I write murder/mystery/romance novels. As such, someone will be injured or die by the end of the book, and my perpetrators will go to great length to deflect or cover their crime.
In average, 15,000 people die every year following an accident in Canada. Accidents are the 1st leading cause of death in people under the age of 45, and the 4th overall in all age groups after Cancer, Heart Diseases, and Covid-19. Interestingly, if we separate the statistics by gender, accidents are the 3rd leading cause of death in men but the 5th in women.
Since accidents are relatively common, one way to cover a murder is to make it look like an accident. Here are the six major causes of accidental deaths:
- Motor Vehicle Accidents (1st cause in both men & women): one of my perpetrators tampered with a car...
- Fall (2nd in both men & women): it's fairly easy to push someone down the stairs, but the problem is when the victim survives the fall and can identify the perpetrator...
- Drowning (3rd in men, 6th in women): forcing someone to drown without leaving signs of struggle behind is not as easy as it looks...
- Fire (4th in men, 3rd women): fire tends to destroy everything, except what started the fire...
- Suffocation (5th in men, 4th women): pillows come to mind here...
- Poisoning (6th in men, 5th women): the perpetrators in historical novels could get away with poisoning their victims, but nowadays only a handful of substances will not show up during an autopsy, and these few undetectable substances aren't readily available.
My perpetrators won't stop trying to hide their crimes, but they won't get away with it LOL
Enjoy the small blessings that life brings every day & stay safe!
JS
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Enjoyed the post. Keep writing
ReplyDeleteInteresting facts and statistics. I bet with the constant progress in forensic sciences, it becomes more and more difficult for murderers to cover their crimes. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I researched arson for one of my stories I discovered it’s very difficult for an arsonist to set a fire without catching themselves on fire as well!!! That book is still in draft but I really must get back to editing it one of these days. Lol
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