HOMICIDE BY STRANGLING OR DUMPING WITH POSTMORTEM INJURIES AFTER HEROIN POISONING

During construction work, the corpse of a 33-year-old man, H.L., who h ad been missing for 2 years and 4 months, was found in the cellar of a house. Primary findings indicated an attack directed at the throat (h ematomas of the soft tissue and broken larynx). The owner of the cella r claimed, however, that H.L. had died of an overdose of heroin and th at he had removed the body to avoid trouble with the authorities. Morp hine poisoning was confirmed by chemical analysis. The case is interes ting because of (a) the good condition of the corpse after over 2 year s, (b) macroscopic and microscopic evidence of hematomas of the cervic al soft tissue, (c) successful chemical analysis providing evidence de spite a long time since death, and (d) considerations regarding the vi tality of injury findings.