[hermantheshocker]

I colorized the original black and white image.
A 40-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment lying supine on the bed and the upper trunk and legs were fully covered by clothing. The head and neck were almost totally skeletonized apart from a small portion of subcutaneous tissue and facial muscles left on the cheek-bones and chin. The lower partial artificial denture was lying free inside the mouth cavity. Significantly, there was hardly any blood at the scene except for a small amount of dried blood on the head and on parts of the clothing next to the neck region.


Fig.1 Colorized image.

There was no sign of a struggle and the apartment was secure. A pit bull terrier owned by the partner was inside the apartment. The woman was last been seen alive by the partner 37 hours before. According to the postmortem changes, the time span between death and the finding of the deceased was about 1 day. A crime was suspected and a forensic autopsy revealed lobar pneumonia with uniform consolidation of the lower lobe of the right lung, histologically appearing as early red hepatization of acute pneumonia.

Besides pulmonary edema of the left lung and an acute right-sided dilatation of the heart, a slightly enlarged fatty liver was found. The larynx, thyroid gland, parts of the carotid arteries, and the upper fifth of the esophagus and trachea were missing. On the back of the head, a large scalping injury was found. Inspection of the injury margins on the neck showed v-shaped and rhomboid-shaped punctured wounds in the immediate vicinity of the damaged soft tissue margins extending up to 1.2 cm in depth and up to 1.0 cm in diameter. There was no obvious vital subcutaneous bleeding in the ragged wound margins.


Fig.2 The original black and white image.

Histological examination revealed no vital reactions neither in the soft tissue margins nor in the transected carotid arteries. There was no evidence of blood aspiration or air embolism. Apart from the lungs, no relevant findings attributable to death were found in the other organs by histological examination. Toxicological analysis showed an alcohol level of 194 mg/dl. Death was attributed to lobar pneumonia. According to the autopsy findings and death scene investigation, the injuries were found to be caused postmortem by the pit bull terrier found at the scene.

Although the occurrence of artificial postmortem injuries due to animal scavenging is a well-known fact to forensic death investigators, the morphological appearance of these injuries can be misinterpreted by police officers investigating the suspected crime scene or by the consulted medical practitioner.

In this case, the size and depth of the v-shaped and rhomboid-shaped punctured wounds adjacent to the damaged edges are typical for teeth marks caused by a large dog and were inflicted by a pit bull terrier found at the scene. Stab wound-like bite marks are diagnostic for canine dentition of carnivore origin. In contrast to the finely serrated edges found in postmortem damage of rodent origin, the wound margin of postmortem injuries caused by carnivores appears less regular and often rounded. Another morphological criterion for injuries by carnivores origin is the potential finding of claw-induced linear scratch-type abrasions in the vicinity of damaged areas as described for dogs and big cats.

Frequently the face, hands, and legs are destroyed by postmortem animal interference as they are unclothed and thus easily accessible. However, there are cases where such lesions have been noted in other areas of the body which have been covered by the cloths including genitals but they are rare.

In cases with postmortem animal predation, the psychological state of the animal is a possible reason for its behavior. One possible explanation for such behavior is that a pet will try to help an unconscious owner first by licking or nudging, but when this fails to produce any results the behavior of the animal can become more frantic and in a state of panic can lead to biting. The motive is not to attack the owner but is a kind of ‘‘displacement’’ behavior motivated by confusion and fear. The fact that the efforts of the animal will obviously be fruitless explains why this can easily escalate and culminate in excessive mutilation.

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This post is for educational purposes only and is nonprofit. Under Section 107 of the US Copyright Act of 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. OP is not a medical expert. No copyright infringement intended. This post does not encourage or glorify violence/harassment. Images might have been upscaled and enhanced. Text might have been shortened and simplified/reorganized for online view.

[mr_feelgood]

Brutal.
That picture is gunna be staying in my head rent free for a while.

[Karma]

Part of the food chain. She was dead. Don’t suppose she cares.
RIP.

[ride]

Bitch had some hardware in that mouth. Anyone else reminded of Jaws from James Bond?

[Caf002]

I'll probably end up on here on one of Herman's post next time I give my Shih tzu a short clip when they weather is freaky from one day to the next. Minus the silver in the mouth!

Great post, Herman!

[kilyurselph]

hermantheshocker: I noticed that, like this one, you colorize many of these photos yourself. I'm curious as to how you do it and how long it takes you to do it?

Beyond that, your post are always good man. In fact you and Simone are what makes me continue visiting the site. Of course there are other post and posters here that are good as well but your's are usually the most interesting. So yeah, I appreciate that man, and I recognize it's probably a time consuming pain in the ass putting these together. So you get 1 of these and 2 of these for that.

But don't think you can start slacking now you god-damned potlicker you! I know ninjutsu, I've been through Diamond Dave's ( home of the Judy Chop ) Ninji skoo, and I ain't afraid to use it. OK? So, just keep'em coming guy.

[William May]

Originally Posted by ride ↗

Bitch had some hardware in that mouth. Anyone else reminded of Jaws from James Bond?

I liked the one where he lost his parachute and plunged through the circus tent.

[Jeff4221]

I knew someone who died in her sleep and wasn't found for ten days. She had two dogs, one a pug and I don't know the other one's breed. Very friendly and playful dogs. But when she died, dogs gotta dog. They had to look at her tattoos to identify her.
P.S. The dogs are now doing good, so there's that.

[CreepyDeathShrine]

I feel so bad the poor doggy had to go through that.

Funny, in the past I have been told a dog WON'T eat the face of its dead master out of love, respect, loyalty and would start from the feet up.
Somehow I'm the bad guy for sending the lady at the dog shelter all these pictures.

[hermantheshocker]

Originally Posted by kilyurselph ↗

[SIZE="4"]hermantheshocker: I noticed that, like this one, you colorize many of these photos yourself. I'm curious as to how you do it and how long it takes you to do it?

Thanks. I use Photoshop. This one was relatively easy, only took about 2 hours I would say.