A Rare Case of Homicidal Gagging Concealed by Fire

Fire is a good means of attempting to conceal the injuries and other marks that may indicate that the deceased was a victim of homicide. We reported a case of 37 years old female who was brought dead to emergency department in almost 95% burn condition. On autopsy a gag material (piece of red cloth) was found in mouth up to root of tongue. The cause of death is gagging in this case which was attempted to conceal by fire. Fire will almost certainly cause some destruction of forensically useful evidence. As a result, all burnt bodies must be viewed with particular care and possibility that the death might have occurred before the fire began must be considered. The finding of the soot particles in the airways and carbon monoxide in the blood indicate that person was breathing after the fire began. However, it must be strongly emphasized that the converse is not true: the absence of soot and carbon monoxide certainly does not mean that the victim must have been dead before the fire started.