A fatal case of a single stab wound penetrating the small, narrow atlantoaxial interspace.

A 73-year-old woman was found dead with a small wound on the nape of her neck. The wound was oval in shape, measuring about 0.6 cm in length along the major axis, with a slightly irregular margin. The wound injured the medulla oblongata through the atlantoaxial interspace, and reached the left vertebral artery. This wound was found to be the cause of death. The wound depth was 5 cm in length, with the direction of the wound canal from posterior-lower right to anterior-upper left. The size and appearance of the wound corresponded to those of the horizontal section of a skewer used by the assailant. Such a fatal case due to a single stabbing of the medullar oblongata by the chance gliding of a skewer through the small, narrow atlantoaxial interspace is considered to be exceptional.