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Suicide by fire in a car trunk: a case with potential pitfalls
Thomas W Adair1, Laura DeLong, Michael J Dobersen
1Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, 13101 E. Broncos Parkway, Centennial, CO 80112, USA.
Abstract:
We present an unusual case in which an adult female committed suicide by fire while enclosed in the trunk of her vehicle. A finding of suicide was reached only because several key investigative facts were uncovered. Without these discoveries the case may still remain open as a suspicious death. Fire is rarely used as a mechanism of suicide in Western culture, and, as such, similar cases should be reported to advance our recognition of this phenomenon.
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