The Psychology of Death Investigations

Behavioral Analysis for Psychological Autopsy and Criminal Profiling

Katherine Ramsland

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351737562
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Forensic Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The Psychology of Death Investigations outlines definitively how behavioral evidence can often provide the necessary components and "missing pieces" to complement physical evidence as an essential tool for incident reconstruction. In order to determine the direction of an investigation and to prioritize leads, if necessary, death investigators must establish the manner of a death: natural, accident, homicide or suicide. The most overlooked aspect of death investigation is the psychological dimension, which can provide unique leads, correct false assumptions, enhance investigative awareness, and solve cases in surprising ways.

In an estimated 10–20% of cases, the manner of death cannot be determined, or worse, has been erroneously categorized. Since many jurisdictions can't afford behavioral consultants, this book has been written to provide practical information for a basic psychological analysis. If the circumstances surrounding a death are equivocal, psychological consultants can compile information retrospectively about a deceased person's mental state and possible motive to assist with unravelling ambiguity about the manner of death. This is the primary function of a psychological autopsy, and, as such, this is the first book of its kind dedicated solely to the topic. In the event that the manner of death is determined to be a homicide, behavioral profiling can help to focus the potential pool of suspects.

Professionals and students alike will benefit from the exercise of cognitive awareness and the application of psychological logic presented. Psychologists, medical examiners, coroners, attorneys, fraud examiners, law enforcement personnel, death and homicide investigators, and students enrolled in criminal profiling, forensic psychology, and criminal justice programs will find this text to be a compelling and insightful reference to add to their professional toolkit.

SECTION I

Psychological Autopsies

CHAPTER 1

History and Concepts

The approach to death investigation that includes the most concentrated collection and analysis of psychological material about a decedent is a psychological autopsy. A group of suicide counselors in Los Angeles, California, formalized this practice. Like a physical postmortem autopsy, it involves “opening” the person to examine his or her life and thought processes for evidence that supports a specific manner of death. Most often, but not always, this involves seeking support for a determination of suicide.

Clinical experience adds important dimensions for which most law enforcement investigators have not been trained. Psychological insight can assist with forming the type of questions needed for the decedent’s associates and an in-depth analysis of motives. Clinical awareness also reminds investigators to watch for behavioral signals in people who might have staged or altered a death scene. Hence, death investigations can benefit from including a mental health expert. Mistakes regarding state of mind and motive, such as labeling a homicide a suicide or vice versa, can have serious repercussions for decedents’ families and for the justice system.

SUICIDAL INTENT

During the development of a hypothesis for death event reconstruction, the focus is on cause and manner of death. The cause is the condition that resulted in the death, such as a disease or injury. Manner is a category determined by the coroner or medical examiner. The NASH classification system for death investigators offers four options: natural, accident, suicide, or homicide (Biffl, 1996). A decedent in a crashed car, for example, might have had a heart attack (natural), hit a slick area and crashed (accident), intentionally crashed (suicide), or been placed there by a killer in an attempt to stage the death as one of the other three (homicide). Those deaths that are difficult to categorize are labeled undetermined or undetermined—pending, meaning that further immediate investigation might change its status.

For undetermined death events, more information must be gathered and this usually involves collecting details about the decedent. Whenever state of mind becomes an issue, the information will be psychological (Curphey, 1961; Shneidman & Faberow, 1993), especially for possible suicides. Below is an example of a death that was initially placed in one category but with more information shifted to a different one.

In 2005, Greg Maurek reported his brother’s suicide. Peter, he said, had come to his house in a foul mood, intoxicated, and had shot himself in the head. Detectives went to Greg’s home. He was sitting outside, seemingly undisturbed. His casual attitude about his brother’s death looked suspicious, as did the fact that Greg had removed his T-shirt, which bore blood spatter. Inside, around the body, police discovered more items that alerted them to a scenario that contradicted Greg’s narrative.

Peter was dead from a gunshot to his head. On a wall behind him, investigators saw spots of blood and brain matter. Spatter was present on the ceiling and on a chair. The shot had been to the back of Peter’s head with a 0.50-caliber semi-automatic handgun, which lay on a desk 6 feet from the body. The safety catch was engaged. When officers pointed this out, Greg said he had not touched the gun. He did not like guns. Peter had brought it. Yet a man who has just killed himself cannot engage the catch. In addition, the shot was to the back of the head, a location that few people would choose.

Greg stated that he was not surprised that Peter had decided to kill himself. He had often talked about doing it. Greg pointed to the chair where he was sitting, 10 feet from Peter, when Peter shot himself. Blood had spattered onto him, he said. He showed them his T-shirt. Despite his protests that he had done nothing and touched nothing, the officers arrested him.

