Three Lies, One Truth: Forensic Diagnosis of Staged Marital Homicides - A Case Series
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/jfmt.2026.43.02.22Keywords:
Intimate partner homicide; female perpetrator; staged death; ligature strangulation; forensic pathology; cognitive bias.Abstract
Intimate partner homicide remains a major yet underreported public health concern, with most attention focused on male perpetrators and female victims. Female-perpetrated spousal homicides, especially those masked as accidents or suicides, often escape early detection due to gender-based investigative biases. This paper presents three cases of staged marital homicides investigated at a tertiary-care hospital in Delhi, where wives killed their husbands and fabricated misleading scenarios of accidental or self-inflicted deaths. Detailed autopsy examinations revealed consistent signs of homicidal ligature strangulation—such as patterned ligature marks, neck muscle hemorrhages, thyroid cartilage fractures, and systemic asphyxial changes—contradicting the alleged histories. Two of the perpetrators later confessed, validating the forensic conclusions. The series also highlights the need to recognize and document female-perpetrated intimate partner homicides within the Indian context, where societal expectations and cognitive biases may obscure objective investigation. By revealing “three lies and one truth,” this study emphasizes the role of forensic pathology in establishing cause of death and advancing awareness of gender-neutral homicide investigation.
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