Unusual patricide: case report

After attending this presentation, attendees will have a betterunderstanding of the classification of homicide called case of patricide.This presentation will impact the forensic science community bystimulating discussion on whether or not mental illness should be considereda “trigger point” for offenders.Parricide is defined as a homicide in which victims are parents and thekillers are their children. “Patricide” is the definition given to the murder offather, while “matricide” refers to the murder of the mother. Internationalliterature reports that this crime is often associated with psychiatric morbidityand is usually committed by males. Patricide committed by sons is the mostfrequent form. In Italy, parricide is quite rare and it represents less than 3%of all murders (59% matricides and 41% patricides). The typical profile ofthe offender is a young adult male who is single and unemployed. Theoffender typically lives with victim (quite often an old and disabled person),and is suffering from mental illness with co-morbidity of alcohol or drugconsumption and/or abuse. Usually he is not able to separate himself fromhis parents or to assume responsibilities. The homicide usually takes place athome at the end of an argument, and common tools found in the house areoften used as weapons. A 73-year-old man was found dead at home, on thekitchen floor, after his son confessed the murder. He killed his father early inthe morning, after yet another argument with him. He then called the police,and sat on the floor awaiting the officers, fully aware of his guilt. A pair ofscissors and a cross-head screwdriver, both with traces of blood, and awooden board were located close to the body. At crime scene, the victim wassupine and showed multiple injury pattern. Clothes were raised upon thethorax and multiple thoracic-abdominal lesions were found together withbruises and abrasions of the head. The sternal area showed two larger stabwounds, while eleven penetrating cross-shaped puncture wounds affectedprecordial, epigastric, and mesogastric regions. Four other shallow, crossshapedpunctures of the skin surrounded these lesions. At autopsy, grossexamination of organs showed visceral lesions with cardiac, hepatic, andintestinal involvement, widespread hemorrhagic infiltrates of cranial softtissues, skull fractures (vault), and diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhages (SAH).Multiple and serial rib fractures were also found. The cause of death wasrelated to traumatic shock due to blunt head trauma and multiple stab wounds. All autopsy data allowed drawing the following crimereconstruction: victim’s head was initially hit with the wooden board and the man fell down, striking his head on the floor. Then the offender uncovered the anterior thorax and abdominal anatomical regions of his father andstabbed him with the pair of scissors and the screwdriver. Finally, he raised the victim’s body, crushing the chest with his weight. The offender’s criminal profile revealed a 45-year-old man, with elementary school education. At a young age, he became a construction worker at building sites in NorthernItaly. The father, a construction worker too, was described as extremely strictwith the son. The mother, a housewife, was characterized as a warm-hearted woman. The offender was very shy, the second of six children, and the only son. He did not have any recent romantic interests and he remembered onlyoone relationship with a woman in the past. No psychiatric disorders were inhis medical records. He had a history of drug-addiction (intravenous heroin) and during the last years, he admitted to occasional use of cannabinoids and cocaine sniffing. However, the drug screen was negative when he was imprisoned. His mother had died a few months before, and due to an accidentat work, the offender had lost his job. He was at home with his father everyday. The mother’s death broke t[...]