Mari F., Bertol E.

Forensic Medicine Institute, Viale Morgagni 85, Florence, Italy

At the beginning of summer two italian girls corpses (A.M. and S.C., 18 and 20 years old respectively) were found lifeless in a Canal of Seine river about 100 Km from Paris. The French Authority closed the judicial investigations of both cases as death for hydrocution after opiate overdose. Seven months after, the corpses were exhumed by Italian Authority to clear up about those doubtful deaths.
The most important anatomic-histopathological findings of the autopsy were: small perilaryngeal haemorrhages with haematic infiltrations. The absence of water in alveola and the mechanical asphyxia signs, already found from French pathologists, together with evident violence marks, supported by photo of the arms of corpses, exclude both drowning and hydrocution as death causes. Toxicological analyses were possible in brain and liver. Morphine as heroin metabolite (brain: 1,15 µg/g for A.M. - 2.51 µg/g for S.C.; liver: 3,67 µg/g for A.M. 4,51 µg/g for S.C. - calculated to fresh weight of organs) give evidence of acute opiate overdose: this conclusion is in agreement with the blood data (only significant quantitative result in French toxicological report) for both cases (1,7 µg/mL for A.M. - 3,6 µg/mL for S.C.). Hair analyses also were carried out in consecutive 2-3 cm length fragments from proximal to distal end to demonstrate the duration of a precedent heroin assumption and dependence. Morphine was found in all hair fragments at higher concentrations during 2 months before the death (3,3 ng/mg for A.M. 5,31 ng/mg for S.C.). The drug exposure was calculated (according to hair length) since 12 and 6 months ago respectively for A.M. and S.C. All findings suggest in both cases an acute narcotism with strangulation attempt; the poor girls were hurled in the canal in coma status.