Czech Republic. The body of a 40-year-old man was found in a crashed passenger car. Upon closer inspection of the vehicle, the police patrol found a male decapitated body; the head was lying on the back seat to the right of the body. The entire interior of the car was stained with blood. After opening the vehicle and inspecting its interior, it was found that the backrest of the driver’s seat was folded back, and the headrest was broken off. The man’s body was partially on that seat and partially on the left back seat all the way to the left rear pillar of the car. The man’s body was lying on its left side with the lower limbs stretched forward to the vehicle’s pedals. The left arm was folded over the middle of the body, and the right arm was stretched along the right side. The head was severed from the body at the neck and was lying under the left side of the body in the lumbar area on the left cheek, with the face part directed outside from the luggage area. The skin at the place of decapitation was severed straight; on both sides of the neck part of the decapitated head, 3 cm below the ears, there was a strangulation line apparent, going back to the scruff.
Fig.1 Scene of death. View of the decapitated body in the vehicle through the luggage area.
When inspecting the crime scene surroundings, 90m (295ft) above the final position of the vehicle, the beginning of a tourist path was found. To the left of this crossing, there was a full-grown spruce, and around its trunk, at a height of 30cm (11″) above the snow, a rope had been tied. It lay obliquely across the road all the way to the right ditch. On the other end of the rope, a loop had been tied. The rope itself was 60m (196ft) long.
Fig.2 Scene of death. View of the decapitated body in the vehicle after opening the door on the driver’s side.
The external inspection and autopsy of the victim revealed a complete traumatic severing of the head from the neck (com-plete decapitation) with total severing of the skin, musculature, ligaments, blood vessels and nerves, all soft tissues, and cervical spine (including spinal cord at C2 and C3) along with severing of all neck organs, including the trachea and esophagus below the thyroid cartilage. An oblique, simple, circumferential 11-mm wide ligature line was found at the edge of the decapitation below the mandible, with a typical band-like abrasion pattern. The epiglottis had been torn off and remained on the head segment. The airway was severed at the trachea between the hyoid bone and the thyroid cartilage. The entire severance plane showed marked blood extravasation in the tissue of the wound surface. Aspiration of blood into the airways and into the lungs was proven. On the severed head, there was a 3 x 4cm graze in the left parietal area, a 4cm-long horizontally oriented laceration-contusion wound on the right side of the chin, and a 12 x 7mm graze on the right forehead.
Fig.3 Inferior view of the superior part of the severance plane, band-like abrasion pattern (ligature mark) with rough-toothed margins around the skin of the neck.
The character and localization of the discovered injuries showed that a blunt force of great to enormous intensity acted against the victim’s neck area, and this force was undoubtedly pressure and tightening of the ligature, ie, very fast strangling. It’s assumed that during the vehicle’s acceleration, the rope around the victim’s neck caused a very intense and very fast strangling when stretched tight as a result of being fastened to the tree. The produced force then caused severing of all neck organs and decapitation of the victim’s head from the body. After its decapitation, the victim’s head moved freely in the passenger car, and that is where the injuries described above (grazes and laceration-contusion wounds on the chin) happened due to impacts of hard parts of the vehicle interior on the victim’s head. This was also supported by the findings of the victim’s hair in the vehicle’s luggage area. Injuries to the man’s neck organs bore vital signs, and together with blood aspiration into his airways, it confirmed that the victim’s injuries took place undoubtedly when vital functions of his organism were still preserved. The character of the ligature line and injuries on the neck completely corresponded to the ligature that was tied around the victim’s neck at the time of his death. The victim died very shortly after the decapitation (in a few seconds). At that time, the victim performed several terminal, uncoordinated, and reflexive breaths, during which the airways aspirated blood from the severed blood vessels of the neck.
Fig.4 Lateral view of the left superior part of the severance plane, visible ligature mark below left auricle.
The maximum velocity of the involved car at the moment of decapitation (from the point of the tree to the head’s separation from the body) with regard to the length of the rope used and the acceleration ability of the car when that accelerator was fully depressed, was calculated to be approximately 28 km/h (17 mph). Chemical-toxicological examination of the biological material taken discovered the presence of caffeine and nicotine in the victim’s urine, liver, kidneys, and blood. About 0.56 g/L of ethyl alcohol was found in the victim’s blood, and 1.29 g/L of ethyl alcohol was found in his urine.
Fig.5 Superior view of the inferior part of the severance plane, band-like abrasion pattern with rough-toothed margins around the skin of the neck.
Following the completion of the investigations and autopsy, the death was classified as a suicide. The victim’s suicide act was also confirmed by the obtained suicide notes, as well as text messages sent from the place immediately before the actual act. The presented case illustrates a unique method utilizing a motor vehicle and a ligature to cause immediate death by decapitation. The degree of cervical trauma found in this case was far greater than is characteristic of ligature strangulation or hanging, except in cases where the body has fallen some distance.
Fig.6 Significant aspiration of blood into the airways.
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