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Arrow entrance wounds with blackened margins simulating bullet wipe

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Abstract

Crossbows are ancient distance weapons, which in modern times have been largely replaced by guns. Nowadays, they are used for target shooting and in some countries also for hunting. Bolts/arrows fired from a crossbow have a rather low initial velocity but a high penetration capacity comparable to bullets shot from firearms. A considerable number of homicidal, suicidal, and accidental crossbow injuries have been reported up to the present day both under clinical and medicolegal aspects. A recent suicide case gave rise to a systematic study of entrance wounds from field-tipped arrows with shafts made of carbon. Composite models (ballistic gelatin covered with pig skin) served as targets. As found in the suicide case presented, the roundish entrance wounds were characterized by a slit-like severance of the skin surrounded by a pronounced blackish ring resembling the bullet wipe in gunshots. The material deposited circularly on the margins was subjected to the sodium rhodizonate test, SEM/EDX analysis, histological examination, and Raman spectroscopy. As expected, the elements typical of gunshot residues could not be detected. The element pattern of the black deposits was consistent with that of the arrows’ tips and carbon shafts. Histological examination revealed that the carbonaceous material was deposited on the abraded wound margins suggesting a mechanism of friction causing the transfer of material. In conclusion, the presence of a black-margined roundish skin wound does not necessarily mean a bullet wipe. The casuistic part of the paper deals with a suicidal shot to the chest in a 48-year-old man, inflicted with a field-tipped carbon arrow which perforated both the heart and the thoracic aorta. In addition, a review of the literature on fatal crossbow injuries is presented.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Tillmann Viefhaus for Raman spectroscopy analysis and Mr. Roland Braunwarth for technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Albertstraße 9, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Arianna Giorgetti, Markus Große Perdekamp, Vanessa Thoma, Stefan Pollak & Dorothee Geisenberger

  2. Department of Legal and Occupational Medicine, Toxicology and Public Health, University of Padova, Via Falloppio 50, 35121, Padova, Italy

    Arianna Giorgetti

  3. Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, Taubenheimstraße 85, 70372, Stuttgart, Germany

    Katrin Mierdel

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  1. Arianna Giorgetti
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  2. Markus Große Perdekamp
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  4. Vanessa Thoma
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  5. Stefan Pollak
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  6. Dorothee Geisenberger
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Correspondence to Dorothee Geisenberger.

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Giorgetti, A., Perdekamp, M.G., Mierdel, K. et al. Arrow entrance wounds with blackened margins simulating bullet wipe. Int J Legal Med 134, 283–294 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02191-1

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