The skeletal blunt force trauma resulting from fatal falls: an anthropological analysis of fracture distribution and morphology using post-mortem computed tomography

The aim of this research was to strengthen the medico-legal evidence base for analysing and interpreting the skeletal trauma that results from fatal falls. Using the full-body post-mortem computed tomography scans of 298 individuals who were known to have died from low free falls, falls involving stairs and high free falls, fracture patterns and morphologies were investigated. Results indicate there are a number of significant fracture patterns and morphologies characteristic of each of these fall types. Findings will allow forensic anthropologists to better interpret the mechanism of trauma in cases of skeletal remains where the circumstances of death are unknown.