Elderly abuse – a forensic case of homicide-suicide as act of intimate partner violence

Abstract

Homicide-suicide as a criminal act is a distinct subcategory of homicide in which the assailant kills his wife and/or her children in a relationship that has been broken down. The present case is about the dyadic deaths of an 89-year-old male and an 82-year-old female who are in a relationship as intimate partners (as husband and wife). In the early autumn of 2020, an event report was received in the Police District of Plovdiv about a woman who was found dead in her home. Her husband’s body was found next to hers in the same building, with the clinical features of a coma – the man was breathing but unresponsive. Unfortunately, he passed away immediately before the arrival of the emergency crew. The elderly are one of the most vulnerable subgroups of intimate partner violence victims, largely because of their growing social isolation, lack of social support, and reliance on family members and caregivers. The aforementioned renders these individuals helpless to fend off the attack and, in some cases, unable to report it. If we want to prevent this type of violence, we have to understand the risk factors and be able to differentiate between accidental injuries and injuries due to any form of elderly abuse.