Foreign object insertion in sexual homicide cases : an exploratory study

Foreign object insertion into the vagina of a murder victim is a rare occurrence. When it is encountered it is often seen as an indicator of a sexual murder, or regarded for signature analysis purposes. Due to its rare occurrence it is often only documented in literature in case-study form. In this research seventeen cases of vaginal foreign object insertion were analysed, by far the largest study of this occurrence to date. Cases were only included in the research if the object was still in the vagina when the body was discovered. The research set out to determine the typical victim profile, crime-scene actions, and offender profile, with the intention of assisting in the profiling of these crimes in the future. There were distinct differences amongst the victims in terms of race, occupation, time of death, cause of death, circumstances and area of the crimes. Only six of the seventeen crimes had been solved, yet amongst the eight known offenders certain common characteristics were observed.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Pretoria

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Theron, A. (Aubrey)

• Sexual murder
• Offender profiling
• Investigative psychology
• Investigation
• South african police service
• Signature analysis
• Serial murder
• Foreign object insertion
• Victimology
• Murder
• UCTD

Statement dc:rights

• © University of Pretoria 2007 E1047/

Dc Identifier Other

E1047/gm

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/27458