911 Calls in Death Investigations: Indicators of Veracity and Deception

The current study examined verbal cues of veracity and deception in 911 calls reporting homicides or suicides of another person. Specifically, the current study compared differences in the presence/absence and number of potential verbal indicators between a sample of deceptive callers who concealed their role in causing the person's death and truthful callers who did not cause the person's death. Results demonstrate consistency with previously proposed indicators of veracity and deception in 911 calls. More precisely, a greater number of self-handicapping statements and descriptions of physical sensations were made by deceptive individuals, whereas truthtellers were more likely to spontaneously self-correct inaccurate statements. Practical implications and limitations are discussed.