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This is difficult for 2 reasons.The first is the social media policy of my workplace. For privacy reasons I cannot give details that could identify a specific case.The second is that there are not all that many unusual deaths. Probably 80% are overdoses, SIGSW (self-inflicted gun shot wounds), and motor vehicle accidents. Throw in a few red-neck loves (domestic murder/suicides), SUIDI (sudden unexpected infant death investigations -previously known as SIDS), drownings, hunting accidents, and gang shootings and you have most of the rest.Movie plots are most often found in movies.Original question:What are some of the most unusual/challenging medicolegal cases you have worked on?“This answer is part of a Quora Session on 'Working as a Medicolegal Death Investigator' hosted on 7/9/2018."

This answer may contain sensitive images. Click on an image to unblur it.Yes, this is not uncommon.A death certificate will list the Cause and Manner of death. If it is a natural death most likely (in the USA) your Primary Care Physician or the Hospitalist would sign a death certificate with the Manner being “Natural” and the cause being what ever disease you had- maybe sepsis, myocardial infarction, complications of diabetes, etc.If your death was not “natural” then most likely it would fall under the jurisdiction of the Medical Examiner or Coroner.The Manners of death that are recognized in the USA are:NaturalAccidentSuicideHomicideUndeterminedThe “Undetermined” manner is used when the Medical Examiner cannot find the reason for the death. There may be several reasons for this.Maybe the remains were so decomposed (or even skeletonized) that they were unable to tell,There was no clear sign at autopsy, and all toxicology, histology, and other tests came back negative,They might know the cause (like gunshot wound to the head) but the circumstance of investigation make it unclear if it was a suicide or accident,The forensic pathologists do not like to rule a death “undetermined” and will do as much as possible to avoid it.There are always improvements to the death investigation field that are lowering our rates of undetermined deaths. For example- many infant deaths fell under the “SIDS” (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) category with manner being “undetermined”. Now we recognize there is ‘no such syndrome’= babies are not dying for no reason. The term that is used now is “SUIDI” (Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Investigation). A MDI (Medicolegal Death Investigator) or police officer will do an infant death reconstruction. We use baby dolls, or preferably one like this:(Image Source) that is easily positioned and photographed. Many of the infant deaths that were previously ruled as undetermined, are now found to be caused by being overlaid, or asphyxiated. There are some that still ruled as undetermined, but that rate is going down.

Very common and easy avoidableinfant mortality usually called SIDS not is SUIDI,Google it and if you have questions let me know