Approaching trial, experts for each side on blood spatter pattern reconstructed the incident, but their interpretations dramatically diverged. The prosecution’s experts said that the blood on Greg’s T-shirt indicated that during the shot, Greg had been 2 feet away. They also showed how difficult it would be to shoot oneself from behind, and the lack of blood spatter on Peter’s hand strongly suggested that he had not held the gun. Their reconstruction seemed definitive.

However, there was a big hole. They had left out Peter’s background. Greg’s defense team included a psychologist who had performed a psychological autopsy. He had queried Peter’s friends and relatives about Peter’s state of mind. Peter had been a prime candidate for suicide; he had a number of behaviors referred to as suicide markers. He regularly abused alcohol and had been depressed for a while. In the past, Peter and Greg’s older brother had fatally shot himself in the back of the head, and Peter had admired his courage. He even thought that this method was the best approach. Recently their parents had died, as had Peter’s former girlfriend, which had greatly affected him. In addition, Greg lacked a motive to kill Peter.

A blood spatter analyst for the defense demonstrated how the blood patterns in the room could support Greg’s version. A “shadow” pattern on the chair showed that someone had sat there when blood flew across the room. Only Greg was in the house, so it had to be him. Peter could have held the gun in a manner different than what the prosecutor’s expert showed, making a self-inflicted wound less awkward. The wound analysis precluded the possibility that Greg had shot him from 10 feet away. As for the safety catch, a reconstruction showed that the gun might have hit an item when it bounced on the desk during recoil, knocking it into place. This was not possible to replicate. The psychological evidence persuaded jurors of reasonable doubt. They acquitted Greg (“Maurek found not guilty,” 2008).

In this case, investigators had formed a hypothesis quickly and did not consider alternative scenarios. Quite a few factors supported Peter’s suicidal state of mind. Psychological autopsies that deliver this type of information can often change the track of an investigation.

IN THE BEGINNING

The formalization of psychological autopsy began in Los Angeles, California, during the late 1950s. The LA County chief medical examiner, Theodore Curphey, had an abundance of drug-related deaths (Curphey, 1961). Often, Curphey and his staff could not distinguish suicides from accidental overdoses. Some might even be homicides. He knew the directors at the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center (SPC)—the country’s first such clinic. This place had opened in 1958 on the grounds of the Los Angeles County General Hospital, with the mission of learning about suicidal people for the purpose of improved treatment and prevention (Shneidman, Faberow, & Litman, 1961b).

Curphey had once asked Edwin Shneidman, one of the SPC directors and a suicide counselor, to write condolence letters to the relatives of two suicide victims. Shneidman had looked through the records to gain a better sense of the victims. He had discovered a collection of more than 700 suicide notes. Believing that these notes, if matchable to records, would offer fertile data for research about suicidal intent, he had asked to use them. Curphey granted permission. With his SPC colleagues Norman Faberow and Robert Litman, Shneidman acquired grants and set up several studies (Shneidman & Faberow, 1957b).

The SPC had two project directors, a psychiatric director, two clinical psychologists, two psychiatric social workers, a biometrician, and a psychological technician. As experts on suicide, they were likely aware of the 6-year study, published in 1930, that analyzed 93 suicidal deaths among New York City police officers. However, little had been done to set up comparative studies between suicidal and nonsuicidal individuals. In addition, distinctions remained vague among those who were intent on self-annihilation and those who would be labeled attempters but not completers.

At the time, the predominant social attitude toward suicide was one of condemnation: the act was considered rude and cowardly, showing contempt for society and for God. This attitude filtered into the professional world as well, which had discouraged research on the topic. Shneidman and his colleagues knew that research had to be done if work like theirs was going to move forward. Whenever SPC patients were referred to other agencies or a hospital, the staff followed up to evaluate the effectiveness of various treatment methods. With positive results, they hoped to demonstrate to other professionals how important it was to learn about this subject.

For one project, Shneidman and Faberow (1957a) obtained the names of adult male suicide victims from a 10-year time frame in Los Angeles. Although this limited their findings to a specific geographical area and only to adult males, it was a start for what they hoped would become a much more extensive subject group. They collected case histories of 32 adult male completers ranging in age from 20 to 69 and the same number of men whom they labeled as attempters, threateners, and nonsuicidal. For analysis, they applied more than 100 factors that ranged from social to familial to psychological. For these subjects, they collected background and diagnostic information along with scores from several standardized tests and personality assessments. In the three categories that contained living subjects, participants were invited to write narratives about themselves, especially as it related to suicide.

Shneidman and Faberow also selected 33 suicide notes and collected as much information as they could on each decedent. To make comparisons between authentic notes and items that might be fabricated, such as in staged scenes, they sought volunteer subjects who had similar characteristics to the selected note-writers. The subjects were to contemplate suicide and write a hypothetical or “simulated” note. The analysts found a number of differences in specific types of thought patterns, which laid an ...