Woman decapitated by chainsaw

Texas police are searching for a man who allegedly used a chain saw to decapitate his wife before leaving her body in the street near their suburban Dallas home.

Maria Corona's body was found by a postal worker outside the family's one-story brick home near Dallas, authorities said.

Police arrived at the home and found a trail of blood from the body to the home, according to a search warrant affidavit. Two chain saws with blades covered in blood were on the tailgate of a pickup truck in the driveway. One of the chain saws was still running, the affidavit said.

Police said an arrest warrant had been issued for 49-year-old Jose Fernando Corona, charging him with the murder of his wife.

"Witnesses in the neighbourhood did hear a chain saw running, but that was all they heard," Lewisville police Capt. Kevin Deaver said. "It was an extremely gruesome scene. The method of death was brutal."

The couple's daughter Carla Corona, 23, and her husband, Freddie Arellano, who also lived at the home, showed up after police were at the scene.

Arellano told police he and his wife were picking up their daughter from school when Jose Corona called them and said he "had done it, he had killed her and was going to drag her body next door," according to the affidavit.

Carla Corona and Arellano did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner released autopsy results Wednesday that said Maria Corona was alive when she was decapitated. The cause of death was multiple chain saw injuries "due to assault by another person."

Jose Corona has no prior criminal history, Deaver said.

- AP