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Necrophilic Crime Scene Behaviors in the Context of Sexual Homicide: A Multiple Case Study

Ewa Stefanska, Adam Carter, Mark Pettigrew, Tamsin Higgs

Among the most complex cases faced by forensic practitioners tasked with risk assessment and offending behavior interventions are those who have perpetrated sexual homicide involving paraphilic behaviors, even more so when this includes post mortem sexual acts. There is very little empirical research on necrophilic behavior in sexual homicide to guide forensic-clinical case formulation, and there are conflicting scholarly opinions concerning the significance of necrophilic behavior as an indicator of sexual sadism. To address these issues, offense and offender characteristics of 25 five perpetrators of sexual homicide were examined. All had engaged in unambiguously necrophilic behavior, their sexual acts being exclusively after the victim’s death. About one third of the sample was assessed to warrant a working hypothesis of sexual sadism according to their score on the Sexual Sadism Scale (SeSaS). Vignettes of these cases are presented along with examples of non- sexually sadistic cases in order to demonstrate the differing functional significance of necrophilic behavior. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.