["Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, Volume 19, Issue 1, Page 20-32, January 2022. ", "\nAbstract\nPrevious literature suggests that covering of a homicide victim's face by an offender indicates a pre‐existing relationship. Operational definitions discriminate between three forms of victim covering (i) Masking (ii) Cloaking and (iii) Concealment. 126 UK homicide cases were examined to explore whether any evidence‐based investigative inferences could be supported in cases of victim covering viewed through an instrumental/expressive framework. No statistically significant differences were found between face covering behaviour and the relationship between victim and offender, previous convictions, and offender age, although there was a high frequency of elderly female victims of masking. The findings are discussed in relation to offender‐profiling.\n"]