In a fascinating 30 year study of 22 deaths involving mutilation/dismemberment (1961-1990), two forensic pathologists and a forensic psychiatrist from three different institutions in Sweden discuss the investigative and legal complication that such cases present (The Journal of Forensic Sciences, 1997). They are divided into four groups (originally suggested by German authors in 1987): defensive (to make identification of the corpse more difficult); aggressive (as expression of outrage); offensive (motivated by desire to inflict pain, of sexual urge); and necromantic (carried out on a dead body).
Defensive mutilation represented 44 percent of the cases. Nearly all of the victims of defensive and aggressive mutilation were decapitated. Family disagreement and financial reasons were the most common scenarios of the defensive cases. None of the defensive mutilators had suffered from a psychotic disorder.
Conflict resolution, from homosexual to jealous to political to financial, was involved in the four outrage mutilations. The two offenders evaluated had diagnoses of psychotic illness. Offensive mutilations were all carried out by young adult males, and included some component of sexual fantasy.
From the perspective of the pathologist doing the autopsy and the homicide detective conducting the investigation into the apparent murders of such mutilated bodies, these characterizations have relatively little significance. The tangible physical evidence (e.g., knife, ax, saw, etc.), and any biological evidence (e.g. blood and other body tissues arid fluids for DNA analysis), will have much more importance and significance in identifying both the victim and the perpetrator. In some instances, however, the nature of the dismemberment and dissecting instrumentality may provide valuable clues concerning the most likely type of assailant. This includes, for example, someone with knowledge of the human anatomy. Forensic psychiatrists who are consulted in these cases will presumably benefit more from the characterization of these groupings, whether they are involved initially in assisting detectives in trying to identify the kind of person who would commit such a crime, e.g., homosexual, professional assassin, sadist, serial killer, etc., or subsequently as expert witnesses at trial for either the prosecution or defense.
Although mutilation and dismemberment of humans has been a documented phenomenon from ancient times, interestingly found more often in societies with "higher forms of religion," the fact of the matter is that such cases constitute an extremely small percentage of all murders (from 0.05 to 0.125 per million inhabitants in this Swedish study). Consequently, most forensic pathologists, even in large metropolitan areas, will only encounter a few of these bizarre cases over the span of an entire professional career. Given the grisly and highly disturbing nature of these cases—even to the most hardened and experienced medical examiner or coroner- it is fortunate that mutilation and dismemberment are such rare events.
