Haemorrhage in muscles of the neck and back region in a case of drowning

English (OpenAlex)

In corpses removed from water, when there are no specific findings related to drowning in water, there are difficulties in determining the mechanism and origin of death. The death of the individual may be related to natural causes before entering the water or when in the water, or to trauma or other non-natural causes. A 40-year old woman who had been married for approximately 3 years was reported missing for 1 day. She had argued with her husband 3 days previously about children from a previous marriage. She had threatened to drown herself. Eyewitnesses stated that she had previously been rescued after a suicide attempt in the same pond where her body was found. Three days after the attempted suicide, while her husband was away from the city, the woman went out without telling the family. As she had previously stated to her brother that she would commit suicide by water, the family searched the pond and found the body floating face-down in the water. In the case here presented, the rarely seen finding of intramuscular haemorrhage was observed. It is emphasized that attention must be paid to these rare findings when differentiating between strangulation and drowning.