Di Vella Giancarlo, Neri Margherita, Belviso Maura
Section of Legal Medicine, DI.M.I.M.P., University of Bari, Policlinico, Italy.
J Forensic Sci. 2002 May;47(3):645-7.
In suicidal asphyxia smothering is very rare, especially when caused by winding strips of adhesive tape around the head to cover the nose and mouth. The authors report a very unusual case in which the deceased, a 66-year-old man, was found with two strips of tape wound around his head: the first, more superficial tape was wrapped six times and the second was wrapped nine times. Only integration of the crime scene data with those of the autopsy and the patient's psychological profile enabled identification of the event as suicide.