Suicide pact by drowning with bound wrists: A case of medico-legal importance

Introduction

Suicide pacts are when two or more persons agree to end their lives together at a particular place and for a particular reason by pre-decided methods.^1,2 The incidence of reported cases of suicide pacts is less than 1% in most of studies of suicides.^2–4 Literature indicates that the age group of victims who enter into suicide pacts range from adolescent or young adults ^2,3,5,6 to the elderly.^7–10 The relationship status between persons involved in such pacts may be parent–children, lovers, married couples, siblings, friends, etc. ¹¹ Usually one person decides the manner of death while the other agrees and participates in the act. Less painful but assured methods of deaths are chosen by the victims with sufficient planning. The methods commonly used are hanging, firearms, poisoning, etc.^7,12 To establish a suicidal pact, it is important to obtain a thorough history, crime scene investigation, analysis of death notes and autopsy. We report a rare case of a suicide pact by drowning, highlighting the importance of bound limbs which has immense medico-legal importance when determining the manner of death.

Case report

Two fully clothed bodies, one of a male and the other of a female, were found floating in a river with faces downwards in the early morning (Figure 1). The right hand of the female was found bound to the left hand of the male at the wrist region using a cloth piece secured by a fixed knot (Figure 2). As the bodies were in an advanced stage of decomposition, the relatives identified them through their clothes. Police investigations revealed that the deceased were from different families and social background. The male victim was the Rakhi brother (adopted brother/brother of convenience) of the female victim. In India, there is a custom of declaring a brotherhood relation to a man by a woman by tying a Rakhi, or holy thread, around his wrist. The police also revealed that the male victim had had pre-marital physical relations with his girlfriend, who happened to be the cousin of the female victim. The resulting pregnancy was aborted at a private clinic by her mother. The male victim had been assaulted by his girlfriend’s brother a few days back as a consequence of this affair. Both the deceased had been missing from their homes for the past five days. Handwritten notes left by both the deceased were recovered from their respective residences. The male victim had explained in his note that he intended to die as he felt guilty about what he had done. The female victim had explained in her note that she could not live without her Rakhi brother. OPEN IN VIEWER

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Figure 2.

Bound wrists of the victims.

Autopsy findings

The dead bodies of a 20-year-old male and 16-year-old female were brought to the mortuary for medico-legal autopsy. The clothes of both the deceased were wet. Rigor mortis was absent on both dead bodies. Adipocere was present over the bodies. Palms and soles showed soddening and wrinkling. Mud and sand particles were present in the trachea up to the bronchioles in both the bodies. Stomach showed presence of dirty water with mud. All the organs including brain showed liquefactive changes. Cause of death in both cases was antemortem drowning some five days earlier.

Discussion

Suicide by drowning is not an uncommon event and is widely reported in forensic literature; however, there is a lack of reported cases of suicide pacts by drowning. Bardale R et al ¹³ reported on a married couple who had jumped together into a lake with suicidal intent. Cases of suicidal pact by drowning are also reported in the Indian lay press where two girls, who were cousins, had drowned together in a well, fearing separation by their parents. ¹⁴ Another case was reported from west Tyrone in Northern Ireland where two men entered into a suicidal pact on the internet and drowned together in a lake. ¹⁵

In our case, two persons were found floating in a river bound at the wrist. The autopsy concluded cause of death as antemortem drowning. The victims were neither blood relatives nor in love or in a spousal relationship. They were in an artificial relationship of brother–sister by “convenience” and a suicide pact in this relationship is unusual. Drowning might have been chosen by the victims because it is considered to be one of the less violent forms of suicide. ¹⁶

Police found the victims’ handwritten suicide notes at their homes which, as noted, mentioned the motive for ending their lives. The suicide note also revealed that the male victim allegedly decided to end his life and told his “Rakhi sister”. She being emotionally dependant on him had decided to participate in the act of suicide. The presence of suicide notes is important when investigating suicide pacts as they can suggest the manner and motive for such acts and reveal the common intentions and preparedness of victims to die together in a pact. ¹² It also, in this case, provided circumstantial evidence of who was the actual initiator for the suicide pact; here, it was the male victim. ¹⁷ While they helped in suggesting the manner of death, they were silent on the suicide pact or drowning.

The finding of bound wrists in drowning cases is medico-legally important in interpreting various manners of death. Accidental death of a victim can occur while trying to rescue a drowning person with the help of any cloth or rope. In such cases, cadaveric spasm occurring in victim can accidentally drown the person who tries to save the victim. Bound limbs in drowning cases can also raise the possibility of homicide depending on the manner of tying of limbs, placement of knots, signs of struggle or injury or intoxication. It may be seen in children or elderly people who can offer less resistance due to age. It is also not uncommon to dispose of dead bodies by dropping them into water by binding their limbs to heavy objects like stones, to conceal the crime. The finding of bound limbs may be present even in dyadic deaths (homicide–suicide) where one victim is killed by the other and then bound together before he/she commits suicide. Dyadic deaths and suicide pacts are difficult for investigators to differentiate ¹ but meticulous autopsy can help distinguish one from another.

Binding of limbs in drowning can also be seen in persons committing solitary suicide. It could suggest the victims’ strong determination to die and to prevent them from saving themselves at the last minute from drowning. The reason for binding limbs in suicidal pacts could be to guarantee simultaneous death in both individuals and also to ensure being discovered together after death, as seen in our case. The period of time when they went missing from their homes was the same for both the deceased as was the time and cause of death. The binding of wrists helped in ascertaining the manner of death to be suicidal pact because both the bodies were found together. It would have been difficult otherwise, as the bodies could have floated away in the river and found separately at different places and times. Although handwritten death notes were found, the victims did not mention they had entered into a pact or where they intended to carry this out.