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It's Suicide...Isn't It?

NCJ Number
217721
Journal
Evidence Technology Magazine Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2007 Pages: 12-15,26,27
Author(s)
Kristi Mayo
Date Published
January 2007
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article presents two case studies of suspected suicide death scene investigations.
Abstract
John P. Black, a senior forensic consultant and a past senior criminalist with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division offers his expertise on the two death investigations detailed in this article. The death scene investigation of both cases is described in detail, with the primary focus on ascertaining whether the two apparent suicides were actually suicides. In this first case, the focus is on the large amount of blood splatter throughout the house and the unusual circumstance of two gunshots to the victim rather than one gunshot, which is generally sufficient in suicide cases. Black cautions that even when a death scene appears at first blush to be a likely suicide, it is important to approach the investigation as if it is a homicide. Black walks the reader through the crime scene, pointing out important points about the evidence and what it indicated about the death. In the second case, the main investigative focus was on determining whether the victim could have inflicted the fatal gunshot wound himself. In this case, the gunshot to the victim could not have been inflicted by the gun found at the scene. It was only after moving the victim to the morgue that the investigators found a second gun that caused the self-inflicted gunshot wound. 1 note

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