Effects of cold exposure in a confined environment: an original case of suicide by freezing.

Abstract

The authors present a case involving a 37-year-old woman discovered in an operating freezer. Suicide hypothesis has been considered from the beginning. Due to the exceptional scene circumstances, a forensic autopsy was performed. Apart from some non-specific hypothermia and asphyxia signs, the autopsy revealed several skull fractures, prompting extensive anatomopathological and histological analyses. These analyses confirmed the fractures origin and determined whether they were ante-mortem or post-mortem, thus ruling out the possibility of a criminal act disguised as suicide. The authors also describe the challenges in determining the cause of death, particularly the issues related to the post-mortem diagnosis of lethal hypothermia and asphyxia. This case is the first in the literature to describe suicide by exposure to cold in a confined environment. It highlights the importance of close collaboration between forensic pathologists, histologists, toxicologists, and police investigators to answer judicial inquiries.