Sunday, September 10, 2006

Decapitation

Reference Question Saturday September 9, 2006

I had a forensics student come and ask for information on decapitation (a nice little pick-me-up on a quiet day at the reference desk!).

At first it was unclear through what discipline she was approaching the topic. She mentioned initially that she was looking for information on a legal case about decapitation, but when I started to show her the legal databases, she said she was a forensics student and looking at a murder that involved decapitation. She was particularly interested in finding medical information that might help investigators to know whether the person had been alive or dead at the time of decapitation.

I thought about using PubMed, but the focus of her question wasn’t really medical (and I wasn’t sure how much information PubMed has on forensic medicine), so I did what I often do when I get a question that seems to be interdisciplinary, used Google Scholar to get an idea of what’s out there. I first entered the search terms “decapitation murder”, but didn’t get enough information on the physical aspects. The hits seemed to focus more on the murders or murderers.

I changed my search terms to “decapitation death” and this gave me somewhat better results. However, I felt I could do better, so I also searched under “decapitation execution” and found an article that was particularly useful -- Features Characteristic of Homicide in Cases of Complete Decapitation. American Journal of Forensic Medicine & Pathology. 25(1):83-86, March 2004.
Turk, E E. MD; Puschel, K MD; Tsokos, M MD

Abstract: Four cases of complete decapitation connected to homicidal acts are presented. In 3 cases, decapitation was inflicted postmortem after killing the victim. The motives for decapitation were considered defensive, aggressive, and a possible combination of the 2 in one case each. In one case, decapitation was a vital injury and accounted for death. In this case, an offensive motive for mutilation was suspected. The combination of death scene findings and autopsy results will in most cases distinguish between homicidal and other modes of death.

1 Comments:

Blogger Dean Giustini said...

Macabre.

One of the first reference questions I got at BMB was from a make-up student, studying film at the VFS. She wanted three ballistics photos to help her do her assignment; I took her to the W600s (forensic medicine).

Loads of gore there. Dean

ps. This is at least the fourth post on forensics in week I of LIBR534.

11:24 p.m.  

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