ABSTRACT

It is known that deaths owing to low voltage electric current are generally the result of accidents. Suicide by electric current using a convenient mechanism is rare. Furthermore, murders appearing to be suicides with electricity are reported. For these reasons, in these kinds of deaths, the death examination and autopsy findings need to be evaluated together with the crime scene investigation findings, and a detailed description of the mechanisms found at the crime scene and the mechanism of death is essential. Death by low voltage electric current injury occurs by three mechanisms. A 27-year-old male was found in a hotel room, with an electricity cable fixed to his body, openended cables for the wall light on the wall that the head of the bed leaned against, the on-off button of the described wall light just above the head of the bed, and a television from which the cable had been ripped off at the foot of the bed lying on its screen. It was determined that the metal ends of the cable had been exposed by peeling back the plastic ends, one end had been fixed to the wall light cable on the wall and the other end had been fixed beneath the left nipple with a gold belt.Our case is discussed along with details of the death examination, exploration reports, crime scene investigation report, photographs and autopsy findings. We hope that this case, which was declared to be suicide by electrocution at the end of the medico-legal investigations, will help physicians who might work with this type of case in the future.