Citation

Kastanaki AE, Kranioti EF, Theodorakis PN, Michalodimitrakis M. J. Forensic Sci. 2009; 54(2): 404-407.

Affiliation

State Mental Health Hospital of Chania, El. Giakoumaki Str., Ano Daratso, PC: 73100, Chania, Crete, Greece.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00983.x

PMID

19220652

Abstract

In this report, the authors present a case of suicide committed by a 66-year-old man, inside a grave at the local cemetery, with two gunshot wounds to the head. A multiple-paged, handwritten suicide note was found in an army type bag inside the victim's car, while a second one was found in his house. Medicolegal examination of the body revealed two typical contact gunshot entrance wounds and one exit wound to the head. Toxicological analysis of the femoral blood was negative for alcohol and drugs. The history, scene and autopsy findings, along with further police investigation, indicated an obvious case of suicide. The literature is reviewed and discussed. We report this case as the place of suicide is extremely uncommon and as there is no mention of a gunshot suicide inside a grave in the current literature.

Language: en