title: Suicidal decapitation using a tractor loader: a case report and review of the literature.
abstract: In forensic practice, decapitated bodies are predominantly associated with decapitation by wheels of trains or with postmortem dismemberment following homicide. In the suicidal context, decapitation accounts for less than 1% of total suicide. Apart from decapitation by trains, other encountered methods involve suicidal hanging and vehicle-assisted ligature suicide. Reported here is a unique case of suicidal decapitation in a 45-year-old man using a tractor loader at the foot of a silo, on his farm. The head was recovered in the loader and there were several impact spots from the loader as well as blood on the silo wall. The autopsy revealed a complete decapitation wound with the severance plane located between the third and fourth cervical vertebra. A 1.5 cm wide abrasion on the anterior part of the neck and abrasions under the chin were noted. This very unique case of intentional suicidal decapitation is the first reported case of a planned system intended to create decapitation outside the unique case of homemade guillotine and the more common decapitation by train.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale, Edifice Wilfrid-Derome, 1701, Parthenais street, 12th floor, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2K 3S7.
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Racette
authors.forename: Truong Tho
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Vo
authors.forename: Anny
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sauvageau
mesh_terms: D000061:Accidents, Home; D000062:Accidents, Occupational; D000383:Agriculture; D049248:Decapitation / Q000209:etiology*; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013405:Suicide