Citation

Amadasi A, Kock T, Kny S, Amadasi L, Tsokos M. J. Forensic Sci. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.15177

PMID

36385448

Abstract

Skin injuries caused by power drills have been rarely reported. A case is described of a 51-year-old woman who was found dead on a motorway after committing suicide by jumping from a bridge. The body showed a total of nine circular/oval penetrating injuries of the chest and abdomen with very regular, smooth margins, and particular features due to the presence of "skin islands" inside the lesion and "short radial linear abrasions" around the margins. These injuries were caused by a power drill, which was later found in the woman's apartment. For comparison, experimental tests were carried out with the same drill and different bits on pig skin, whose appearance resembled those found on the body. Especially skin islands were also reproduced in the experimental tests. The presented case shows the possibility of this rare method of suicide (or suicide attempt) and the typical characteristics of such peculiar skin lesions that pose problems of differential diagnosis with other injuries such as gunshot injuries.

Language: en

Keywords

attempted suicide; forensic pathology; electric drill injury; electric drill wounds; penetrating injury; skin injuries