ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 7

Investigation of Death Through Body Writing: A Case Study
Taylor, LL
Chief, Questioned Document Section, Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, AR

Hnilica, V
Associate medical examiner, Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, AR

(Received 2 March 1991; accepted 1 April 1991)

Abstract

Various surfaces or substrates are often encountered in the examination of questioned writing; however, no writing is more interesting than that found on the human body nor more challenging when the writing in question is linked to a death investigation. The body of an 18-year-old male was brought to the State Crime Laboratory, Little Rock, Arkansas, with a gunshot wound to the head and several messages written on his arms and chest. This paper will discuss the examination of evidence used to determine the manner of death through a cooperative effort between the Medical Examiner's Section and the Questioned Document Section of the Crime Laboratory.

Keywords:
questioned documents, handwriting, postmortem examinations, suicide, body writing, unnatural death, hand printing identification, cutaneous ink sign

Paper ID: JFS13184J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS13184J
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