Case Reports · Case Report C1

Homicide-Suicide of an Older Couple Involving Complex Suicide: An Unusual Case

Dogan KH, Demirci S, Gulmen MK

Forensic Science Seminar · 2015 · Volume 5 · Issue 1 · pp. 31–34

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Abstract

Homicide-suicide is defi ned by a homicide committed by someone who subsequently commits suicide. “Dyadic death” term has been also used for these deaths as these incidents often involve a pair of persons. Homicidesuicides usually involve a male perpetrator, who commits one or more homicides and then commits suicide. They generally occur within a family and may involve children. There is a love or spousal relationship between the victim and perpetrator in most cases. Three types of homicide-suicides have been classified; familial, spousal/consortial, and extrafamilial types. They have different sub-classifications defi ned by age of individuals and relationship. Homicide-suicides in older couples were interpreted as dyadic deaths, dual suicide pacts, or homicide-suicides with altruistic motives which are attributed to the perpetrator. We present a homicide-suicide of an older couple involving a complex suicide. A 77-year-old retired man, who lived with his 72-year-old wife, was described as hot tempered by his relatives. On the incident day, his wife reported to her neighbors that he was acting strangely, and she was worried. Later that evening, he killed his wife by hitting her on the head with an iron bar. He then killed himself by cutting his abdominal region and by hanging himself. A detailed death scene investigation and autopsies of the couple were performed. The case presented is unique because it involves both homicide-suicide and complex suicide which is defi ned as using more than one method to induce death. In addition, a homicide-suicide case involving complex suicide has not been reported in the literature before.

Keywords: Forensic science; Homicide-suicide; Dyadic death; Death

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