An unusual case of suicide by sharp force
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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Double Direct Injection of Blood into the Cisterna Magna as a Model of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
Published on: August 30, 2020
Guido Viel1, Giovanni Cecchetto, Massimo Montisci
1Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health-Legal Medicine, Via Falloppio 50, 35121 Padova, Italy. guido.viel@unipd.it
Abstract:
A 43-year-old woman was found dead inside the bathtub in a sitting position with a knife embedded in chest. Multiple sharp force wounds were present: 4 stab wounds in the sternal region, 2 cut wounds in the neck, several longitudinal and transverse cuts in the arms. Scene circumstances and autopsy findings pointed toward a suicidal etiology. The case presented some particular aspects that allowed us to identify the mechanism of production of the lethal thoracic wound and to partially reconstruct the time-sequence of injuries.
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