Strichnyne and Delorazepam detection in bone human remains. A case report

G. P. Bonete, C. P. Martínez , L. F. López, A. Luna

Abstract: There is a need to study alternative biological matrices for cases where bodies are found in an advanced state of decomposition or in skeletal form only. We present a toxicological case report on the remains of a 25-year-old man exhumed 42 years after burial involving suspected poisoning by strychnine and delorazepam. The substances were extracted from a bone sample and confirmed by liquid chromatography together with mass spectrometry. The identified substances were quantified by the same method. The results are difficult to interpret due to the lack of studies that relate the amount of a substance present in bone and blood, so that detection in bone is evidence of exposure only. This is the first case of detecting toxins in bone several decades after consumption. The relationship between the concentration obtained in bone and the corresponding concentration in blood needs to be studied more extensively.
Keywords: forensic science, forensic toxicology, antrophology, human bone remains, strychnine, delorazepam.