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Citation |
Blässer K, Tatschner T, Bohnert M. Forensic Sci. Int. 2014; 236: e19-21. |
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Affiliation |
Institute of Legal Medicine, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Versbacher Straße 3, 97078 Würzburg, Germany. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
24418208 |
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Abstract |
PURPOSE: The presented case deals with an unusual suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. In a car parked in a highway rest area, the body of a middle-aged man was found. In the open trunk of the car there was a gas-powered generator which was switched on, but no longer running. The tank was three quarters full. At autopsy, bright-red livores, cherry-pink fingernails, cherry-red blood and salmon-red skeletal musculature were found. According to the toxicological analysis performed during autopsy, the COHb content in the corpse blood was 68%. METHODS: To reconstruct the event, the emergency generator was started again in the man's car. By means of measuring probes placed in the interior of the car, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and oxygen were measured and recorded in a concentration-time curve; the concentration of cyanide was measured at the end of the experiment. RESULTS: The lower explosion limit of 500ppm CO was reached after 30s already. For technical reasons, no further values could be recorded. After about 14min the engine started stuttering with approximately 14vol.% of oxygen in the air, but continued to run at a lower speed until the experiment was stopped after 25min. The final concentration of cyanide was 7.5ppm. CONCLUSION: In view of the rapid CO increase in the interior of the vehicle it is to be assumed that the victim lost consciousness very fast. Language: en |