Suicide by head explosion: unusual blast wave injuries to the cardiovascular system

Abstract

A 57-year-old employee in a military scientific institute was found acephalous in a supine position in an anteroom to the bunker. On the walls was abundant spattering of blood and tissue, concentrated above shoulder height. A mobile ignition device stood on the control desk. The complete destruction of the head down to the cervical spine suggested that the explosive charge (RDX) detonated in his mouth. The hands were virtually uninjured. The pressure effect in vessels caused numerous tears to the wall of the carotid arteries and the left vertebral artery, a tear-off of the left carotid artery of the aortic arch, and a 2.5-cm long crack of the thoracic aorta with 540-ml blood in the pericardial sac and a shredded window-like disruption of the left aortic valve cusp. The autopsy also showed an infraction of the sternum from the inside, and a contusion of the superior lobes of both lungs. The trace pattern on the right arm suggested suicide. A bone fragment of the mandible penetrated the right biceps muscle as a secondary projectile.

Misuse and Modification of Fireworks With Fatal Injury

“…Due to the fact that air is the conductor of pressure in primary blast injuries, such injury usually affects gas-filled organs such as the lungs. 11,13,14 This decedent did sustain secondary blast injuries resulting from the projectile or debris striking him. 1 These small injuries surrounding the main impact site were likely from fragments of the plastic base itself.…”

Accidental head explosion: An unusual blast wave injury as a result of self-made fireworks

“…Schyma et al [21] described a decapitation with complete destruction of the head due to exploding blasting cups in a suicidal manner. This case, as well as a similar incident analyzed by Allaire et al [22] showed extensive cranial damage with characteristics similar to a high velocity gunshot trauma.…”

Suicide with self-contrived guillotine

“…Darüber hinaus sind zahlreiche andere Arten der suizidalen Dekapitation beschrieben; häu-fig unter diesen sind insbesondere Dekapitationen im Zusammenhang mit Zugü-berfahrungen [2,4,7,29] und verschiedenen Erhängungsvorgängen [5,9,10,13,15,22,24]. Ferner finden sich beispielsweise andere fahrzeugassistierte Dekapitationen [1,12,25,28], aber auch das Fallen in eine freie Schlinge [27], eine Explosion im Kopf-Hals-Bereich [17] und weitere suizidale Dekapitationsvarianten [14,21]. In vielen dieser Fälle stellte sich der Leichenfundort zunächst unklar dar [16] und ließ die Bewertung der Ereignisse sowohl in Richtung eines Unfalls als auch eines Suizids oder gar eines Tötungsde-likts zu.…”