POSTMORTEM INJURIES INFLICTED BY DOMESTIC GOLDEN-HAMSTER - MORPHOLOGICAL ASPECTS AND EVIDENCE BY DNA TYPING

A case of postmortem animal scavenging by a domestic golden hamster (M esocricetus auratus) is presented. A 43-year-old woman, who was not un der medical treatment, was found dead in her flat with the lower part of her body naked and her legs straddled. Her face showed extensive le sions of the soft tissues which the medical examiner interpreted as vi tal scalping injuries. The total findings at the scene suggested at fi rst a sexual offence. On autopsy the face injuries were identified as postmortem defects by animal scavenging with the teeth marks typical o f rodents. In fact, the deceased had kept in her flat a free-range gol den hamster whose burrow contained numerous fingernail-sized pieces of skin, fatty and muscular tissue. By means of DNA typing it was proved that these pieces of tissue belonged to the deceased.