Ebert (1987) delineated four purposes for the psychological autopsy: to determine the mode of death; to determine why a death happened at a particular time; to provide information that may help in the prediction of suicide and the assessment of lethality; and to help the survivors deal with the death. To illustrate the techniques of a psychological autopsy, this article used an actual case in which a 36-year-old police officer shot and killed his live-in pregnant girlfriend and then killed himself. The authors reviewed his background and identified some risk factors for the homicidal and suicidal behavior. The risk factors identified were physical abuse by foster parents as a child, which was related to the officer's reporting of some symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder; abuse of alcohol; a history of at least one incident of domestic violence in the military prior to becoming a police officer; and repeated lying about his military discharge on his applications and background questionnaires. Information on events related to the day of the killing indicates the officer had been drinking heavily, had doubts that the unborn child was his, and was faced with the imminent moving out of his girlfriend. Further, the girlfriend verbally abused him with racial epithets. In a rage, he shot her five times. Realizing what he had done and its consequences, he committed suicide rather than face the consequences. An attachment outlines the information useful for the psychiatric autopsy.