Lightning strike as probable cause of death and determining identity based on the examination of skeletal remains.

In this article, a case of examining an incomplete human skeleton found in a forest is presented. Based on the assessment of posttraumatic lesions in the skull bones, the cause of death of a man who had died 14 years prior to the examination was determined with high probability to be due to a lightning strike. Moreover, the rare pathological lesions within the skeleton, such as a healed fracture of the humerus and rheumatoid malformations within the hand, in reference to preserved medical records, have also allowed to identify the deceased.