Man leaves wife's severed head at gas station

Man leaves wife's severed head at gas station

HAMBURG, Germany- A 40-year-old German man who claimed he was mentally ill decapitated his wife and then showed up at a gas station on Monday carrying her severed head, police said.

Officers went to the man's nearby home, where they found the rest of the woman's body and their two young daughters.

The man, whom police did not identify, had left the head in the snow by the Hamburg gas station in the working-class suburb of Harburg, police spokeswoman Karina Sadowsky said. He then asked an attendant to call the police, and confessed to the killing, she said.

"The 40-year-old appeared confused and said that he had killed his wife," Sadowsky said.

A motive was not immediately known, Sadowsky said, adding that the man did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The man told police he was mentally ill, said another police spokeswoman, Christiane Leven.

After taking the man into custody at the station, police went to his home and followed a bloody trail upstairs to his fourth-floor apartment. Inside, they found his 39-year-old wife's headless body and the knife likely used in the crime, Sadowsky said.

The couple's daughters were found at the scene and were taken into state custody. A neighbor described one as preschool age and the other as being in elementary school.