Autoerotic Death and Suicide Investigations

Autoerotic deaths are misclassified with disturbing regularity. Investigators who have not seen one before often call it a suicide. Investigators who have not been trained sometimes call it a homicide. Both errors have consequences: for the family, for the case, and for the investigator's credibility in court. This 2-hour course gives detectives and investigators the scene recognition skills and investigative framework to get the classification right. Idaho POST-certified.

These scenes are not common, but they are not rare either. The investigator who has never encountered one before and has never been trained for it is the one most likely to make a costly mistake. This course changes that.

What This Course Covers

• Asphyxiation: mechanisms, physical findings, and what the body tells the investigator
• Suicide scene recognition and documentation: what separates a confirmed suicide from an equivocal death
• Autoerotic death: behavioral patterns, physical indicators, common props and devices, and scene characteristics that distinguish accidental from intentional
• The misclassification problem: why these scenes get called wrong and how to avoid it
• Evidence documentation and scene photography specific to these cases
• Family notification and the investigative approach to sensitive death scenes
• Interaction with medical examiners and the role of the death investigation team

Who This Course Is For

Detectives and investigators who handle ambiguous or staged death scenes. Patrol officers who may be first on scene and need to recognize what they are looking at before they disturb it. Any investigator working in a jurisdiction where these calls occasionally occur.

Course Details

Autoerotic death sits at the intersection of accidental death, suicide investigation, and potential homicide. Getting the classification wrong at the scene compounds every step that follows. This course is built to eliminate the knowledge gap that causes those errors. 2 hours. Idaho POST-certified. $40.

Course Modules

Module 1: Asphyxiation Mechanics and Physical Findings. The physiological process of asphyxiation, how it presents at autopsy, and what scene-level indicators are visible to the investigator. Covers positional asphyxia, ligature, and erotic asphyxiation as distinct mechanisms with distinct evidence profiles.

Module 2: Suicide Investigations. Scene documentation standards for suspected suicides. Equivocal death protocol, the role of psychological autopsy, and the investigative steps that protect against both premature closure and unnecessary homicide classification.

Module 3: Autoerotic Death Scene Recognition. The behavioral and physical profile of autoerotic fatalities. Common scene configurations, props, and staging indicators. Why the scene may appear staged when it is not, and what differentiates a genuine autoerotic accident from a staged homicide. The most common classification errors and the scene details that prevent them.

Module 4: Documentation, Notification, and Coordination. Evidence documentation protocols for sensitive death scenes. Interacting with medical examiners and forensic specialists. Family notification and the investigator's responsibility to the deceased and the family without sacrificing investigative integrity.

Accreditation

This course is certified by the Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council. 2 credit hours.

Most law enforcement training exists because someone needed to fill a POST requirement. You've sat through that training. You know exactly what it looks like.

RTI courses are built by working investigators who got tired of watching officers fail in the field because their training never matched reality. Every module is grounded in current forensic science, tested against real case outcomes, and built to hold up in court, not just in a classroom.

No rubber-stamp certificates. No recycled slide decks from a decade ago. No instructors whose only qualification is that they once attended the course they're now teaching.

If you do the work, you'll leave with skills you can use on your next shift.
That's the standard RTI trains to.

How common are autoerotic deaths?

Estimates vary, but the FBI and researchers have documented hundreds of cases annually in the United States, with significant underreporting due to the misclassification problem this course directly addresses. Investigators encounter these scenes more often than the statistics reflect.

Is this course appropriate for patrol officers or only detectives?

Both. Patrol officers are often first on scene and their initial actions determine what evidence survives. Detectives who take the case need the classification and documentation depth covered in Modules 2 through 4.

How does this course relate to RTI's Homicide and Death Investigation training?

This course is part of the homicide cluster alongside Homicide and Death Investigations, Death and Decomposition, Wound Identification, and Staged Crime Scene. It covers a specific and frequently mishandled subset of ambiguous death scenes. RTI recommends pairing it with the Staged Crime Scene course for investigators who handle equivocal deaths regularly.

Is this available for agency-hosted in-person delivery?

Every RTI course is available for in-person agency delivery. Contact RTI to discuss scheduling and logistics for your department.