Dismemberment as a Method of Body Disposal in Spanish Forensic Cases

Abstract

This study provides an overview of victim and offender data, the cause and manner of death, the dismemberment type, the post-dismemberment alteration, and the forensic investigation, for 35 Spanish forensic cases. The main aim of this study was to perform a retrospective analysis of dismemberment and body part alteration in Spain since 1990, in particular relating to burning. The sample was selected from a Spanish national database on criminal records (CENDOJ). Official court records were examined for 96 variables, which were analysed through non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis (nMDS). The results obtained revealed that the number of dismemberment cases between 1990 and 2016 totalled 35 (amounting to a total of 40 bodies) with an incidence of 0.29% of the total number of homicide cases in the database. Most of the aggressors were Spanish adult males, and the victims were adult females of foreign nationality. The most commonly employed tool used to kill and dismember was the knife. A total of 15.00% of the 40 bodies were further altered by fire. It was concluded that dismemberment and other postmortem actions contributed to complicating the forensic investigation and hindering the identification of the deceased.

“Scalping” in the context of criminal dismemberment and mutilation—a case report and review of the literature

“…Case count ( N ) includes all cDM cases in the respective publication, regardless of the possible absence of the head for inspection N Authors/publications Notes 31 Püschel and Koops [ 31 ] Hamburg, Germany. Note case 18 Adjei [ 32 ] Overlap 51 Wilke-Schalhorst et al [ 33 ] 2* Edler et al [ 34 ] *Cases from [ 34 ] included in [ 33 ] 30 Konopka et al [ 35 ] **Case from [ 36 ] included in [ 35 ] 1** Kunz and Gross [ 36 ] 22 Rajs et al [ 30 ] 43 Guggenheimer et al [ 37 ] 65 Sea and Beauregard [ 38 ] 13 Häkkännen-Nyholm et al [ 39 ] 40 Mata-Tutor et al [ 40 ] 3 Di Nunno et al [ 41 ] 1 Weimann [ 42 ], Stekel [ 43 ] Sources [ 42 , …”

“… In a study on 40 cDM cases from Spain, scalping was not recorded as a variable. However, two cases of face mutilation were present [ 40 ]. In a study on 65 cDM cases from Korea, scalping was not specified as a variable.…”

“…In a study on 40 cDM cases from Spain, scalping was not recorded as a variable. However, two cases of face mutilation were present [ 40 ].…”

Measuring dimensional and morphological heat alterations of dismemberment-related toolmarks with an optical roughness metre

“…A bread knife, a serrated knife, a butcher machete and a saw were chosen for the sharp force trauma experiment due to them being affordable and domestic items used in previous dismemberment cases in Europe, as a sole weapon or in combination with a saw [45][46][47][48][49]. The bread knife and machete were employed in a pilot study in which three donated embalmed cadavers were used to simulate a case in which an attempted dismemberment and burning had occurred, and it was proven that the macroscopic features of the toolmarks were observable and recognisable after the cremation [10,31].…”

A “concrete” identification in a dismemberment case

“…A subtype of dismemberment termed “defensive dismemberment” is that which serves to obscure the identity of the victim and/or perpetrator. Concealment of identity can be further compounded by any additional post‐dismemberment alterations, such as the use of fire or chemicals to degrade the remains [2].…”