Criminal deCapitation about three Cases at the lyon’s university institute of forensiC mediCine (franCe)

Abstract

Criminal decapitation's cases associated or not with other mutilations are rare in forensic practice and rarely
developed in the literature. So far, the various forensic aspects related to this process were observed separately.
We report three cases autopsied at the Lyon's University Institute of Forensic Medicine between 2003 and 2009.
We discuss the typology of these dismemberments and develop the key role of the Forensic Pathologist in determining death's cause and ante or post mortem nature of wounds but also in technical characters of weapon used,
or in the reflection about the psychological profile of the perpetrator.