Accident or homicide ??

» DutchDude - Investigation of a fatal fall from great hight

I read an article about questions that arise in the investigation of a case in which a child made a horrible fatal fall from the 19th floor of a building balcony. Main question was about the possibility of it not being accidental and in case it was not, how a suspected homicide by the guardian whom was present at the time of the fall could be proven. I am a no professional, just interested in forensics. So please forgive me if my questions sound ridiculous and excuse my poor English.
First of all I think that the first thing I would do is see if the balcony railing shows fingerprints of the child in case it climbed on the railing and accidently fell off.Absencee of thechildss fingerprints should be considered questionable. Also possible signs of a struggle could be present at the balcony or on the victim ?? But would there be evidence to be found at the place of impact to the ground that could prove foul play?? As was stated by someone from Australia referring to "crime scene" investigation of the state in which the victim was found, I can't imagine that a reliablecomparisonn by reconstruction can be made with syrup and food coloring in the case of such a fall, as I do not see how a child who was deliberately dropped compared to a child who slips off the balcony by accident would hit the ground in a different manner because, what I call "the take off speed" , would be the same.

But wouldn't there be traceable aspects that could indicate the difference between a child thclimbedmed on the railing and fell over accidently, and a child whose "take off speed" was much higher because of being , for instance , thrown down with force by an adult? Wouldn't the place where the child struck to the ground be different in both examples ?

I also can imagine that it could be possible that a child who accidently slipped over the railing grazed other balconies or walls on the way down because the take off point is very close to the building. This would not exclude the possibility of the child being thrown deliberately but could narrow down the reconstruction towards what possibly really happened and be kept in mind in an interrogation. Stretching the idea implicates that in case a child is deliberately thrown ,especially by an adult in psychological distress, it would not be unthinkable that the child was thrown away from the building, therefore minimizing the possibility of grazing the building. Also I can imagine there would be different places of impact to the ground. I ddon't dont think a child standing on a railing 19 floors high would jump away from the building to see if it can fly.

Last question. In case the child made contact with the building in its fall down, could cell material that possibly was left on one or more places of the building,besides indicate how close the victim was to the building, provide information on the speed the victim was at at the moment the cell material was left behind?

-- posted by DutchDude

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