If there is one profession that has benefited from vampires, it's undertakers. Properly securing methods, to make sure the dead won't rise, come at a significant premium. Medical examiners are a close second, oft investigating any death where the cause is in any doubt. Any hint of vampiric influence then triggers a manhunt.
But not every place has a medical examiner at hand, or the money for proper burials. Fire then is the obvious next option, but either personal beliefs or a shortage of firewood could eliminate that option. In those cases, usually the local butcher comes in, someone strong and experienced enough to cut off a head cleanly. A collar or fabric choker then hides the cut, allowing for an open casket.
There is of course also the existence of frenzied posses. When a small town goes through a vampiric scare, rationality goes out the window. Suspicious illnesses or deaths then give birth to a group jumping the body, desperately holding it down while cutting off the head. With luck, the victim will already have been deceased beforehand, rather than not until after.
— The Van Helsing Guidebook
Comments