Homicidal Death Due to Blunt Force Trauma Disguised as Burn: A Case Report

We report the case of a 37-year-old male whose burned body was discovered under suspicious circumstances in an abandoned location. Postmortem examination revealed the body in a pugilistic attitude with extensive burns, sparing the upper half of the face, portions of the scalp, and parts of the back. The absence of a line of redness at the junction of burnt and unburnt areas indicated that the burns were sustained in the postmortem period. Multiple lacerated wounds and fractures of the facial bones with ecchymosis of surrounding structures were noted, confirming antemortem blunt force trauma. The tracheal mucosa was unremarkable, with no evidence of soot deposition, thereby ruling out antemortem inhalation of smoke. Internal examination revealed subarachnoid and subdural hemorrhages over the left cerebral hemisphere and at the base of the brain, findings consistent with fatal cranio-cerebral injury resulting from blunt force trauma. Correlation of external and internal findings established that death resulted from cranio-cerebral damage due to multiple blunt force injuries, with postmortem burning inflicted to conceal the homicidal nature of the death.