Citation

Felthous AR, Hempel AG, Heredia A, Freeman E, Goodness K, Holzer C, Bennett TJ, Korndorffer WE. J. Forensic Sci. 2001; 46(3): 586-592.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, USA. DHSC6624@dhs.state.il.us

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11372993

Abstract

Combined homicide-suicides have been classified based on the psychopathology of the perpetrator and the nature of the relationship between perpetrator and victim(s). To further understand the nature of this tragic phenomenon and to test the validity and practicality of a previously suggested classification system, investigators systematically collected data on all combined homicide-suicide events that occurred in Galveston County, Texas over a continuous 18-year period (n = 20). The most common psychopathological finding for perpetrators was high serum alcohol levels that suggested intoxication. Most combined homicide-suicides fell into one of the relational categories and most of these, as predicted, were of the consortial type, possessive subtype. As expected, due to the small sample size, the less common types of combined homicide-suicide were not represented in this sample.

Language: en