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Child homicide

  • Topic

The violent death of a young child is usually caused by a carer, often without visible injuries; it needs a full autopsy and a careful investigation.

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What it is

Child homicide follows different patterns with age. Neonaticide is the killing of a newborn in the first 24 hours, often after a concealed pregnancy and an unattended birth. In infants and young children the perpetrators are usually parents or carers, and the commonest mechanisms are abusive head trauma, abdominal injuries, smothering and severe neglect; many of these deaths leave few external injuries. Filicide (the killing of a child by a parent) is associated in some mothers with severe postpartum mental illness, especially with psychotic symptoms. In older children and adolescents weapons become more common, as in adults. Smothering may leave no findings at all and be mistaken for sudden infant death.

Key facts

  • Before accepting a natural or accidental death in a child: full skeletal survey, a search for intracranial, eye and abdominal injuries, and toxicology.
  • Injuries of different ages, hidden fractures or a story that keeps changing point to repeated abuse.
  • The profile changes with the victim's age: in neonaticide young mothers and personal weapons predominate; with older children firearms appear more often.
  • A child's death from abuse requires an immediate assessment of the siblings' safety.

Next step: what to do and document

  • When a child arrives dead or dies without a clear cause, do not issue a certificate: inform the Fiscalía and request a medico-legal autopsy.
  • Record separately, in their own words, each carer's account, the time of the events and the time they sought help.
  • Examine and document all the skin, including ears, mouth and frenula, scalp and genitals, with measurements and diagrams.
  • Activate ICBF protection at once for the siblings and the other children in the home.
  • If the mother shows signs of severe postpartum mental illness, ask for an urgent psychiatric assessment.
  • Decree 786 of 1990, art. 7(d): autopsies of minors are singled out when death from abandonment or maltreatment is suspected; art. 6: the medico-legal autopsy is mandatory in homicide or suspected homicide.
  • The duty to report abuse and ICBF protection are covered in Child maltreatment and in Medical ethics (mandatory reporting).
  • Official text checked on 2026-11-13 at funcionpublica.gov.co.

Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

How is neonaticide defined?

The killing of a newborn in the first 24 hours of life by one of its parents, often after a concealed pregnancy.

Why is smothering of an infant hard to diagnose at autopsy?

Because it may leave no findings; the diagnosis rests on the scene, the history and the exclusion of other causes, and it can be mistaken for sudden infant death.

Which investigations are done before accepting a natural cause for an infant's death?

A full skeletal survey, a search for intracranial, eye and abdominal injuries, toxicology and a scene investigation.

Which maternal feature is most strongly associated with postpartum filicide?

Severe mental illness with psychotic symptoms, such as postpartum psychosis.

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Educational content on forensic and legal medicine; not legal advice and no substitute for the technical guides of Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. Laws change: each page links the official text and says when it was last checked. For a real case, follow the guide in force and ask the competent authority.

Sources: Innocence Interrupted: A 25-Year Study of Reported Filicide Incidents in the United States, 1999 to 2023 (Journal of Interpersonal Violence (PMC), 2026); A case-control study of filicide/infanticide in 90 mothers (Archives of Women's Mental Health (PMC), 2025); Decreto 786 de 1990: autopsias clínicas y médico-legales y viscerotomías (compilado en el Decreto 780 de 2016) (Función Pública, Gestor Normativo, 1990).

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