Skull Fracture with Brain Expulsion in a One-Level Jumping-Fall

Pierre Guyomarc'H (1, 2) , Maude Campagna-Vaillancourt (1) , Amir Chaltchi (1) , Anny Sauvageau (1)

1 Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale
2 PACEA - De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie

Here presented is the case of a one-level jumping-fall with extensive skull fractures and brain expulsion. The body was found on the basement floor at the foot of the stairs. At the autopsy, the skull was extensively fractured, with about half of the brain expulsed several feet away from the body. The cause of death was established as a craniocerebral trauma with brain expulsion. The circumstances and manner of death were still unclear at that time. A low fall seemed very unlikely considering the severity of the skull and brain damage. The police investigation clearly revealed that the man, in a paranoid psychotic state, attacked his wife with a knife and then was witnessed by his children to have hit his head several times with a hammer. Afterwards, they saw him running to the top of the basement stairs and jumping to the bottom of the stairs head first.

Mots clés: Forensic science; blunt force trauma; skull fracture; brain trauma; fall; pathology; autopsy

Domaines: Anthropologie biologique

Pierre Guyomarc'H, Maude Campagna-Vaillancourt, Amir Chaltchi, Anny Sauvageau. Skull Fracture with Brain Expulsion in a One-Level Jumping-Fall. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2009, 54 (6), pp.1463-1465. ⟨halshs-00457165⟩