Three Cases of Double Hanging in Korea from 2008 to 2018

Abstract

Hanging is the most common form of suicide, but the use of a single ligature in a suicide pact is very rare. The authors identified three cases of double hanging through the National Police Agency's Scientific Crime Analysis System over 11 years in Korea, from 2008 to 2018. Of the six deaths, all but one were suicides; one was a victim of murder (suicide after murder). A couple was found hanging by a single ligature over a beam, wherein a man hanged himself using the weight of the woman he had strangled to death. A mother and her daughter used a chest of drawers as a fulcrum off which they hanged themselves, with one on each side of the drawers, using a single rope. Two lovers were found sitting at each end of the rope, using a single ligature, with a tree branch as an abutment. Each of these cases is discussed and reported along with a brief literature review. In a double hanging case, investigators should be cautious in determining the manner of death by distinguishing between a suicide pact from a homicide-suicide.