“Crow’s feet” as an indication of a vital reaction in a gunshot victim

Abstract

A 51-year-old man and his 44-year-old wife were found dead on the floor of their family house by their two daughters after they heard several sequential shots. The female decedent was found lying on her back, with the male decedent lying over her, his stomach against her chest. A ‘‘C Zastava 88-A’’ 9 mm caliber gun was found next to his right hand. The investigation revealed that the couple were in the middle of a divorce and had been quarreling quite frequently. The case was deemed to be a murder-suicide in which the woman was killed by her husband before he committed suicide. At autopsy three entry wounds were found on the female decedent, one above the inner part of the right eyebrow, another directly below the right eye, and the third in her chest, slightly to the left of the frontal longitudinal line of the body. The path of the two wounds to her face went to the left, almost horizontally, pulverizing the brain tissue. The exit wounds were found in the left parietal area of the head. Circling both entry wounds (7 mm in diameter) was a large ‘‘gunpowder tattoo’’ measuring 15 9 10 cm, which was wider on the right side of the wound. Additionally, a thick layer of soot was located around the cheekbone wound. This soot was distributed along the left cheekbone area, the right side of the nose, the right half of the upper lip, the upper section of the right eyelid, and laterally to the right eye. The skin next to the outer angle of the right eye had areas without any soot, resulting in the appearance of ‘‘crow’s feet’’ (Fig. 1). Also, the lines that corresponded with the facial curves, such as the nasolabial fold, the fold between the nose and the cheek, and the fold around the ala of the nose, had no soot deposits. The chest wound (8 mm in diameter) was located in the left breast, 3 cm to the left of the middle longitudinal line of the body. It travelled through the heart, transected the aorta, passed superficially through the lower lobe of the left lung, and exited through the back, 7.5 cm to the left of the spine. 1,200 ccm of blood was found in the left thoracic cavity.