CHAPTER 2:

INVESTIGATION OF
DEATH
BY : RET. PLT COL MARIO BAESA GARCIA
DEATH - the absence of life in a living matter. It is
the termination of life and complete loss of vital
functions of the body. Thus, upon death, the
organism returns to a stable equilibrium both
physically and chemically.
 
SIGNS OF LIFE INCLUDES: the locomotion,
respiration, circulation, brain activity and the
presence of faculty of senses.
Importance of Death Determination:
1. Personality of a person is extinguished by
death
2. Criminal liability is extinguished by death
3. Property of a person is transmitted to heirs
and nearest kin
4. Basis of immediate removal of organs for
transplantation
5. Civil case claim is dismissed
 KINDS OF DEATH
1. Somatic or clinical death - is a complete and persistence
cessation of respiration, circulation and almost all brain
functions of an organism.

2. Molecular or cellular death – it is the cessation of life of

the individual cells in the body which occurs one at a time
after somatic death. Nerves and brain cells die earlier
about 5 minutes after somatic death, while muscle cells
live longer until the onset or start of rigor mortis which is
about 2-6 hours.
3.Apparent death or State of Suspended Animation -
it is a state of temporary cessation of the vital activities
of the body. This condition is not actually death
although classified under the kinds of death because
the person still alive although it seems that there are no
signs of life.
 CLINICAL TYPES OF DEATH
1.Sociological Death – this is type of death wherein
the withdrawal and separation from the patient by
other producing a sense of isolation and
abandonment.

2.Psychic Death – the condition of death wherein

the patient regresses, give up or surrenders
accepting death prematurely and refuses to
continue living.
3. Biological Death – type of death characterized
by the absence of cognitive functions or
awareness, although artificial support system
may maintain organs functioning.

4. Physiologic Death – a type of death when all

vital organs cease to function.
 STAGE OF MUSCULAR CHANGE

1. Stage of Primary Flaccidity

- It is the stage of muscular change upon death
characterized the relaxation of the muscles
and loss of the natural tone so the jaw or head
drops down. The thorax collapses and the limb
become flaccid and the splinters relax.
2. Cadaveric Spasm or Spontaneous Rigidity
- it is the instant stiffening of a certain groups
of muscles which occurs immediately at the
moment of death, although its cause is
unknown, it is associated with violent death
due to extreme nervous tension and injury
to the central nervous system.
 PRESUMPTION OF DEATH OR
PRESUMPTIVE DEATH
 Rules of court Sec. 96, Rule 123, provides that
a person not heard, seen, or absent for seven
years is dead.
 A person on board a vessel who was lost
during a sea voyage or an airplane which is
missing who had not been heard for 4 years
 A person in the military or Armed Forces of the
Philippines who has taken part in war and has
been missing for 4 years.
 A person who has been in danger of death
under other circumstances and his existence
has not been known for 4 years.
 PRESUMPTION OF SURVIVOR
The presumption of survivorship of a person as to
who died first can be inferred from the strength,
age, sex, of the person concerned.
1. If both were under the age of 15 years, the
elder is presumed to have survived.
2. If both were above the age of 60, the
younger is presumed to have survived
3. If one is under 15 and the other above 60
years old, the former is presumed to have
survived.
4. If both be over 15 and under 16 years old,
and sexes is different, if the sexes be the
same, then the older is presumed to have
survived.
5. If one be under 15 or over 60 years old and
the other between those ages, the latter is
presumed to survived.
CLASSIFICATION OF DEATHS
The four (4) Types of Death Are:
1.Natural
2.Accidental
3.Suicide
4.Homicide
NATURAL CAUSES
• Natural causes of death include heart attack,
stroke, fatal diseases, sudden crib deaths and old
age. Frequently, a person who dies of natural
causes has been under a physician’s care, and a
death from national causes is easily established.
• Sometimes, however, a death is made to look as
though it resulted from natural causes. For
example: drugs that simulate the effects of heart
attack maybe used in a suicide or homicide.
ACCIDENTAL DEATH
• Among the causes of accidental death are falling,
drowning, unintentionally taking too many pills or ingesting
poisonous substances, entanglement in industrial or farm
machinery, or involvement in a vehicular accident, train,
plane crash. Some people advocate that an accidental
death should be investigated as a criminal homicide.
• As with natural death, an apparently accidental death can
be actually a suicide or a homicide. For example: a person
can jump or be pushed from a roof or in from of a speeding
vehicle or can voluntarily or involuntarily take an overdose
of pills.
SUICIDE
• THE intentional take of one’s own life, and it can be
committed by shooting, stabbing, poising, burning,
asphyxiating, or ingesting drugs or poisons.
However, homicides are often made to look like
suicides, and many suicides are made to look like
accidents, usually for insurance purposes or to ease
the family’s suffering. ALTHOUGH suicide is not a
criminal offense, in most States it is crime to attempt
to commit suicide. This allows the state to take legal
custody of such individuals for hospitalization or
treatment.
• It is also a crime to help someone commit suicide or
attempt to commit suicide by either intentionally advising,
encouraging or actually assisting the victim in act. Topic of
assisted suicide is extremely controversial. The Supreme
Court has found that there is no “constitutional right to
die” and has left this decision to each individual state. One
high profile figure in this controversy is JACK EVORKIAN
“DR. Death”, a pathologist-turned-assisted suicide-
crusader who facilitated more than 130 suicides during
1990s. after being tried multiple times on assisted suicide
charges, Kevorkian was eventually tried for murder, found
guilty and sent to prison in 1999. He paroled in 2007.
GIVING ASSISTANCE TO SUICIDE
• Any person who shall assist another to
commit suicide shall suffer the penalty of
prison mayor; if such person leads his
assistance to another to the extent of doing
the killing himself, he shall suffer the penalty
of reclusion temporal. However, if the suicide
is not consummated, the penalty of arresto
mayor in its minimum and medium periods
shall be imposed.
AMBIGUOUS DEATH
• Uncertain or ambiguous death investigations are
situations that are open to interpretation. The case
may present as homicide, suicide or accidental
death. The facts maybe intentionally vague or
misleading as in staged crime scenes. STAGE
CRIME SCENE is one where a killer hoped to
cover his or her tracks by making it look like the
victim committed suicide, suffered a fatal accident
or died of natural cause.
• Inexperienced investigators who JUMP TO HASTY
CONCLUSION that a man found hanging in his
garage or the dead woman in the bathtub with slit
wrists must have committed suicide may be
allowing a perpetrator to get away with murder. A
critical piece of investigation is assessing the
victimology: Conducting a thorough victimology is
a process that is central to the investigation.
• A victimology, a thorough understanding of who the
victim is, how he makes a living, his background,
and the background where he comes from, will not
only allow the investigator to thoroughly know about
the victim but will be the first step to finding out why
he was victimized, and by whom. What was the
victim’s state of mind in the days leading up to the
death? The prudent investigator approaches of all
equivocal death scenes as if they were homicides
until forensic evaluation of evidence can point one or
the other-homicide or not.