Homicide Followed by Suicide: A Quebec Case Series, 1988–1990

Abstract

Homicide followed by suicide is a rare but tragic event. Psychiatrists and mental health professionals are often called upon to comment publicly on the event or to help the "hidden victims," the survivors of the tragedy. There were 39 such cases in Quebec between 1988 and 1990, and they have been reviewed through the examination of the coroner's files. The epidemiological rates of homicide, suicide, homicide-suicide and the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the perpetrators and victims are presented and compared with the international literature. Sociological and psychopathological hypotheses are presented with a special reference to the possibility of various subgroups of perpetrators. Research needs to be pursued along the lines of more detailed case studies of psychopathological characteristics using the psychological autopsy approach. The reconstruction of the couple's relationship and of the final circumstances leading up to the tragedy may provide warning indices that could be helpful in preventing such tragedies.

A demographic study of homicide–suicide in the Pretoria region over a 5 year period

“…17,18,20 A study of intimate femicide-suicide by Matthews et al covering 25 South African Medico-legal laboratories, reports a intimate femicide-suicide rate of 1.7 per 100,000. 15 Although most of the victims in this study are female, the lack of information with regard to victim perpetrator relationship in our study compromises assessment with regard to the actual rate of intimate femicide-suicide in Pretoria.…”

Hostility in Homicide–Suicide Events: A Typological Analysis with Data from a Chinese Society, Hong Kong, 1989–2003

“…This study emphasizes the diversity and differences found in the HS phenomenon; however, the common characteristics of all HS events are equally important. For instance, it is widely reported that, regardless of subtypes, HS offenders are older than ordinary homicide offenders (West 1965;Buteau et al 1993;Byard et al 1999;Milroy 1995), and most HS events are preplanned (Cavan 1928;Daly and Wilson 1988;Milroy 1995). Only when these core characteristics are identified, can questions such as why offenders did not simply commit suicide or homicide only be answered.…”

Murder–suicide: A reaction to interpersonal crises

“…It is clear that this action is a statistically rare event [2][3][4][5]. When compared with individuals who have committed suicide but not committed a homicide, and with individuals who have committed a homicide but who did not commit suicide, it has been reported that the homicide-suicide group more closely resembled suicide-only individuals in terms of demographic and psychological variables [6][7][8][9].…”

“…As mentioned, it has been reported that homicide-suicide perpetrators share more characteristics with suicide-only than homicide-only perpetrators [6][7][8][9]. However, the differences between those who engage in spousal/consortial, familial and extrafamilial homicide-suicides may be marked.…”