The 4-year-old girl was found dead in her home last month. On Monday, a Johnston County grand jury indicted her father, John Patrick Violette, on a charge of first-degree murder.

Pathologist Deborah Radisch at the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill determined that Katlin died before she was decapitated. By then, the 35-pound child had been cut so severely that all of the blood had drained from her body, according to the autopsy.

Radisch determined that Katlin died from a gaping stab wound just over her heart. Wounds covered her body; several of her internal organs were damaged.

Katlin's body and head were found in a metal garbage can, according to the report. Her mother, Amber Violette, called 911 after finding the body Jan. 12.

Johnston County District Attorney Susan Doyle is considering pursuing the death penalty against Violette. A prosecutor can pursue the death penalty if a slaying is particularly atrocious, heinous or cruel.

Doyle said she had not received a copy of the autopsy by Tuesday evening. Doyle said she intends to review the report and announce her decision about whether to pursue the death penalty at a hearing expected to take place in March.

Violette is being held at Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, where doctors are determining whether he is mentally competent to stand trial for murder, his attorney, Bob Denning, said this week. Violette doesn't yet grasp what is going on, Denning has said.

Violette, 37, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, which erupted nearly a decade ago in California, his sister, Denise Violette, has said. He spent time in a mental hospital there. Family encouraged him then to forgo medical treatment, including medicine that doctors had prescribed.

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