.de.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s12024-012-9337-y

PMID

22644882

Abstract

Paradoxical undressing is a phenomenon associated with fatalities due to severe hypothermia, which is characterized by the act of active undressing, despite low ambient temperatures, as a consequence of peripheral vasodilation. A 51-year-old man was found lying naked and inanimate on a road. Articles of his clothing were scattered in surrounding bushes. A nearby handrail showed a partially washed away bloodstain pattern. A forensic autopsy was used to distinguish whether death was due to a hypothermic fatality or whether the deceased was a victim of an accident or homicide. Medicolegal autopsy revealed craniofacial dissociation with injuries to the thorax and extremities and established choking/asphyxia due to deep aspiration of blood in combination with external blood loss as the cause of death. In the absence of hypothermia-related signs and toxicological findings the case was considered to be a homicide. Police investigation led to the conviction of a man who confessed to having kicked and hit the victim and forced him to take off his clothes in a humiliation-related scenario.

Language: en