Two unusual stab injuries to the neck: homicide or self-infliction?

Abstract

A 31-year-old woman was found dead by her daughter, lying in the living room which showed a large pool of blood, secondary droplets and stains from arterial blood spatter, dropping and contact. This bloody scene and two puncture wounds at the anterior aspect of the neck, one of them transecting the left common carotid artery leading to exsanguination, arose suspicion of homicide. However, the wound morphology including notches and a parallel skin incision as well as microradiography demonstrated that the two puncture wounds had been produced by glass. At the scene, a broken wine glass with two dagger-like tips had been standing on a table in front of a sofa where the woman had been sitting, and she most likely sustained the injury when she suddenly moved her head downwards, thus moving into the protruding tips. This self-inflicted accident demonstrates that inspection of the scene and synthesis of autopsy and scene findings can be crucial for a successful medico-legal reconstruction. The mechanism of producing the accidental injury is very extraordinary, in that the woman actively moved into a shattered wine glass instead of falling into an intact architectural glass surface.