ABSTRACT
This chapter describes examples of staging a death scene. Case analyses demonstrate the kinds of behaviours that investigators should look for. The chapter deals with psychological autopsies as forensic evidence. The primary reason to set up a suicide as a homicide is to get the pay-out from an insurance policy that has a prohibitive suicide clause. However, it is best not to leave the insurance document in plain sight. Some people fake their death to avoid jail or to get away with a crime; others want to escape debt, a stalker, or a burdensome relationship. Since investigators who must interpret behaviour operate with probability analysis, they must also be aware that some cases are outliers on any probability scale. Psychological autopsies are based largely on clinical assessment, but there is no universally authoritative body. The method of psychological autopsy lacks certain characteristics that are required for methodologies that claim to be based on scientific analysis.
