The 23-year-old male was found dead lying prone in a field with a slight gradient surrounded by a wooded area and bushy undergrowth. He had a shotgun wound in his back. The scene investigation found a 12-gauge superpose shotgun tied tightly to a tree with string. Another string 2.5 m long was tied to the trigger with two knots around the back of the next tree and then taken forward toward where the man lay. The weapon had been fired from a distance by using the string to pull the trigger. The shotgun belonged to the household where the victim lived and was easily accessible to him. A fingerprint that matched the victim's was found on the shotgun. A reconstruction of events was performed and found to be consistent with a determination of suicide. Although the victim had no history of psychiatric illness and there was no suicide note, friends indicated he was emotionally distressed following the death of his best friend, who had recently died in a vehicle crash. 4 figures and 15 references