Identification of thiopental and pentobarbital in head and pubic hair by SPME and GC-MS-MS in a case of drug-facilitated sexual assault.

A case report on a drug facilitated sexual assault is discussed. A woman was hospitalized for a minor surgical operation. After her complete awakening from anaesthesia she was transferred from the operating room to her ward. Inside the elevator used for transfer she was made unconscious, by means of a drug injected in the infusion set, and sexually assaulted. Although gynaecological and psychological inspections as well as citologic and genetic tests on biological specimens were carried out, no blood or urine samples were collected for toxicological analyses. A month later we were requested from the victim to analyse her hair in an attempt to identify the sedative drug(s) involved. Barbiturates were for the first time detected in hair matrix.