Death in the ‘‘microwave oven’’

Case

Report

Death

in

the

‘‘microwave

oven’’:

A

form

of

execution

by

carbonization

Carlos

Dura˜o

*,

Marcos

P.

Machado

,

Eduardo

Daruge

Ju´nior

a_{NationalInstituteofLegalMedicineandForensicSciences,Portugal} b_{OrthopedicDepartment,HospitalVilaFrancadeXira,Lisbon,Portugal}

c_{ForensicAnthropology,LegalMedicineInstituteAfraˆnioPeixoto,RiodeJaneiro,Brazil}

d_{DepartmentofForensicDentistry,DentalFacultyofPiracicaba,StateUniversityofCampinas,FOP-UNICAMP,Brazil}

1. Introduction

Death in the ‘‘microwave oven’’ has nothing to do with microwaves energy. Itis the jargon name given to a criminal formofexecutionbycarbonizationthathasbeenadoptedbydrug dealers in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The goal is to torture and intimidatevictimsinanattemptofcorpseoccultationandtomake identificationharderorimpossible.Themethodconsistsinplacing thevictim,stillalive,insideapileoftiresandsettingitonfire.The resemblancetoanoveninspiredthepopularterm‘‘deathinthe microwaveoven’’(Fig.1).Thispaperintendstomakepublicthis veryviolentformofdeath.

2. Casereport

Thearticlepresentsfourcasesofhomicidesusing carboniza-tion.Allcasesoccurred intheslumswherevictims werekilled insidetires(‘‘microwaveoven’’).Inthefirstcase,charringwasnot completeanditwaspossibletoobservethepresenceofsootinthe tracheaandlung–Montaltisign(Fig.2)[1,2].Thecarminehuein thelungandbrainshowsthevictimwas‘‘cooked’’byheat.The heatproducesapostmortemartefactthatshouldnotbeconfused

withsubarachnoid hemorrhage.Inthis case thetoxicologywas positiveforcarbonmonoxide,theevidencethatthevictimwasstill alivewhenitwasburned.

Intheothercases(Figs.3and4)itispossibletoobservethe metalalloytirenearthecorpses.Inthefourthcasealthoughwith extensivecharringitwaspossibletoidentifyagunshotfracture.

3. Discussion

Inaforensicexaminationofacarbonizedcorpseidentificationis essential.Evenincasesoftotalcarbonizationitispossibletoestablish thevictim’ssexbyfindingtheuterusorprostatewhichinmanycases maybefoundwellpreserved[2–6].Additionalmethodsof identifica-tionsuchasradiology,forensicodontologyandforensicbiology(DNA) areamajorhelp.Alltheelementsthatmightbecapableofcontributing towardsthisidentificationprocessareessentialandamongtheseare orthopaedic prostheses, which frequently remain intact [7,8]. HoweverinmanyoftheseBraziliancasesof‘‘Deathinthemicrowave oven’’ the victim’s identification becomes quite difficult or even impossiblebecauserelativesintimidatedthroughfearofretaliation refusetocollaboratewiththeauthorities.

Another important step in these ‘‘execution’’ cases is the investigationtodetermineifthevictimwasstillaliveoralready deadduringthecarbonization[9,10].Intheformer,Montalti’sign isofgreat value.Justasvaluableistheknowledgethat injuries with hiperemia may also be inflicted in post mortem. The ForensicScienceInternationalxxx(2015)e1–e3

* Correspondingauthorat:HospitalVilaFrancaXira,EstradaNacionaln1,Povos, 2600-009VilaFrancadeXira,Lisboa,Portugal.Tel.:+351263006500.

E-mailaddress:drcarlosdurao@hotmail.com(C.Dura˜o). ARTICLE INFO

Articlehistory:

Received2April2015

Receivedinrevisedform5May2015 Accepted12May2015

Availableonlinexxx

Keywords:

‘‘Deathinthemicrowaveoven’’ Carbonization

Homicide

Humanidentification Thermaldestructionofcorpses Forensicanthropology

ABSTRACT

Deathinthe‘‘microwaveoven’’hasnothingtodowithmicrowavesenergy.Itisthejargonnamegivento acriminalformofexecutionbycarbonizationthathasbeenadoptedbydrugdealersinRiodeJaneiro (Brazil).Thegoalistotortureandintimidatevictims,inanattemptofcorpseoccultationandtomake identificationharderorimpossible.

Thispaperbringstoattentionoftheforensicinternationalcommunityanunusualandverycruelform ofexecutionasawaytodocumentthesesituations.

ß2015PublishedbyElsevierIrelandLtd. GModel

FSI-8004;No.ofPages3

Pleasecitethisarticleinpressas:C.Dura˜o,etal.,Deathinthe‘‘microwaveoven’’:Aformofexecutionbycarbonization,ForensicSci.Int. (2015),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2015.05.012

ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirect

Forensic

Science

International

j o urn a lhom e pa g e :ww w . e l se v i e r. c om / l oca t e / f ors ci i nt

Fig.1.A.Steelbeltsinsidethetire.B.Apileoftires.C.VeryrealisticscenesfromthemovieEliteSquad(‘‘TropadeElite’’)thatreproduceshowthevictimispositionedinsidea pileoftires.Thevictimisburnedaliveasaformoftorture.

Fig.2.Case1.(A)Presenceofsootinthetrachea(Montaltisign–arrow).Thevictimwasalivewhenitwasburned.(B)Detailofthebrainwhichwas‘‘cooked’’byheat.Theheat producesapostmortemartefactthatshouldnotbeconfusedwithasubarachnoidhemorrhage.

Fig.3.Cadaverofayoungmanwhowascharredinsideapileoftires.Detailof metallicdebrisfromthetires(arrows).

Fig.4.Charredcorpse,anthropologicalexaminationrevealedthatitwasayoung adultman.Arrowpointsthetiremetalbelts.

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toxicologicalanalysisofcarbonmonoxideismandatory;however cyanidesmaybeassociatedtothedeathmechanism[3,4].

Traumainterpretation in skeletal remains involving burning canbedifficultduetoheatrelatedfracturesand fragmentation. Howeverexperimentalstudiesandcaseworkexperienceindicate thatdiagnosticevidenceoftraumacansurvivetheburningevent butfoundthattheirappearancecouldbeinfluencedby burning-relatedfragmentation[9–13].

Inaskullgunshotfracture,endocranialbevellingisoneofthe mostimportant indicators ofan entrywound. Classicentrance woundsareroundorovoid-shapedopeningswithsharpedgesand a clearpunched-out appearance[14].Internal bevelling can be veryusefultoidentifyanentrancewoundknownasBonnet’sign [1].Inthiscase(Fig.5),theskullwasextremelyfragmenteddueto traumaticandheatrelatedfractures.Neverthelessitwaspossible to identify such a lesion which demonstrates the need for a thoroughanthropologicalreconstruction.

4. Conclusions

This paper brings to attention of the forensic international communityanunusualandverycruelformofexecutionandshows the importance of the correct study of the vital reaction phenomenonand anthropological study asa way todocument thesesituations.

References

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Fig.5.Case4.(A)Cadavericremainsfoundinaslum.Arrowpointsthetiremetalbelt.(B)Collectedmaterialforanthropologicalinventory.(C)Fragmentscleanedand displayedforinventory.(D)Endocranialbevellingbygunshotfracture–entrywoundfrominnerview.

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