NCJ Number
145585
Journal
Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal Volume: 26 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1993) Pages: 87-91
Date Published
1993
Length
5 pages
Annotation
A case involving the investigation of the death of a 14-year-old boy demonstrated the basic but often-forgotten foundation of medicolegal death investigations: the mutually beneficial effects of a cooperative effort between medical and law enforcement officials.
Abstract
The boy died of an intermediate-range gunshot wound of the head. The death was first thought by police investigators to be a homicide. The police detective supervisor felt that the case represented a typical homicide and that the medical examiner's presence at the scene of death, a compact passenger automobile, would be an unnecessary redundancy. However, the youth's acquaintances insisted that the firearm had accidentally discharged as the youth was playing with it between his legs. At the case officer's urging, the medical examiner was asked to examine the car, where he detected a previously unnoticed deposit of material indicating the parallel or tangential discharge of a revolver. This finding and findings from the autopsy substantiated the allegations of the victim's acquaintances that the wound was accidentally self-inflicted. Findings demonstrated how a thorough scene investigation and cooperation between medicolegal and law enforcement investigators allowed the death to be properly classified as accidental, sparing additional anguish for the decedent's family and potential suspects and saving resources that would have been spent on a fruitless homicide investigation. Photographs and 8 references