Vom Rücken durch die Brust ins Auge – Ungewöhnlicher gemeinschaftlicher Suizid mittels einer Schusswaffe

The bodies of a 27-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man were found lying entwined on their bed. A large-caliber revolver lay on the bed next to them. The forensic examinations at the discovery site and the subsequent medico-legal autopsies revealed a fatal, sagittal gunshot wound of the thorax with a trajectory from back to front in the woman. The underlying man showed a retained projectile with a sagittal bullet track from the entrance wound in the middle of the anterior chest wall to the spinal column. Examinations at the scene carried out to estimate the time since death showed consistent results for both persons with a coincident time of death approximately 7 h before the time of examination. The results of the subsequently conducted toxicological investigations revealed an acute influence by exceptionally high concentrations of amphetamine in the woman and a combined intoxication with amphetamine, ecstasy and alcohol in the man. Both individuals showed metabolites indicative of previous cocaine consumption. In conjunction with the police investigations, the forensic medical findings strongly suggested an unusual case of double suicide.