Suicidal deaths involving explosives unconnected to terrorism are rare. The investigation of deaths from explosive devices requires a multidisciplinary collaborative effort, as demonstrated in this study. Reported are 2 cases of nonterrorist suicidal explosive-related deaths with massive craniocerebral destruction. The first case involves a 20-year-old man who was discovered in the basement apartment of his father’s home seconds after an explosion. At the scene investigators recovered illegal improvised power-technique explosive devices, specifically M-100s, together with the victim’s handwritten suicide note. The victim exhibited extensive craniofacial injuries, which medicolegal officials attributed to the decedent’s intentionally placing one of these devices in his mouth. The second case involves a 46-year-old man who was found by his wife at his home. In the victim’s facial wound, investigators recovered portions of a detonator blasting cap attached to electrical lead wires extending to his right hand. A suicide note was discovered at the scene. The appropriate collection of physical evidence at the scene of the explosion and a detailed examination of the victim’s history is as important as documentation of injury patterns and recovery of trace evidence at autopsy. A basic understanding of the variety of explosive devices is also necessary. This investigatory approach greatly enhances the medicolegal death investigator’s ability to reconstruct the fatal event as a means of separating accidental and homicidal explosive-related deaths from this uncommon form of suicide.
Deaths associated with explosives typically involve either accidental detonation at the workplace or homicidal discharge during wartime and terrorist activity. 1–3 Nonterrorist suicidal deaths caused by explosives are infrequent and require careful investigation. In addition to a comprehensive scene investigation, which includes the exhaustive collection of physical evidence and a thorough evaluation of circumstantial factors, the forensic autopsy provides indispensable information. The autopsy not only confirms the cause of death of the victim but also aids in determining the manner of death. The character and position of the explosive device in reference to the body become essential information gleaned best from the postmortem examination. The anatomic localization of the suicidal explosive injuries is generally symmetric, in contrast to the variations encountered in accidental and terrorist injuries. 3,4 Moreover, because the victim’s body often captures particles emitted by the explosive device, a thorough collection of trace evidence at autopsy may provide clues about the specific type of device used in the explosion. 5
Presented are 2 cases that demonstrate characteristic investigative and autopsy findings associated with suicidal explosive deaths unrelated to acts of terrorism.