HOMICIDE AND MURDER INVESTIGATION

Homicide Investigation

It is the official inquiry made by the police on the facts and circumstances surrounding the
death of the person which is expected to be criminal or unlawful.

Homicide

Any person who, not falling within the provisions of Article 246 (Parricide) Revised Penal
Code shall kill another without the attendance of any of the circumstances enumerated in Article
248 (Murder) RPC, shall be deemed guilty of homicide.

The elements of homicide are:

(1) A killing exist
(2) The accused did the act without legal justification and with intent to kill
(3) The killing is neither murder, parricide nor infanticide.

Intent to kill is presumed if deaths results from the unjustified act. If death did not result
from the act, intent to kill is essential to prove attempted or frustrated homicide otherwise the
crime may be physical injuries only.

E. Murder
Any person who, not falling within the provision of Article 246 (Parricide) of the RPC shall
kill another, if committed with any of the following attendant circumstances:

1. With treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men, or
employing means to weaken the defense or of means or persons to insure or afford
impurity.
2. In consideration of a price, reward, or promise.
3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a vessel,
derailment or assault upon a street car or locomotive fall of an airship, by means of motor
vehicles or with the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin.
4. An occasion of any of the calamities enumerated in the proceeding paragraph or of an
earthquake, eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic, or any other public
calamity.
5. With evident premeditation.
6. With cruelty, by (deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the victim, or
outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse.

The elements of murder are:

(1) A killing exists.
(2) The accused killed the deceased under any of the above circumstances qualifying the
killing to murder.
(3) The killing does not constitute parricide or infanticide.

The circumstances that qualify the killing to murder must be alleged in the information as
otherwise the killing may be considered as merely homicide.

F. Parricide
Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or
any of his ascendants or descendants, or his spouse, shall be guilty of parricide.

The elements of parricide are:

(1) A person is killed by the accused.
(2) The person killed is the father, mother or child (not less than three days old), whether
legitimate or illegitimate, or the ascendant or descendant or the spouse of the accused.
The relationship with the other ascendant or descendant (grandfather or grandson) must be
legitimate. The spouse killed must be legitimate wife or husband. But the father, mother or
child may be legitimate or illegitimate. If the child killed is less than three days old, the crime
is infanticide.

Responsibilities of a Homicide Investigator

1. Homicide investigator when called upon to investigate a violent death, stand on the dead
man’s shoes, to produce his instincts against those suspects.
Consequently, the Zeal, enthusiasm and intelligence the investigator brings in the
case marks the difference between a murderer being convicted or set free.

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 2. If the investigator interprets an accidental death as due to natural death and wisdom or
the family may be deprived of benefits and other properties which the deceased have
sacrificed to obtain.
3. If he interprets a criminal death as accidental or natural, a guilty person is otherwise set
scot free.
Note: Remember that the police is the first line of defense in the effective application of criminal
justice.

Mistakes in Homicide Investigation

1. The mistakes of the homicide investigator can not be corrected.
2. The homicide investigator should not cross the three bridges which he burns behind him.
It is important that the case be adequately handled by competent personnel.
The following are the 3 bridges:
A. The dead person has been moved. It is therefore necessary that photographs be
taken, measurements made, fingerprints taken and other necessary tasks to be first
carried out.
B. The second bridge is burned when the body is embalmed. Embalming destroys
traces of alcohol and several kinds of poison. If poisoning is suspected, the internal
organs should be removed.
C. The third bridge is burned when the body is burned or cremated.
To exhume a body is difficult and expensive. The lapse of time makes the examination
doubtly difficult and a conclusion is hard to arrive at. Cremation destroys the body itself.

The Medico-Legal Autopsy

1. The real beginning of any homicide investigation should be to establish the cause of
death accurately.
2. An autopsy should be performed at once when there is the slightest reason to suspect
the probability of homicide.
3. In general, it maybe stated that death has been caused by violence; an autopsy is always
performed unless there is adequate proof to the contrary.

The Value to the Investigator in Attending Autopsies

During the conduct of autopsy, an investigator can observe first hand and ask questions
pertinent to the case under investigation. The medico legal officer can explain the autopsy
findings as they progress. As the results of the autopsy are received by the investigator such
information, if pertinent and requiring expeditious investigative attention, can be passed along to
other investigators for immediate handling. When the investigator has a suspected weapon,
comparison of the weapon with the wound can be made. The officer present at the autopsy can
be the liaison with the investigation team working on the case and see that all evidence is
obtained during the examination.

The Role of the Medico Legal Officer in Homicide Investigation

The determination of criminal responsibility in death has been developed into a
specialized field of medical science called forensic pathology. A pathologist can assist in
homicide investigation by:
1. Documentation of all wounds, bruises, scratches, scars or other marks at the time of the
autopsy.
2. Interpretation of findings based on medical facts. The following question may be
answered by the pathologist:
A. What was the cause of death?
B. Which would was the fatal?
C. How long did the victim live after the injury (volitional activity after injury)
D. What distance could the victim’s have walked or run?
E. What position was the victim in at the time of the Assault?
F. From what direction was the force applied?
G. Was there evidence of a struggle or a defense mark?
H. Was there evidence of rape?
I. Was there evidence of body being dragged or dumped?
J. What was the type of weapon involved?
K. What were the injuries shown: ante mortem or postmortem?
L. Were there any characteristics signs of certain types of murders such as sex linked
crime, sadistic murder, murder by a known person or unknown to the victim?
M. Was the victim under the influence of alcohol or any type of drug?
N. Were there any foreign materials recovered from the body such as bits of glass, paint in a
hit and run case, spermatozoa (semen) in a rape case, bullet or broken knife blade?
O. What was the estimated time of death?
P. How long had the victim been dead?

