Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Anthropology

Major Professor

Murray Marks

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine if there are patterns in gunshot wound entry site and in bullet trajectory in homicide and suicide victims. Once patterns are shown to exist, differences between homicidal gunshot wounds and suicidal gunshot wounds are statistically analyzed to determine the strength of the different patterns. Data on gunshot wound entry site and bullet trajectory were collected from two sources of autopsy reports from the state of Tennessee: a collection housed by Dr. William McCormick, MD offered autopsy records from 1988 through 1998, and the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Nashville, Tennessee offered archived autopsy reports from 2000 and 2001. A total of 123 individuals are included in this study, 72 were victims of suicide and 51 were victims of homicide. Chi-square tests of bullet entry patterns showed that entry sites in the right temple or mid-chest were more likely to be suicides, while those gunshot wounds that occurred on the dorsal surface of the body or in the abdomen were more likely to be homicides. Logistic regression was used to analyze bullet trajectory and resulted in an equation (Score= Exp(-.550+(1.805*B_F)+(l.902*Torso)-(1.853*R_L))). This equation illustrates that bullets that enter the torso and bullets that travel from the dorsal to the ventral surface are more likely to be homicides, while bullet trajectory from the right to the left is more indicative of suicide. The equation was tested on an additional sample of 6 homicide and 24 suicide victims. Homicides were identified correctly in 66.7% (4 of 6) cases while suicides were correctly identified in 83.3% (20 of 24) cases.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS