Crime Scene Investigation

(SUICIDE)

CHAPTER 2

INTRODUCTION

SCENE SECURE

PHOTOGRAPHY

SKETCH UP

EVIDENCES

METHODS OF SUICIDE

INTRODUCTIONCSI: documentation of the conditions at the

scene and the collection of physical evidence

CSI thoroughly documents the scene by taking

photographs and drawing sketches

A suicide method is any means by which one or more persons

purposely kills themselves

main objective of CSI is to collect as many evidences to rebuild

up what actually happen in the crime

In suicide cases, the investigation will finally

lead to whether the death is really a suicide case as

claimed or homicide.

SECURING THE CRIME SCENE

The core area of the crime scene where most of the evidence is concentrated

• Prevent evidences so that not lost, not destroyed or exaggerated by people who are not responsible

A special plastic rope to just surround by the police pending the arrival of well control specialist forensic.

• also involves process of removing all unnecessary personnel from the scene.

PHOTOGRAPHYCrime scene photography records of how the body was found, position and the nature of it mortal injuries

provides an accurate account of physical evidence that cannot be altered

Can be documented for later inspection

Sketching the Crime Scene

Sketching helped forensic scientist especially in writing chemical report

not necessary too detailed just enough with a site plan events, location and items of evidences found as a space room and surrounding

The distance between the material evidences of the victim should be noted that this information maybe useful in the future

Taking the Evidences

Goal

Body examination

Biological evidence

Chemical Evidence

goal •to find, collect and preserve all physical evidence that might serve to recreate the crime •identify the perpetrator in a manner that will stand up in court.

Body examination •a visual examination of the body and surrounding area at the scene, taking pictures and detailed note.•take the body temperature and the ambient room temperature to assist in determining an estimated time of death

Biological evidence •of biological evidence are hair, nail and body fluid such as saliva and others.•easily degraded•bring to the lab and perform DNA analysis etc

Chemical evidence •Examples of chemical evidence are petrol, glass fragment, paint, electric cables etc.•Easily found in the crime scene•often found along with biological evidences like gun powder and blood stain in firearm suicide

Before moving the body

Take note!!

Murder• When

someone knowingly causes the death, or injuries

resulting in death, of another person.

Manslaughter• When

someone causes the death of another through extreme

indifference to human life.

Self defenses• When

someone causes the death of

another in order to protect

himself or his family.

Suicide• The deliberate

taking of one's own life.

Hanging

Jumping from high

Poisoning

Drowning

Firearm

Cut

Suicide Method

Hanging Suicide

The common hanging tools used are rope, an electrical cord or a belt

Hanging compresses the veins, but arterial blood flow continues, causing small bleeding sites on the lips, inside the mouth and on the eyelids

As with ligature strangulation, the face and neck are congested with blood and become dark red.

Hanging always leaves an inverted V bruise and are easy to tell from ligature strangulation (murder), which leaves a straight-line bruise.

victims may drug themselves in an attempt to summon up the courage to carry out the act.

ligature marks around the neck area as the process of hanging can be sometimes a tricky one and may need several attempts.

Various knot positions in suicide hanging attempt

Hanging suicide using rope

Poisoning

immediate effect, within minutes to avoid them from suffering.

not poison which can act slowly, over a long period

of time.

Pesticide poisoningDrug overdosing

Carbon monoxide poisoning

relatively painless death, no muss, no fuss, no blood to mess up the

bedding

Carbon monoxide poisoning: hand turns red

Firearm suicide

Firearms include a wide range of handguns and

rifles, revolver, shotguns,

semiautomatic pistol.

People rarely shoot themselves in the eye or abdomen. It is also virtually impossible to shoot yourself in the

back.

Distance of gun from the body: at contact

or near contact range

Type of wound: A contact wound creates

presumption of suicide rather than homicide.

Angle of the shot: Most suicide shots are angled slightly

upward.

Number of shots fired: After one shot, even if a suicide victim is not dead, he would likely

be unconscious or physically unable to fire a second time

Firearm suicide

victim left a suicide note, or was known to

have personal problems, or if there was evidence of drug

use or drinking, suicide is likely.

A suicide victim will rarely shoot through

clothing

Evidence of a struggle: If there are scratches,

cuts, bruises, homicide is likely.

Wound sites often depend on the type

of weapon that is used:

Presence of gunpowder residue and

blood on victims’ hand

Cuts and StabbedDefensive cuts: In a homicide, there will be defensive cuts on the palms of the victim's hands and on the underside of her arms as she tries to fight off her attacker.

Number of wounds and their location: A murder usually involves multiple stab wounds to the side, back or stomach. In a suicide, while there may be additional cuts across the wrist and tentative test stabbings to see if it will hurt, or to work up courage, there will usually only be one wound and most likely in the chest.

Location of the murder weapon: In a suicide, the weapon will be at the scene with the victim's fingerprints on it. In a homicide, the weapon is often missing.

