Case scenario
April 2019 – Mönchengladbach, Germany. Two men had met on a bus and after a conversation about their common passion for chess, they decided to go to a chess tournament together. Both men were heavy drinkers, and on the way to the tournament, they started to consume alcohol. In the end, both were inebriated and not in the condition to play chess.
They went to the offender’s house to continue drinking. There, the two men must have had an argument during which the offender attacked the victim. Only a few details about the crime itself are known, but in the end, the victim suffered a number of deep blow wounds and died. After the course of the crime, the police were called in by the perpetrator himself. The perpetrator was sentenced to 9 years in prison for manslaughter and to court-ordered rehab. He also has to pay the victim’s wife and two children compensation for pain and suffering totaling 25,000 euros ($26,300).
Fig.1 Overview of the living room, the victim was found lying between the couch and a coffee table, a blue katana sheath is located underneath the coffee table.
Crime scene and blood stain pattern
The crime scene was in a small town in the semidetached house of the perpetrator. When the police entered the crime scene, they found the victim in the living room. His body lay on the floor in front of a couch on its side with arms and legs bent. The back of the head pointed upwards and showed numerous deep injuries.
At the scene, the forensic pathologist together with the police investigators observed a pool of blood next to the body, most of it around the head area. There was also a large amount of blood on the couch. Besides this passive blood spatter, impact stains resulting from blood projecting through the air were found. The highest amount of projected spatter was found on the floor, the couch, and the wall near the head of the victim. There were no bloodstains on the ceiling but on several objects near the body in different directions. Further signs of a dynamic event were not visible. All the observations support the hypothesis that the victim fell over and has been further attacked in this position.
Right next to the victim, the sheaths of two Katana swords were found. During the search of the house, a bloodstained sword was found in the kitchen. Another bloodstained sword and a machete were found on the sidewalk just outside the house.
Fig.2 Position in which the victim was found, a black katana sheath is located between the body and the couch.
Fig.3 A katana sword with a blue handle is found in the kitchen on the sink.
Fig.4 Location of a katana sword with a black handle and a machete on the sidewalk.
Autopsy examination
The autopsy revealed a minimum of 23 sharp force wounds on the back of the head and neck: five parallel incisions with various defects (“chipping”) to the skull, one longitudinal incision and almost complete cut on the right ear, one longitudinal incision on the left side of the occipital bone, and 16 partially intersecting incisions with bone grafts on the occipital bone without opening the skull. However, no intracranial nor intracerebral hemorrhages were detected. The muscles of the back of the neck were completely severed by at least two cuts, accompanied by two bone grafts of the skull base. The dura mater and cervical spine were intact. Three more incisions of the skin of the neck, three incisions on the right shoulder, and three partly deeper incisions on the right arm were found.
The victim showed typical defensive injuries on both hands. Minimal livores and anemia of the internal organs were found as signs of relevant blood loss. Signs of blunt force were also noted such as hematomas of the upper and lower lip, hematomas on the inside of the upper arm, a shaped hematoma under the left nipple, and a subcutaneous hematoma at the base and around the left shoulder blade. No pathological changes of the internal organs were found. There was an intense smell of alcohol of the inner organs. The toxicological examination of the victim revealed a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.378% (Stupor stage, severe alcohol intoxication).
Fig.5 Section of the calvaria with several tool marks. a After autopsy. b After maceration process. Katana swords A and B.
Swords
Two bloodstained swords, known as Japanese katana swords, were secured by the police. The swords were designated A and B due to their similarities in design and dimensions. The sword found in the kitchen of the perpetrator’s apartment was designated A. The one secured on the sidewalk near the apartment was designated B. The machete, which was also found on the sidewalk, was not bloodstained and therefore not examined.
Sword A has an overall length of 1020 mm. The blade is 720 mm long with a maximum thickness of 7.0 mm and a maximum width of 31 mm. The handle is wrapped with blue fabric and has an oval guard. Sword B has an overall length of 1020 mm. The blade is 725 mm long with a maximum thickness of 7.5 mm and a maximum width of 32 mm. The handle is wrapped with black fabric and has an oval guard.
During the autopsy, a section of the calvaria of the cranial bone was removed, rinsed with cold water, blotted dry, and microscopically examined. The sample showed a total of fifteen tool marks, including eight relatively shallow marks and seven marks that cut through the cortical bone into the diploë. All marks were microscopically pre-checked for details suitable for a comparative tool mark examination.
Fig.6 3D Computed Tomography model of the cranial bone section and CAD model of sword A. The sword is placed according to the results from tool mark analysis. Panels a to d show the orientation of the sword when creating the cut marks and all together in d.
Fig.7 3D CT model of the cranial bone section and CAD model of sword A. Panels e to h show close-ups and from a different angle.
As a result of the analysis of the marks on the skull bone and the comparative tool mark examination, it was possible to determine the side and exact locations on the cutting edge of the sword that produced the marks on the bone. These results gave valuable information to the reconstruction of what happened at the scene of the crime. The perpetrator was sentenced to 9 years in prison for manslaughter and to court-ordered rehab. He also has to pay the victim’s wife and two children compensation for pain and suffering totaling 25,000 euros ($30,000).
News report
47-year-old kills chess friend with a samurai sword
Ruhrnachrichten.de – February 3rd, 2020
On Monday, the Mönchengladbach regional court sentenced a man to nine years in prison for manslaughter for the fatal murder of a friend with a samurai sword. In addition, the court ordered the alcoholic accused (47) to be placed in a rehab clinic.
He also has to pay the victim’s wife and two children compensation for pain and suffering totaling 25,000 euros ($26,300). In his last word, the man said he could not explain the act to himself. He is sorry and hopes for help because of his alcohol addiction.
The court ordered the man to serve two and a half years of his sentence before starting therapy. Only after successful treatment should a decision be made as to whether he will remain in custody or whether the remaining sentence will be suspended. His lawyer left it open on Monday whether he would accept the verdict.
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