title: Death caused by a letter bomb.
abstract: A 48-year-old man was killed by the explosion of a letter bomb after receiving severe injuries to his face and left hand. The autopsy ascertained that the right eye and orbit had been completely destroyed by a large piece of metal from a tin can that had entered the cranial cavity through the right eye and caused fatal brain damage. The victim had also sustained a severe injury to his left hand. Reconstruction of the metal and plastic fragments showed that the victim had received a padded envelope with a video cassette in which a simple explosive device was hidden in a flat tin. The explosive charge consisted of a mixture (ca. 60 g) of sodium chlorate, sodium chloride and sucrose. The charge was detonated by a nylon cord attached to the inside of the envelope which was stretched when the video cassette was pulled out of the envelope. This removed a piece of plastic from between two contacts, and the explosion was set off immediately by a battery which activated two flash bulbs placed within the charge.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Hittorfstrasse 18, 14195 Berlin, Germany. rothschild@medizin.fu-berlin.de
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rothschild
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maxeiner
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy / Q000379:methods*; D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000473:pathology; D015709:Correspondence as Topic; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000473:pathology; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods; D006230:Hand Injuries / Q000473:pathology; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged