Vehicle-assisted suicidal strangulation: A case report and literature review

Vehicle-assisted suicidal strangulation is an unusual method of suicide where the victim completes suicide by pulling a ligature tied around their neck using the acceleration of the vehicle they are driving. This report describes a case of a 48-year-old man who completed suicide by tying a rope to his neck and to a parked tractor, then using his car to pull the rope. The on-scene investigation found the body a few meters from his car, which was still running, and a snapped rope tied to a tractor nearby. The autopsy revealed a bruised, encircling ligature mark with underlying injuries to the neck organs and a fracture of the hyoid bone and the C2 vertebra. Additionally, a laceration of the left parietal region was identified. A literature search identified 17 other cases of vehicle-assisted ligature strangulation, which were compared to the present one to identify common autopsy and on-scene findings. These cases usually involve high-intensity forces, which can cause severe wounds atypical for suicidal strangulation and result in messy, puzzling death scenes. As such, this case highlights a rare method of suicide and emphasizes the need for both forensic pathologists and police officers to be aware of this method to avoid misinterpretation of the on-scene and autopsy findings.