[On the problem of defensive dismembering of a dead body by a person not involved in the previous homicide (author's transl)].

A person accused of murder maintained that he found his nextdoor neighbour dead. Because he had already served a long sentence for homicide he stated that in a state of panic he dismembered and removed the dead body not to be suspected again.--For collecting information legal medicine institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria and Switzerland were consulted. The results are very instructive and are completed by reports from the literature. No proven case was found in which a person dismembered and disposed of an incidentally found body (or the body of someone who incidentally died in the presence of the subject) in order to prevent suspicion of guilt. Occasionally those statements were made, and also refuted.