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Necropsy Report
It is a document stating the cause of death of the victim.

This is the medico-legal report.

A lawful order must be secured for exhumation, the removal of the body of a deceased
from its place of burial for a medico legal examination to disclose the presence of previously
unknown or improperly identified injuries, or presence of poison or other noxious substance which
would indicate a criminal means caused death.

The Fact of Death

1. The first action of an investigator upon arriving at the scene of the homicide is the
verification of death.
2. An individual is said to be dead in the medical sense when one of the three vital function
is no longer performing within the body:
A. Respiratory System
B. Cardiac Activity
C. Central Nervous System Activity
3. In a legal sense, death is considered to occur when all of the three above vital functions
have ceased.

Presumptive Signs And Test of Death

The following are few of the signs indicative of death:
A. Cessation of breathing and respiratory movement
B. Cessation of heart sounds
C. Loss of placing of nail beds when pressure is applied in the fingernails is released.
Suspended Animation
1. Cardiac activity, breathing and functioning of the nervous system may reach such a low
level activity that a homicide investigator maybe deceived into an assumption of death.
2. The following conditions produced simulated appearance of death:
1. Electric shock
2. Prolonged emersion
3. Poisoning from narcotics drugs
4. Barbiturate poisoning
5. Certain mental diseases
The Importance of Establishing the Identification of Homicide Victims
The identification of the victim is an important investigative step for the following reasons:
1. It provides an important basis for the investigation processes since it may lead
the investigator directly to other important information leading to the solution of
the crime.
2. The identity of the dead person provides the focal point starting point for the
investigation since the investigators can then center their attention on associates
and haunts of the deceased.
3. The identity of the deceased may arouse suspicion in mysterious death since the
victim maybe a person whose life had been threatened or whose death was
desired for criminal purpose.
4. The identification of the deceased can be traced or related to wanted persons or
missing one.
Methods of Identification
A. Fingerprints
Fingerprint identification is the most positive and quickest method of ascertaining
identity. However the prints of the deceased may not be on file or may not be
obtainable because of trauma, mutilation, incineration or decomposition. The sole
clue maybe bone, a skull or a few teeth.
B. Skeletal Studies
Examination of the skeleton may provide a basis for identification because of
individual peculiarities such as old fractures and presence of metal pins. Bones may
also provide information about age, sex and race.
C. Visual Inspection
The victim may be recognized by someone knowing the deceased person
(immediate family, relatives, friends, etc.) However, trauma, incineration, or
decomposition may render the features unrecognizable. In addition, a visual
inspection without further verification had the disadvantage of possible subjective
error or deliberate false identification. Visual inspection combined with fingerprint
evidence is a favored method for rapid, reliable identification.

D. Personal Effects

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 Identification of a victim by personal effects such as jewelry, I.D. card, wallets,
belts, shoes etc.
E. Tattoo and Scars
Identification scars, moles, tattoos, pockmarks or other markings may be helpful
in identification, particularly in conjunction with other findings.
F. Dental Evidence (Forensic Odontology)
Identification based on the examination of teeth (teeth charts, fillings, inlays
crowns, bridgework, dentures etc.) is valuable in as much as the teeth are probably
the most durable part of the human body. There are probably no two people alive
with dentitions that are completely identical in all aspects. Dental evidence is legally
recognized and accepted, if properly presented in court.
G. Clothing
Article of clothing containing cleaners marks, labels, initials, size, color, texture
knitting etc. have provided investigators with leads and even identification in most
instances.

H. Photographs
Identification of victims has been made by publication in bulletins, circulars,
television and other distribution media, artist sketches, death mask and casts have
likewise aided the police in identifying unknowns.

Mutilated Remains
Mutilated remains are dismembered/cut up parts of human body such as hand, feet,
torso, head, and sex organ, intestinal parts thrown to different places to conceal a crime, avoid
being detected and establish the identity of the victim difficult.

Investigative Procedures to be undertaken On Mutilated Remain Cases

1. Take note of the time, date, place as well as the circumstances surrounding the recovery
of the mutilated remains.
2. Seek the assistance of a medico legal officer to establish if the remains are human or
animal.
3. Establish if possible the identification of the victim as the identity of the victim serves as
the focal point of inquiry.
4. Cases of mutilated remains are similar to playing jigsaw puzzle. The investigator must
strive hard to recover other parts.
5. Coordinate with other law enforcement agencies by giving and requesting information
pertaining to mutilated remains.
6. With the aid of a medico legal officer, forensic chemist examine the wounds, manner of
cutting, marks and scars present in the mutilated remains as it might give some clue such
as:
a. Shark bite
b. Gun/explosive powder residue in the skin or clothing
c. Traces of poison
d. Cigarette burns
e. Ligature marks
f. Others
7. Preserved and submit to the crime laboratory recovered mutilated remain if unidentified
for future reference and examination.

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