[hermantheshocker]

Translated from German.
Cologne, Germany. The wrapping of corpses, whether as an act of cover-up after a homicide or for a completely different motivation, is classified as a form of corpse disposal and is a rare occurrence. Its facets can be very varied. The following cases are from 2009 to 2016.

Case 1


Fig.1 Additional packaging of the body with packing tape, large blue garbage bags and re-application of packing tape.


Fig.2 Cling film wrapped body of a 79 year old woman.

Three days before the police found her, the son found his lifeless 79-year-old mother sitting on an armchair in the living room and tried to wake her up. It was immediately clear to the son that his mother had died. He then cleaned her with a wet washcloth and rubbed a cream on her body. Then the son, because "he didn't know what else to do", first wrapped his mother in cling film, then with packing tape, then with large blue garbage bags and again with packing tape.

The following day he put a rollable air conditioner in the living room "so that his mother shouldn't decompose so quickly" and also laid wet towels on the wrapped corpse. His sister had alerted the police after being informed of their mother's death. According to the son, the deceased had a serious heart condition and had to take numerous medications. In addition, she had a new heart valve and was only able to move around the apartment with difficulty. During the autopsy, a massively damaged heart with several small, old infarction scars in the myocardium and a freshly bled bed of calcium in the right coronary artery could be shown. There were no signs of external mechanical violence or violent asphyxiation.

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Case 2


Fig.3 Body of a man in his 50s packed in several plastic bags.


Fig.4 Warning and information notices found in the apartment.

The corpse of a 50-year-old man was found in his apartment lying on his back on a bed, in a state of putrefaction, and was packed in several plastic bags. Another garbage bag was put over the head of the corpse, the opening of which was equipped with an elastic band that was pulled tight from the inside. The body was covered with 2 blankets and there were warnings and notices in the apartment, including the statement of the last will, as well as information on funeral formalities.

The person found is said to have suffered from depression and tried to take his own life in a similar way at the age of 19. The corpse showed no signs of external violence or pathological changes in organs, so that the autopsy assumed suffocation to be the cause of death based on the history and the situation in which it was found. Chemical-toxicological investigations revealed toxic concentrations of amitriptyline and the detection of zopiclone and diphenhydramine in femoral blood and urine.

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Case 3


Fig.5 The body of a 28-year-old man, covered with a duvet cover, a plastic bag, a cardboard box and a cable reel.


Fig.6 Decomposing, properly clothed corpse; Head wrapped in a circular pattern with adhesive tape.

The perpetrator turned himself in to the police and reported that he had killed his partner in their shared apartment. During an argument he choked the victim to unconsciousness; he does not remember what happened afterwards. His memory only returned when he found the victim with a knife wound in the chest. The body was lying in the shared apartment in a room that was sealed with adhesive tape: the body of the 28-year-old man was covered with a duvet cover, a plastic bag and a cardboard box as well as a cable drum.

The corpse was wrapped in another bed cover and fixed with strings. There was a plastic bag around the feet. Beneath this packaging was the clothed corpse, which had started to decompose. The head was wrapped in a circular pattern with adhesive tape. The body had 8 stab wounds to the chest, upper abdomen and neck, as well as signs of blunt trauma to the neck. The cause of death was bleeding from multiple stab wounds.

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Case 4


Fig.7 Body of a 32-year-old man, wrapped in a plastic tarp and blanket.


Fig.8 Gunshot wound in the midline of the body below the neck.

The body of a 32-year-old man, wrapped in a plastic tarpaulin and a woolen blanket, was uncovered during grading work on a spoil heap. The corpse was tied together above the plastic tarpaulin with a tension belt and below the coverings with a tank top. The autopsy revealed 2 gunshot wounds. On the one hand there was a shotgun wound; the bullet point was in the midline of the body in the neck. The edges of the wound and their surroundings showed macromorphological signs of a relatively close shot.

The cervical spine was completely severed between cervical vertebrae V and VI and the spinal cord was torn. There was also a bullet wound to the thorax with a slug. Here, the wound morphology indicated an entry in the left flank region, with the thorax running transversely to the right without any signs of a close shot. This shot proved to be the cause of death, since both lungs were injured and all 4 heart cavities were opened in the course of the bullet path.

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Case 5


Fig.9 The body of a 24-year-old woman, packed in plastic bags and a shopping bag around her head.


Fig.10 Wool scarf tied tightly around the neck and knotted under the turtleneck of the pullover.

The body of a 24-year-old woman was found 14 days after she was reported missing by her partner that she shared an apartment with. The partner had previously confessed to having killed the young woman. The body was hidden under a bed and wrapped in plastic bags. There was also a shopping bag around the head of the fully clothed corpse. Under the turtleneck of the pullover, a woolen scarf tied and knotted twice around the neck could be seen.

Autopsy revealed a total of 3 different types of violence: On the one hand, there was a gunshot wound above the right ear, with the projectile with a caliber of 0.22 Long Rifle lying directly in or below the galea without opening the neurocranium. Furthermore, there were several indications of blunt and shaped-edged violence against the head, e.g. a fracture of the skull with penetration of the dura mater by skull fragments. A massive congestion syndrome as a result of a throttling process was also evident. Overall, the third injury complex was interpreted as the cause of death, in particular because of the scalp injuries with little bleeding, which were presumably made terminally during the dying process.

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Case 6


Fig.11 The corpse of a 90-year-old woman with a plastic bag over her head, which is closed with a shoelace at the front of the neck.