Presence of a note: A suicide victim will almost always leave a note.

Stabbing through clothing: Typically a suicidal stabbing is to the bare skin and the clothing may be removed or pulled aside to affect this. Stabbing through clothing, even if there's only one wound, may indicate homicide.

DROWNING

Drowning is a type of suffocation; the water prevents oxygen from

getting to the brain

slow, agonizing death with the victim struggling desperately to

stay alive

suicidal drowning is very uncommon

Homicidal or suicide drowning is almost impossible to prove by an

autopsy

surrounding facts have to be taken into account, such as other

wounds, signs of struggle (overturned furniture, etc), or the

presence of a suicide note

MURDER VS SUICIDE DROWNING

Shallow water: Drowning in shallow water could indicate either an accident or murder, especially if the victim is

undressed. A killer will remove the victim's clothing to make it look like an accident. If the body is fully clothed, it is most likely

a suicide since the victim does not want to be found nude.

Jumping From High

The act of jumping from high altitude, for example, from a window balcony or roof of a high rise building, cliff, dam or bridge.

Death because the effects of physical and the internal injuries at their body

People have jumped then survived with major injuries and permanent disabilities

SUICIDE JUMPER

Analyzing The

Evidence

Latent fingerprints and

impressions

Primer Gunshot Residues (GSR)

Analysis

Chemical (drug and unknown

chemical)

Ballistics Analysis

Questioned documents

Serology and DNA

Latent fingerprints and impressions

Develop latent fingerprints; analyze and compare fingerprints

Latent fingerprints may be detectable on cartridges and expended shell casings.

latent because they are transferred via a substance on the skin ridges to an object.

On a gun, such substances could include cleaning solvents or gun oils.

Usually, the substances consist of perspiration mixed with oils from sebaceous glands.

increased temperature and low humidity decrease the persistence of fingerprints.

Brass retains the fingerprints better than nickel-plated materials.

Ballistic AnalysisBallistics is the area of Forensic Science

that deals with firearms; in the

practice of murder.

identify rifling patterns, marks made by using

suppressors (silencers), shell

casings, powder burn and many other different areas

relating to the use of firearms and the

evidence they leave behind.

Ballistics is the science of the

motion of projectiles and firearm

Interior ballistics is the study of projectiles in

weapons

External ballistics is the study of

projectiles in the air.

Terminal ballistics is the study of

projectile penetration of solids

Wound ballistics is the study of

projectile penetration of tissues

Range Muzzle-target distance Wound characteristicsHard Contact

Muzzle jammed "hard" against skin.

Edges seared by gases and blackened by soot ("baked" into skin)

Loose Contact

Muzzle in light but complete contact with skin

Soot deposition in band around wound (can be wiped off).

Angled Muzzle at acute angle to skin with only part of circumference in contact

Eccentric seared blackened zone contact around wound widest on side opposite muzzle; larger eccentric zone of soot deposition (can be wiped off).

Incomplete

Muzzle in contact with contoured skin surface resulting in muzzle-skin gap (variant of angled contact)

Variably located seared blackened contact zone adjacent to wound

Near Contact

Muzzle a very short distance from skin (grey zone between contact and close range)

Wide blackened zone of soot baked into seared skin around wound (may not be distinguishable from loose contact).

Angled NearContact

as above but muzzle at acute angle to skin

Eccentric seared blackened zone and larger paler zone as in angled contact but widest on same side as muzzle (contrast angled contact).

Primer Gunshot Residues (GSR) Analysis

Analytical methods include atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES).

Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive analysis (SEM-EDA)

atomic force microscopy (AFM) are used to identify the primer residue qualitatively.

For these methods, samples must be obtained from the skin surfaces of a victim at the scene

The method of collection for residue is carried out in the field directly onto the gummed surface of a chuck, or holder, applied to the surface (skin or other material) to be tested.

The chuck, with the residue on the surface, can be directly prepared for examination in the SEM

Serology and DNAConduct body fluid analysis,

including DNA analysis for blood stains found on gun in firearm suicides for identification and

comparison.

Questioned documents

Conduct handwriting comparisons

The presence of suicide note must be investigated to

detect forgery

An analyst will use a magnifying glass

and sometimes even a microscope in the comparison process.

An analyst is looking for a wide array of individual traits:

Curves, slants, the proportional size of letters (relationship between size of short and tall letters and between the height and width of a single letter),

the slope of writing

the use and appearance of connecting lines (links) between letters..

analyst will try to find examples of each letter in each placement

Letter form

Line form

How smooth and dark the lines are which indicates how much pressure the writer applies while writing and the speed of the writing.

Formatting

The spacing between letters, the spacing between words, the placement of words on a line and the margins a writer leaves empty on a page. It also considers spacing between lines. In other words, do strokes from words on one line intersect with strokes in words on the line below and above it?

Example of Kurt Cobain’s Death note

Courtney’s handwriting