1.1. MSCT and micro-CT analysis in a case of “dyadic-death”. Homicide-suicide or suicide-homicide?

Abstract

Objectives The application of post-mortem multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and micro-CT analysis to the reconstruction of a singular case of “dyadic death”, where a single gunshot was fired. Materials and methods Crime scene investigation and criminalistics analysis were performed at death scene. Prior to the forensic autopsy of the 38-year-old policeman and the 50-year-old female victim, an unenhanced MSCT was performed. The gunshot wounds were collected for micro-CT analysis. Results At crime scene investigation a self-loading Glock pistol, mod. 17 Austria 5180, cal. 9 mm, was found between the two corpses, near the left forearm of the man. The unenhanced MSCT identified the entrance and exit gunshot wounds in the male victim, the entrance wound and the bullet retained in the skull of the female victim. At micro-CT all the analyzed gunshot wounds exhibited radiopaque material. Autopsy and histology findings allowed us to determine that the murderer died immediately after the shot (for a lethal brainstem injury), whereas the female victim survived for a few minutes, dying after her husband and murderer. Conclusions The radiological and medico-legal data allowed us to reconstruct the trajectory of the gunshot, the most probable dynamics of the event, and to classify the incident as a “homicide-suicide” or better to say as a “suicide-homicide”, because the female victim died after her murderer. The presented case is a valid example of the importance of an interdisciplinary cooperation between police investigators, forensic pathologists and radiologists for differentiating murder-suicides from double homicides.