The body of a 90-year-old woman was found lying on her back in her bed, wearing pajamas. A plastic bag was pulled over the head and closed with a shoelace in the front neck area. No signs of external mechanical violence could be found during the autopsy, especially no signs of compressive violence against the neck. As a result of the forensic medical examinations and the police investigations, in the absence of signs of congestion, an intact hyoid bone and larynx skeleton and the absence of other injuries or defensive injuries, it was assumed that the patient had been suffocated with suicidal intent. Chemical-toxicological investigations revealed diphenhydramine in the blood of the deceased in a pharmacologically effective but non-toxic concentration.

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Case 7


Fig.12 Male torso beginning to rot.

Three plastic garbage bags, lying one inside the other, landed on the banks of the Rhine, they contained a male torso that had undergone severe putrefaction. Legs, arms and head were severed. A few items of clothing were attached to the body. About 12 months later, the severed, skeletonized limbs and the skeletonized skull were found lying in a pit in a park and could be clearly assigned to the torso after DNA comparison.

The autopsy revealed no fatal injuries or organ changes in the obviously younger man, apart from signs that the corpse had been lying there for a longer period of time. The cutting edges of the head and extremities appeared avital, without bleeding and smooth-edged, with saw-cut injuries on the left shoulder joint and only a few test cuts in the immediate vicinity of the cutting edges. All joints were disarticulated. The only identifying feature was an old and unmarked scar on the front of the chest.

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Case 8


Fig.13 A man's corpse lying in front of the bed, carefully covered with blankets and T-shirts.

After the parents filed a missing persons report, the bodies of 2 young men (28 and 27 years old) living in a partnership were found in a rotten state in an apartment. The joint suicide had already been announced and an earlier attempt had been made. An unclothed male corpse lay on the bed in a rotten state surrounded by numerous disposable syringes, insulin pens and sex toys; the body of the other man was in front of the bed, carefully covered with blankets and T-shirts. The hands were fixed with metal handcuffs without a connecting chain and with a nylon rope. Avital cuts and scratches in the form of letters were visible above the left shoulder blade.

A jointly written farewell letter was found on site. Evidence of longterm rectal penetration was found during the autopsy with a flaccid sphincter and heavy bleeding into the surrounding soft tissue in the small pelvis, and further unspecific indications of intoxication. The chemical-toxicological investigations revealed a fatal mixed intoxication with new psychoactive substances in both men: 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC), methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), o-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (o-PVP) in highly toxic concentrations and the detection of sildenafil (Viagra® ). Due to the high degree of putrefaction, any insulin application could no longer be detected.

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Case 9


Fig.14 Body of a 37-year-old woman found dead in her home, wrapped in a sleeping bag.


Fig.15 Additional wrapping of the body in a tarpaulin that was tied tightly.

According to a missing persons report, a 37-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment, wrapped in a sleeping bag and a tarpaulin and tied tightly under a table on the floor. A terry cloth towel was wrapped around the face of the corpse, which was severely rotten and infested with fly maggots. The body was lightly clothed, with the clothing on the upper body already showing numerous sharp cuts in the textile fabric.

The autopsy revealed 4 stab wounds to the front of the thorax, with 2 injuries to the left and right upper lobe of the lung, the pericardium and the left ventricle, with this injury being regarded as the cause of death. There was also a crushed laceration with a corresponding hole fracture on the right side of the skull, indicating a small-scale, formed impact. After questioning the accused partner, a jackknife and a locksmith's hammer were found as the tools of the crime.

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Case 10


Fig.16 Decaying corpse of a 22-year-old woman, wrapped several times in a sleeping bag liner and blankets.

As a result of an interrogation, officers from the narcotics department went to the home address of a couple known to the police for narcotics offences. An intense smell of rot was noticed in the apartment, and the partner finally stated that he had strangled his girlfriend during an argument and then hidden her body under the bed. There, the corpse of the 22-year-old woman was found under a double bed; the slatted frame was bolted to the bed frame.

The corpse lay prone, under the body was a blanket soaked with putrefactive liquid; the corpse was also wrapped several times in a sleeping bag liner and blankets. A shoelace with a loose knot in the nape of the neck was already visible at the site where the corpse was found. Autopsy revealed a thrush mark and a fracture of the hyoid bone surrounded by blood with bleeding into the surrounding soft tissue as signs of a fatal, compressive force against the neck.

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It can be stated that the wrapping of a corpse is not only used in different groups of deaths, but also for a wide variety of purposes and not only for the reason of disposing of corpses after homicides. Conversely, this means that when a wrapped corpse is found, the background does not necessarily have to be a homicide and a comprehensive forensic medical examination of the circumstances of the death should always be carried out.

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This post is for educational purposes only and is nonprofit. Under Section 107 of the US Copyright Act of 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. OP is not a medical expert. No copyright infringement intended. This post does not encourage or glorify violence/harassment. Images might have been upscaled and enhanced. Text might have been shortened and simplified/reorganized for online view.

[Susan]

Case 7 looks like he is full of shit.

[ride]

I was looking at photos for case #5 and my dog (an overweight chocolate lab) farted. Now I will be equating decomposition to dog farts unless I get a whiff of the real thing - which is not on my bucket list, btw.

[William May]

I see that there are NO bows or wrapping paper, no ribbons, and also no cheese.
These so-called "Wrappers" are totally lame.

[icehole]

Nice compilation

[K53]

Interesting data and images

[REVZZYBAN]

Herman, you are getting WAY too wrapped up in your ghoulish activities.

[William May]

Originally Posted by REVZZYBAN ↗

Herman, you are getting WAY too wrapped up in your ghoulish activities.

Well, he's not DOING it. He's just REPORTING on it.

Now, if he was personal friends with all these people, I might have some questions.......

[Razorhead]

Interesting sets.

[Caf002]

Another great job, Herman!