Huntington Beach, California. The victim was a white male, 37 years of age, living alone in a large apartment complex. The body had begun to decompose and was bloated with skin slippage and swollen genitalia. The officer noted that the victim was wearing a pilot-type oxygen mask, which was attached to his mouth and nose. There was a long black hose that lead from the facemask to a colored balloon. The victim also had a black nontransparent set of goggles covering his eyes. There was a Sony video camera pointed toward the victim, whose body was facing a mirror, as if he was watching himself. The tape showed the victim leaning over and filling up the balloon with gas. An examination revealed that the victim was inhaling nitrous oxide.
Fig.1 The victim was wearing a pilot-type oxygen mask, which was attached to his mouth and nose.
Autoerotic death refers to the accidental death of individuals of either sex due to failure of devices, or unexpected effects of materials, that were being used to enhance the sexual experience. Although asphyxia from hanging has been described most frequently, a wide variety of other lethal situations have been reported. As there is great variability in the number and types of sexual aids that may be used by individuals, careful death scene examination is essential in helping to exclude suicide and more rarely homicide. The clandestine nature of this paraphilia may, however, make subsequent identification and diagnosis difficult unless the death scene features are typical. This is particularly so in the rare cases involving women.
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