[trean362]

Originally Posted by Padraig Flaherty ↗

How do they know, for certain, she wasn't strangled to death, and then covered up as an apparent suicide?! Unfortunately, pregnancies are not always well received, even by fathers...

That is quite a deep rope mark on her neck though,

[Moloko]

Originally Posted by trean362 ↗

That is quite a deep rope mark on her neck though,

He could have strangled her til she was unconscious then strung her up. I know dead weight is awkward, but she looks quite thin.

[Razorhead]

Great post. Another one for your bladder thread.

[kellyhound]

quite the luck they didn't censor this pic

[Vedderman]

Originally Posted by Moloko ↗

He could have strangled her til she was unconscious then strung her up. I know dead weight is awkward, but she looks quite thin.

Homicides staged as suicidal hangings are definitely a thing that happens, though they do tend to be rare. But even when they do occur, in almost all verified cases I have studied, the victim was already dead when the staging happened. I have never seen or heard of a case where they hanged an unconscious body as a suicide staging. Doesn't mean it can't and hasn't happened, of course. Just that such a process would be remarkably rare even amidst a subset of remarkably rare events (staging strangulation murders as suicides)

There was a fairly famous (because it involved some high ranking political and police officials) case from Cambodia that I covered here a few years ago, but it happens most frequently in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, etc). It is often used by families to steal dowry money.

I have a few sets of court records of it happening in the US, but it is fairly rare in most western nations as a method of dispatch.

I'd have a stronger (though still entirely amateur) opinion to render if we had better photos here, but with just one and no clear imagery of the scene, neck or hands, it's really tough to assess at all.

Strangulation, whether ligature (mechanical) or with hands (manual), leaves very different evidence than a self-induced hanging with a noose. Even a subsequent hanging would have difficulty masking some of these things. Imprints around the neck and throat are different, the hyoid bone is almost always fractured in manual strangulations, but only rarely in hangings aside from the very old or those with bone disease.

Fingers and hands will often suffer minor abrasions during hanging because the decedent will frequently claw at the noose, either in the last moments of conscious regret or unconsciously once their brain checks out. But these are very different from defensive wounds and scratches that are frequent in strangulations.

Salivary traces matter as well. The salivary glands essentially shut down once death occurs, so if a hanging body has a big wet trail of saliva and mucus running down the chin and shirt, chances are strong that they were alive when hanged.

Similar principles can and have been legally applied with urine staining from peri-mortem bladder releases. For example, I did a case study of a homicide in South Carolina a few years ago where a man murdered his wife and staged it as a hanging suicide. When the police documented the scene, they noted that her sweatpants were wet with urine halfway down to her knees, but there was no liquid beneath where she was hanging. Contrary-wise, they discovered a wet patch on the carpet next to the bed, which was determined to be urine and were able to use it to get him to confess that he had strangled her on the floor and then hung her body up without realizing that she'd left evidence on the carpet.

Anyway, there are lots of things to look for. But sometimes they don't even bother to look in nations with strong police training, let alone the third world. The newspaper said that an autopsy had been done and the case was being investigated by local authorities for a possible homicide, so maybe something made them nervous or maybe the cops just decided to be careful that day, not sure. I haven't seen any follow-up articles, but she was not a citizen of the country where she was killed, so that may be drawing a little more attention.

What you're suggesting is certainly plausible. And yes, she does look thin and would be relatively easy to maneuver compared to many. Without better photos, we don't have much to go on from or vantage in the cheapseats. But I tend to apply Occam's Razor to suicidal hanging cases anywhere but India. :)

[Vedderman]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

quite the luck they didn't censor this pic

Well, technically they did. But just her face. You can still make out a lot of other detail, so I didn't mind posting it.

[RogerSmithLikesDrugs]

Maybe because she lived in Honduras for one thing

Originally Posted by akyan ↗

Nice find, wounder why she killed herself.

[CatBatMan]

Originally Posted by FrankRagsdale ↗

well, she pissed her shorts.

Did she, though? That could be anyone’s piss.

[smudge10]

Originally Posted by CatBatMan ↗

Did she, though? That could be anyone’s piss.

So you think someone else pissed on her shorts.

[btkddwsdkk]

Originally Posted by Vedderman ↗

Homicides staged as suicidal hangings are definitely a thing that happens, though they do tend to be rare. But even when they do occur, in almost all verified cases I have studied, the victim was already dead when the staging happened.
...

But I tend to apply Occam's razor to suicidal hanging cases anywhere but India. :)

This is truly enlightening and educational. So well written in every sense - pathological, forensic and geopolitical. Thank you, Vedderman!