NCJ Number
203495
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 48 Issue: 6 Dated: November 2003 Pages: 1219-1225
Date Published
November 2003
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article discusses whether canid scavenging produce bilateral fracturing of the mandible indistinguishable from gunshot wounds to the mouth.
Abstract
The skeletonized remains of an unidentifiable male were recovered from a forested part of Greater Vancouver, Canada, in August, 2000 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Authorities ruled the death as suicide. The only signs of perimortem trauma were symmetrically fractured coronoid processes of the mandible, which could be attributed to a gunshot in the mouth. It was hypothesized that the mechanism of death was gunshot wound to the mouth area, with fractures of the coronoid processes, and possibly the mandibular condyles, as a result of the explosive effect of muzzle gases. The trauma from the blast would attract scavengers to the cranial region initially, rather than the typical sequence of scavenging, which would see the first skeletal trauma on the thorax and the arms. To test whether scavenging produced bilaterally symmetrical damage to the coronoid processes indistinguishable from damage due to intra-oral gunshot wounding, an experimental model using animal remains was provided. The hypothesis that the mandible of this case demonstrates trauma caused by gunshot wounding and not solely canid scavenging was tested using three different groups of immature sheep crania and mandibles. The results show that the mandibular fractures seen in this case were entirely consistent with intra-oral perimortem gunshot trauma using an animal model. This is based on the location of the fractures at the base of the coronoid processes, the tissue shrinkage parallel to the fracture, the color of the fracture in comparison to the rest of the element, and the lack of scavenging artifacts in the direct vicinity of the coronoid fractures. 7 figures, 5 tables, 13 references