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The autopsy in a suspected sexual homicide

  • Procedure

When a person may have been sexually assaulted before death, the autopsy must find and preserve the evidence before the body is washed.

Updated

What it is

A sexual homicide is one in which the death is associated with a sexual assault. Most victims are women and girls, and in forensic series the most common cause of death is strangulation. The autopsy has two aims at once: to establish the cause and mechanism of death, and to collect the evidence of the assault (the assailant's biological material, genital and non-genital injuries, hairs and fibres) without contaminating it. Order matters: surface evidence is collected before the body is washed. In Colombia, killing a woman because she is a woman or because of her gender identity is femicide (Penal Code, art. 104A, created by Law 1761 of 2015), and its investigation must start ex officio and be thorough.

What to document

  • The state of the clothing: torn, unfastened, inside out or missing.
  • Each genital and non-genital injury with its site, size and a photograph with a scale.
  • Restraint injuries, defence injuries and bite marks.
  • Which samples were taken, from where, by whom and to whom they were handed.
  • What was not found, stating that the absence of semen or injuries does not prove there was no assault.

How it is done

  1. Review the inspection record and scene photographs; examine and photograph the clothed body before touching the clothing.
  2. Remove the clothing over a clean sheet and keep each garment separately in labelled paper bags.
  3. Search the skin under good light for stains, hairs and fibres and collect them before washing the body.
  4. Photograph bite marks with a scale and swab them for saliva before washing; ask for a dental opinion.
  5. Clip the nails and take scrapings from under them, keeping each hand separate.
  6. Examine the genitals, inner thighs and perianal area; use a speculum; comb the pubic hair and keep the victim's own hairs with roots.
  7. Take oral, vaginal, rectal and skin swabs, air-dry them and store them in individual paper envelopes.
  8. Complete the autopsy with attention to the neck, defence injuries and restraint marks on the wrists and ankles.
  9. Take blood for reference DNA and toxicology, and hand everything over under chain of custody.

Next step: what to do and document

  • If a dead or dying victim of suspected sexual assault reaches the emergency room, do not wash them or discard the clothing: keep it in paper and hand it over under chain of custody.
  • Record resuscitation procedures and the devices you placed, so they are not mistaken for injuries.
  • Inform the Fiscalía at once; the autopsy is medico-legal and does not need the family's consent.
  • If you perform the autopsy, follow the order: surface evidence, genital examination, full autopsy and reference samples.
  • In the report, separate findings from interpretation and state which injuries are consistent with the events under investigation.
  • Official text checked on 2026-11-13 at funcionpublica.gov.co.

Common mistakes

  • Washing the body before collecting surface evidence.
  • Storing swabs wet or in plastic bags, which encourages degradation of biological material.
  • Concluding there was no sexual assault because there are no genital injuries.
  • Forgetting oral and anal swabs or nail scrapings.

Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

Why is surface evidence collected before washing the body in a suspected sexual homicide?

Because washing removes the assailant's semen, saliva, hairs and fibres, which are the evidence that can identify them.

What is the most common cause of death in sexual homicides in forensic series?

Strangulation.

How are swabs for DNA testing preserved?

Air-dried, in individual labelled paper envelopes, under chain of custody.

Does the absence of genital injuries rule out sexual assault?

No. Many assaults leave no genital injury; the findings and evidence are assessed as a whole.

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Connections

← All of forensic medicine

Educational content on forensic and legal medicine; not legal advice and no substitute for the technical guides of Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. Laws change: each page links the official text and says when it was last checked. For a real case, follow the guide in force and ask the competent authority.

Sources: The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016) (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 2017); Sexual homicides in South Africa: A national cross-sectional epidemiological study of adult women and children (PLoS One (PMC), 2017); Ley 1761 de 2015, por la cual se crea el tipo penal de feminicidio como delito autónomo (Rosa Elvira Cely) (Función Pública, Gestor Normativo, 2015).

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