At autopsy, a fatal stab wound to the chest has a track depth of 11 cm, yet the recovered knife measures only 8 cm along its blade. The best explanation is:

• A The knife handle was driven into the wound
• B Measurement error of the wound track at autopsy
• C Postmortem shrinkage of the viscera
• D Compression of the chest wall and underlying tissues during the thrust, with recoil afterwards ✓

Explanation

During a stabbing thrust, the chest or abdominal wall is indented and compressed against the underlying organs, so the tip penetrates deeper than the blade length. When the pressure is released, the compressed tissues recoil and the apparent track length exceeds the blade. This is a well recognised forensic principle: wound depth therefore gives only a minimum estimate of blade length and cannot be used to exclude a shorter weapon.

Reference: Knight's Forensic Pathology, 4th ed.

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Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.